Mateusz Skutnik’s Submachine series has kept puzzle and adventure game fans guessing for over five years. With its eerie atmosphere and mysterious narrative, each subsequent installment has only served to raise more questions and wild speculation amongst its fans. If you’ve been waiting patiently (or not so patiently) for another chapter, your loyalty is about to be rewarded. Submachine 7: The Core is finally here… and it’s waiting for you to unlock its secrets.

Use your mouse to interact with your environment and pick up items, which are stored in your inventory on the right. You can click once on an item you’re carrying to pick it up, and then again anywhere else on the screen you want to try using it. Investigate everywhere, sometimes more than once; if something has happened and you’ve made progress, it’s worth revisiting old areas to see if anything has changed, or if you can interact with something new. Since the game saves your progress automatically, you can take time out whenever you want to scrawl “What does it mean?!” over and over on your walls (it’s very therapeutic) before picking up right where you left off.

Analysis: I am going to be honest with you; until now, I had never played any of the Submachine games, and playing them all back to back to prepare myself for this review was a lot like wandering around inside a M.C. Escher painting with H.G. Wells and H.P. Lovecraft as travelling companions. (Hunter S Thompson might have been there too, flicking the back of my head every few minutes.) The series is baffling and intriguing, and has only gotten bigger and more complex as it’s gone on. To say it’s ambitious is putting it mildly, and the fact that Mateusz appears to have only gotten more creative with his brainchild with each chapter is really impressive.

It’s easy to see why the series has earned such a devoted following. Not only is it extremely well made, with subtle ambient noise and clean visuals, but its sparse narrative revealed in notes and snippets for years has fueled a lot of wild speculation. By now Mateusz has his series down to an art and exploring the game just for the sake of enjoying the gorgeous design is rewarding too. The biggest problem you might run into is that like most other games in the series, The Core is prone to giving you very little direction. You might spend a while flailing at switches or spinning valves, not realising that your monkey-like problem solving antics have actually triggered something in a different area even if there was little or no indication anything had changed. You’ll also have to keep your eyes open for small items, and be willing to examine all corners of each area; I spent a while going around in circles, not realising I’d actually missed an area transition next to another one.

Although it initially seems like a very small game, The Core quickly reveals itself to have a big environment for you to explore… provided, of course, you can figure out how to unlock it all. Players hoping for more brain-teasing puzzles such as those found in Submachine 3: The Loop might wish the Core found more balance between those and “use this item here” school of puzzling typically found in adventure games. The game is definitely challenging and requires you to keep your eyes peeled and be diligent in exploring your environment, sometimes more than once. Compared to most other games in the genre, making even a little progress in The Core (or even any game in the series) tends to feel like a big achievement, so go ahead… pat yourself on the back now and again. If you’ve come this far, you’ve certainly earned it.

If you’re hoping for a resolution and answers to all your questions, you might find the “To Be Continued” finale just another reason to camp outside Mateusz’s doorstep. Submachine 7: The Core still offers a lot more pieces of the puzzle, and provides a fantastic realm full of secrets to uncover them in. And, perhaps most important for an adventure game, the series as a whole actually feels like an adventure. So, I’ve got to ask… why are you even still reading this when there’s a whole new world out there for you to explore? Allons-y!

Author: Dora on jayisgames.com

Submachine 7: The Core has been on our Gaming Most-Wanted List of 2010 and for good reasons too: Submachine series is one of most beloved gaming brands ever developed for the great territory of internet. Each installment brings Mateusz’s patented imagination to life through simple yet appealing graphic, compelling and intriguing on-going story, haunting and memorable ambients, and best of all, the highly polished gameplay that puts almost every other PNC games to shame. Hypes for Sub_7 exploded through the roof comparable to extremely long wait of Sub_6, only to be made worst after the releases of critical darling’s Submachine Network Exploration Experience and Submachine: 32 Chambers. The wait was unbearable and in the end came possibly what everyone was hoping to be an incredible cap-off of the fabled Year of the Submachine.

Does Submachine 7: The Core delivers, meets, and exceeds our expectations? The most resounding answer sung by chorus of hungry players is YES. Yes, indeed. Best Submachine game ever? Read on.

GRAPHIC

Again, it seems unfair that I have to continue to do this section of review, especially since each Submachine game is eerily beautiful in their ways and that there’s almost no flaw to Mateusz’s art direction. But what so different about this game is that the art direction totally blew our expectations of what Submachine should looks like and how the location designs and structures should be built. All of sudden, the constricting areas of blocky rooms within screen was thrown away in favor of wide-open areas located within one giant location and the art style became extremely rich and imaginative as result of it.

