Adventure Forums - View Single Post - Your Favorite Puzzle Ever (Absolute Spoiler!)

WitchOfDoubt · 03-31-2012, 01:33 PM

My favorite is the escape puzzle in Spider and Web. It's solved with a single command, but figuring out that command requires the player to figure out the underlying 'trick' to the entire mystery of the plot. It's widely considered one of the greatest text adventure puzzles of all time, and I agree.

Absolutely brilliant:

(MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE BEST PUZZLE.)

Spoiler:
The secret lies in unreliable narration. The game tricks you into fooling yourself.

The protagonist, a spy, has been restrained in a chair all game, undergoing interrogation. For the first half of the game, the player is forced to act out a burglary conducted by this spy and show the questioner what happened in virtual reality. In doing so, the player learns how to use the spy's gadgets, including a voice-activation switch (activated with the word 'TANGO'), a timer, a bomb, and a metal-dissolving acid pack.

In this story, the player recounts finding a mysterious package and hiding it in the air vents, then being captured. But when the story is done and the interrogator searches for this package, he only finds the spy's inventory, with a few pieces missing. Angrily, he demands that the spy explain what's going on.

In order to solve this puzzle, the player has to realize:

1) The package never existed. The spy invented it as a ruse to explain what he was doing in a location.

2) Clues earlier in the story suggest that the spy visited the interrogation room for some reason.

3) When the guards bring in your inventory, the voice activation switch is present, but a number of other items are absent - including the acid pack.

4) The chair you are strapped into is made of metal.

If they player fails to work out the spy's brilliant scheme, the interrogator figures it out first and kills the spy, dropping a clue in the process. Before he flips the switch, the interrogator mutters something along the lines of...

5) "You expected..."

In other words, the player-character expected to be captured and plotted the escape in advance. With that clue, the command needed to escape becomes clear:

"> SAY TANGO"

The voice-activation switch trips and the acid pack, planted under the chair by the spy, explodes and wrecks the restraints. The spy then knocks out the interrogator, and the player is left to untangle the rest of the deception for the remainder of the game.

I've never seen the gap between a player's knowledge and their character's knowledge exploited so brilliantly. This is the closest thing to a Death Note game we will ever get.

03-31-2012, 01:33 PM	#11
WitchOfDoubt Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 104	My favorite is the escape puzzle in Spider and Web. It's solved with a single command, but figuring out that command requires the player to figure out the underlying 'trick' to the entire mystery of the plot. It's widely considered one of the greatest text adventure puzzles of all time, and I agree. Absolutely brilliant: (MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE BEST PUZZLE.) Spoiler: The secret lies in unreliable narration. The game tricks you into fooling yourself. The protagonist, a spy, has been restrained in a chair all game, undergoing interrogation. For the first half of the game, the player is forced to act out a burglary conducted by this spy and show the questioner what happened in virtual reality. In doing so, the player learns how to use the spy's gadgets, including a voice-activation switch (activated with the word 'TANGO'), a timer, a bomb, and a metal-dissolving acid pack. In this story, the player recounts finding a mysterious package and hiding it in the air vents, then being captured. But when the story is done and the interrogator searches for this package, he only finds the spy's inventory, with a few pieces missing. Angrily, he demands that the spy explain what's going on. In order to solve this puzzle, the player has to realize: 1) The package never existed. The spy invented it as a ruse to explain what he was doing in a location. 2) Clues earlier in the story suggest that the spy visited the interrogation room for some reason. 3) When the guards bring in your inventory, the voice activation switch is present, but a number of other items are absent - including the acid pack. 4) The chair you are strapped into is made of metal. If they player fails to work out the spy's brilliant scheme, the interrogator figures it out first and kills the spy, dropping a clue in the process. Before he flips the switch, the interrogator mutters something along the lines of... 5) "You expected..." In other words, the player-character expected to be captured and plotted the escape in advance. With that clue, the command needed to escape becomes clear: "> SAY TANGO" The voice-activation switch trips and the acid pack, planted under the chair by the spy, explodes and wrecks the restraints. The spy then knocks out the interrogator, and the player is left to untangle the rest of the deception for the remainder of the game. I've never seen the gap between a player's knowledge and their character's knowledge exploited so brilliantly. This is the closest thing to a Death Note game we will ever get. __________________ The Sapphire Witch cordially invites you to a labyrinth of riddles and mysteries, The Witch's Epigraph.