The fractured architects will be one of most memorable places ever visited in any Submachine games, powered by insanely immense structure and its haunting erosions backed by beautiful lifeforms. Not only the art styles breath new life because of shift in art direction, it also bolster toward and from the story as well, making the designs of entire game an absolutely, creatively, and breathlessly jaw-dropping. The art and graphic alone also pushed the doors wide open for even truly spellbinding locations possibly waiting for us in Submachine 8 and eventually in SubNet.

Absolutely perfect.

Also… cutely glowing lifeforms. Who wouldn’t like them?

Score: 10 / 10

SOUND

An upgrade over what I deemed as “disappointing soundtracks” of Submachine 6. What we get is a true return-to-form ambients that made Submachine 1-5 truly haunting games to explore and play. The tunes may not be as heavily memorable as many of classics, but they still have tons of Submachine signatures all over with electronic noises, chirps, and beeps bringing the machines to life. The ambients are also transcendent, not only highlighting the atmosphere of each locations, but also lending emotional impacts to the in-game plot development that would send chills down to everyone’s spines. Also supplementing the ambients are well-thought-of sound effects, making each notable activities extremely realistic and satisfying.

Expertly made and applied ambients and sound effects had made this game one of best Submachine games to listen to while playing. It would guarantee to make your ears cry with joys.

Score: 10 / 10

PLOT

After the satisfying plot-heavy Submachine 6, many of us thought we will get sizable chunks of stories to chow down on. What we experienced through was a major revelation, the greatest since eye-opening plot of Submachine 4. Mateusz has truly nailed down on the evolving plot developments, making this game a true gem to read and marvel at. Almost every area brings something new to the developing Submachine lore and Submachine 7 stories might be the best since fan’s favorite Submachine 4. And to the delight of fans all over, the stories of entire Submachine series are brought to almost full circle and that is not even the end of it. It only the beginning of something truly amazing yet to be come in final three episodes. What made this story truly memorable is that it also lends strength to art direction and gameplay, making this game addicting to play and scavenge through for its tasty secrets.

Although, the main criticisms is that there are so much of stories to scrooge through, it could leave some players drunk and confused by wealth of revelations. Also, some players might be disappointed that the Core aren’t what they expected, but I found it to be well written enough for the Core itself to shatter player’s expectation of what the areas should be like. Heck, I thought the Core would be machine-heavy, but it wasn’t the case. The standout of entire plot is the relationship between Liz and Mur finally made clear as well as the development of Submachine itself, shattering the boundaries of what Submachine truly is once again.

Also, Submachine 7 totally killed some of my famous theories. Thanks a lot.

Truly fantastic.

Score: 9.9 / 10

GAMEPLAY

Submachine 7 has finally offer extremely enjoyable exploration and biting-hard puzzle-solving not seen since Submachine 2, 4, and 5. What made Submachine 7 one of best PNC games around is the craft and care put into many of puzzles that are very different from all other games. The Core is a tough one to crack and one that require lot of thoughts and deductions to solve and beat. It not hair-pulling hard, but it no cake-walk either. The difficulty is just about perfect where newcomer and avid veterans can find satisfying challenges to overcome.

My criticisms is that the secrets are so dang tough to find, but I guess it made the rewards at the end all the more satisfying. Also, few of puzzles are extremely hard, it took me a while to figure out the answer, but that’s a nice change of pace from other Submachine games since we do have hints available to nudge us into right direction. Also, some of areas are so large that it felt bit unnecessary to have one or two extra rooms to explore in and I feel worried that the next three games will become too ambitious for their own goods. That why we have SubNet to dump the ideas into.

Expertly balanced.

Score: 9.8 / 10

In the end, Submachine 7 constantly screwing with our expectations and wowing us with tons of plot developments and eerily beautiful art styles that will sure to spark off new wave of speculations about what Submachines truly are and what they’re made for. I have never seen the reactions quite like this since the famous Submachine 4 and for good reasons too.

Is it the best Submachine game ever?

YES and NO.

Wait, why?

The answer: Submachine 4.

Submachine 4 and Submachine 7 are so similar and so different in every way. Both games offer truly compelling gameplay backed by haunting arts and ambients. Both have addicting stories that blew the doors wide open, welcoming all sort of heated debates and speculations. What they’re so different is that both offers extremely different experiences, plot developments, locations to explore, and theories to create. Submachine 7 reminds me what Submachine 4 brought to the table all those years ago and that made Submachine 7 all so great to play. It not really fair for me to say Submachine 7 is better than Submachine 4, but it also not fair for me to say that Sub_4 is better than Sub_7. No, I will leave that debate to the fans.

As for me, I believed that both games are truly excellent for same and different reasons and I am proud to say that Submachine 7 is the best game since Submachine 4 and that both games are the absolute best in entire series.

You truly outdid yourself once again, Mateusz.

Final Score: 9.8 / 10

One more thing: CUTELY GLOWING LIFEFORMS

well kind of nowhere, because I’m in the middle of sub7 development, this came out of my head. (just said that my head = nowhere, but I don’t mind).

Lazy sunday? Fear not! The new UPDATE from the submachine network is here! (third batch, second update).

enjoy!

Doktor wrócił po dwóch godzinach jak już przyszły wyniki badania krwi. W sumie już byliśmy gotowi do opuszczenia placówki, nasiedziawszy się w poczekalni ostrego dyżuru, ale on miał inne plany:

– Ja panią wyślę jeszcze na dodatkową konsultację na oddział chorób płuc. Za chwilę przyślę tu pielęgniarza żeby panią zawiózł bo to w innym budynku i pani tam nie dojdzie w tym stanie.

No to czekamy dalej. Tym razem na pielęgniarza. Jak się tak czeka to mimochodem obserwuje się otoczenie. O tam, pochlipująca rodzina tego co go przywieźli godzinę temu z wypadku. Tu bliżej ta co sceny ponoć robi, ale nikt jeszcze nie widział tej sceny i w sumie to czekanie na scenę skracało czekanie na wyniki. Tam babcia na wózku, ewidentny artretyzm, nadwaga, taka kaczuszka okrągło zwalista. A tutaj ten opalony cwaniaczek co jest znajomym ochroniarza stąd i jak tak siedzą i gadają to jest wyżej w hierarchii od nas.

Czekamy i czekamy na tego pielęgniarza, myślę sobie… Nie, nie mogę powiedzieć co myślę bo to spoiler całości jest a tu trzeba zaczekać do końca opowieści. Więc czekamy.

O, przyszedł, i to z jakąś lekarką ale niższego szczebla, ma inny kolor ubranka niż nasz doktor nadgorliwy. I pielęgniarz idzie prosto do tej babci na wózku. A lekarka:

– Nie, to ta młoda pani o tutaj – wskazuje na nas. Ania podnosi rękę jak w szkole że tak, to ona na te płuca.

– Ta młoda? To sama dojdzie – ocenia pielęgniarz.

– nie dojdzie, bo ciąża, bo osłabiona, bo płuca – ripostuje na nasze szczęście lekarka.

– Ale ja nie mam wózka!

I tutaj moi drodzy dochodzimy do sedna abstrakcji.

Chwila konsternacji, pielęgniarz myśli…

Wymyślił…

Idzie w stronę babci…

I zaczyna ją z tego wózka wysadzać.

Tu dodam że dokładnie o tym pomyślałem pięć minut wcześniej, że nie ma pielęgniarza bo wózka szuka i zaraz babcię wysadzi. Babcia chętna do współpracy w sumie, rozumie problem, że tylko jeden wózek i tak dalej. Ale sama mimo prób nie daje rady wstać. Mnie wryło w ziemię całkowicie, tym bardziej że pomaganie tej babci w zsiadaniu z wózka za bardzo pachniało niedźwiedzią przysługą. No to pielęgniarz jej pomaga. Potem zawołał kolegę i w końcu we dwóch ją przesadzili na poczekalniane krzesełko. We dwóch.

– Zapraszam panią – rzucił pielęgniarz w stronę Ani z nutką wyrzutu chyba. Nie wiem, nie jestem dobry w rozpoznawaniu nutek.

Jak wyjeżdżaliśmy z poczekalni na te płuca to oboje woleliśmy nie patrzeć w twarze naszych współczekających. Pomyślałem że jakbym tę sytuację wpisał do Blakiego, to zbyt wysoki poziom absurdu zniszczyłby realizm tego komiksu.

Realizm.

Nie wiem co musiałaby wykręcić ta od robienia scen żeby ci ludzie w miarę szybko zapomnieli o naszej akcji degradacji babci z wózka.

ps – na obrazku przedstawiono prosty schemat ustawienia wózkowego wzgęldem ściany tak by walenie łbem było najbardziej ergonomiczne.

here we go again:

play this game

reviews: PCWorld

As I remember, there was a note found in Submachine 4 mentioning 32 chambers filled with sand. Well, here they are in another short off-main-storyline installment of the Submachine series.

When you star at the right of the “submachine” there a green jade pick it up. Then go left.

Click on the brown box pick up “autumn plate”

Click on the brick wall with the drawing and go in the hole. (pick up the green jade) then go down and right.

In the big room go left and pick up the lever and the green jade.

Go up and pick up the winter plate (on the wall with all the symbols)

Then go right twice (the screen with the big haed. Put the lever into the wall on your right. Pull the lever up. Then go left twice and go down in the hole created by the lever.

Pick up the wooden stick. And go right. On top of the wall there is a wooden bowl pick it up. and go right. It’s written “Air wind and fire dig through sand” So go right and place all the cement box to air wind and fire (in that order) On the Wind one there is a jade on the sand. Pick it up. And on the Fire one click on the wooden box and pick up a round stone. Go left three times and go down once.

Pick un the jade and put the stick into the left wall (the round thing) Pick up the topaz and go down then right. (pick the Jade) and go right twice. You should be in front of a round “face” with a hole in the middle, Put the wooden bowl on the floor in front of the hole and click on the wall sand should come out of the mouth and fill up the bowl.

Pick up the bowl full of sand and go left once. Pour the sand into the goblet of the statue then go left (you should lose the bowl after that. Climb the rope at the top and a bit left you should be able to click to pick up the spring plate, after that go right. In the floor at the right of the wooden prison door there’s Topaz number 2 pick it up. Open the prison’s door (click and drag up) then go right.

On the wall there are two round clickable cement block. Click on the right one until the open spot is in the left and down quadrant (quadrant 3 on a diagram) After that click on the left one until the open spot is on the bottom. Go inside the “prison’s” door and pick up the “stone cone” then go down the ladder. Pick up the weight stone. Then go back up.

Go all the way back where you picked up the wooden bowl there’s a stick on the wall that you can push but it always go back up. Put the weight stone on it and go back where you came from. (now you can go all the way down)

Go down and left pick up the round stone. Go right pick up Jade 7.

Go left twice and click three time on the clickable cement block, go up and push down the white sqare. Go back down and click once on the clickable cement block go all the way back to the big face at the start of the game and put the 2 rounds stones in the eyes. (pick up Topaz three)

Go all the way back at the end and now the door with the three spikes should be open enter it and go left click on the wooden box (pick up topaz 4) There’s a wheel, put the stone cone in it and go right twice. on the wall there’s the plate 4. And completely on the right you can click on the wall to pick up jade 8. Go left climb the stairs. But the 8 Jadeites, the 4 plates in the wheel and turn very slowly each part of the wheel (starting by the plates, then the Jade then the topaz until it click) After that put the four topaz in and turn the middle of the wheel so it is straight.

written by Dave

Casual game Submachine: 32 Chambers takes you on a journey within stone walls, past ancient ruins, and through drifts of sand. With nothing but your wits and a few clickable objects, you navigate the chambers and solve puzzles to win this browser-based game. Its hand-drawn look and absorbing gameplay absorbed me so thoroughly, finishing the game made me blink as if leaving a cave.

Submachine: 32 Chambers begins in a stone-brick room with a Mesoamerican-looking glyph and a futuristic machine. If you’ve played any of the other Submachine games, you’ll recognize the apparatus as the teleporter that brought you there. Even if 32 Chambers is your first introduction to the Submachine games, you’ll immediately learn how it works: You mouse over objects and chamber edges, looking for items to pick up and directions to go. A veteran of these games would have little trouble finding out where to click to collect items, move switches, and travel from room to room. My strategy was to mouse over every pixel looking for clues (and to get a little disconcerted when I ran across the statue of Ixtab, the Mayan goddess of suicide).

Luckily, the creepy statue was window dressing and not a clue about my progress. Despite the spikes that shoot out of the walls at the boundaries, there’s no way to lose at Submachine: 32 Chambers. You can leave the game and resume at auto-save points. The ThumpMonks’ eerie music adds to the mood, but sounds aren’t crucial for gameplay, so you can also play it muted to avoid disturbing your neighbors. If you decide to become more of a tourist than an explorer, you can avail yourself of the walkthrough link handily placed in the game itself.

The tenth installment in Submachine series, 32 Chambers has its own history. Despite the Mesoamerican look, 32 Chambers is not part of our work, but of Mateusz Skutnik’s vast “subnet” (submachine network) world. Polish architect-turned-graphic novelist Skutnik has been producing Submachine games since 2005, building up quite a following.

If you need a break–or a series of breaks–to challenge your mind, Submachine: 32 Chambers might be just the right little trip to plug into your day’s itinerary.

author: Laura Blackwell