Part 2: Two Wacky Sidekicks

: There's a door leading out. Let's escape to the promenade.

: Hmm...



: No, we're going on an adventure.



On this screen we can try to get into the team's van.



: The signs tell us not to dive, and... not to stand near water? Let's check out the pier.



Nothing to do here but watch Cathryn hover above water. The screen is decently animated - the boat is rocking on the waves a little.



: London is under attack by obviously edited in seagulls.

Let's go in and head upstairs.



We won't go there yet. Also, the site of the memorable cold tea drinking scene does not have a single interactive object.



We won't go see Mike yet either.



Cathryn's room is a bit of a mess. Let's take everything that's not nailed down and examine the rest. Such as the climbing wall.

: I really ought to train more. I'll start tomorrow.

: Let's look at the torch.





: What about the compass on the desk?

: A simple compass.

: The painting?

: When it comes to painting, I'm always going to be a dilettante.

: What's in the book case?

: I hardly get time to read anymore.



: Clicking the mouse button when it's shaped like an arrow will show us the other side of the room.



The usual junk, some ballet gear and the t-shirt guy.
Let's check out the faded photograph.



: The picture shows my mother, just before her accident.

: Now for the "Ballet things". That's the name of the item

: That's a long time ago.

: At this point I decided to visit Mike's room.



When you click the door the camera zooms in but the hotspot icons don't shift with the objects.



: What!

: Why are you locking up?

: Got things to do!

: Hmm.

: Maybe Bernard will get the plot started?



He's got a personal wine rack.

: Hmm... Wine, Bernie's really getting old.

: And a personal house of cards!

: Hey, I thought he would've thrown the cards away. He'll never do it...



: While we're on this screen, let's examine the Diploma

: He's hung up his maths diploma. He must be having a mid-life crisis.

: Is there more wine in the "Old porcelain vase"?

: From Michelle's mother, I think. I don't know why he still keeps the thing. He just can't chuck it out.

: And now it's time to examine the "Small bronze sculpture".

: A memento of his father. He was a Belgian Miner.



: Pictured: Belgian Miners.



Back in the first screen of the room there's a magnifying glass.

: There's my magnifying glass.



: We can also check out the chess game not in progress.

: Obviously not a game for gamblers. But he always says it calms him down.

: Bernard might be a gambler. Let's talk to him about horse racing and slot machines.

: Hey, Bernard.

: A comma? Wow!

: Hi.



: Here's the dialogue interface. We get two subjects to talks about, including "Quit".

: See you later.

: Nah, let's try this again.

: Hey, Bernard.

: Hi.

: I'm sorry about before. I wasn't completely awake.

: I think you're really sweet when you're got a hangover.

: I read the paper. You guys are really completely crazy.

: I know.

: You could've been caught.

: It's your birthday! We didn't want to get you a blender!



: I told him it would increase his chances with you.

: You didn't say that.

: I did.

: You didn't!

: He did!

: He's been secretly training for ten days. Haven't you noticed how thin he's got?

: Oh God. You two really are crazy.

: And what's he doing now so secretly?

: Preparing the big surprise. Top secret.

: Ahha. And is it a... nice surprise? Or another one that could get you arrested?

: Both.

: Ahha. That sounds great... Now tell me what it is.

: Wait until Mike's here. He'll be finished soon. Go to your room and we'll call you.

: Huh. Alright then... See you later.

: Back to Cathryn's room we go! Thankfully you can make her run and also skip most transits by double clicking. The dialogue with Mike's door doesn't change at this point.



: And she barely waits.





: Ah, at last...

: But first I grab the compass off the desk and examine both the magnifying glass and the compass in the inventory.

: Bernard's magnifying glass. I think he lifted it from the office.

: Dad's old hiking compass. I nicked it from him.

: Property is theft, right, therefore theft is property, therefore this ship is mine.

Let's check out the surprise.



: That's what you get trying to use the doors upstairs.



Let's talk to Bernard, again.



The conversation topic with the question mark is called "Information"

: Well?



: A really big one. AND it's a home game. Here in London.

: Not my capitalisation. The game starts to add it at this point.



: In 20 minutes? Great. What will he pay?

: Double.

: At least. He hasn't named any figures as yet, but I think he's dripping with cash. We were thinking of giving it to Homes not Bombs UK. What do you think?

: Which painting is it then?



: It's upstairs on my desk. I've only just finished it... Bring it down.

: A toy, right... ?

: Don't worry, it's nothing out of the ordinary. It looks like a remote control,

: Hmm, you're really building up the excitement. Alright then.

: What if ask them for more "Information" right now?

: And?

: What now? We gotta go soon.

: I quit.

: Alright. See you soon.

: You're only going upstairs!

Time to hit Mike's cave.



Mike is the team's fat whiny tech wizard gamer guy.



The right desk offers a screen without any traces of interactivity.

Examining his computer results in

: Not bad.

: I see "Collector's action figures" on the shelf above the desk

: Mike is and remains a child at heart. But a sweet one.



: The left desk is littered with stuff and a special flash stick.

: Mike's USB stick. 20 gigabytes. He always has to go over the top.

: I can't examine the controller in the corner, but it looks painful.

Outside of the desk area there's the sink.



With a pair of rubber gloves I can't take.

: A pair of rubber gloves.

: Professional game writing from industry veterans.

The arcade cabinet is called an "antique gaming machine".

: That's a cool thing.

: What is that game anyway?

Finally, in the corner there is a thing labelled "Transmitter", that we can examine and pocket.

: Hmm... That looks like a small gaming console.



: Let's play with it in the inventory.

: That's a cool thing.

: Fuck it, I'm leaving.

Cathryn returns to the starting point of her quest.



: Thing? That's not a thing. That's a masterpiece of illegal remote control electronics!

: Ahha. And... what can it do?

: It can control the Ferris wheel remotely. Mike has hacked into the WLAN. We can stop or turn the wheel at the touch of a button.

: Our very own conference room above the clouds. Extremely clandestine and unbelievably cool. Only a genius could construct a transmitter like this.

: And... this thing works, right..?

: I haven't tried it out yet. But I've calculated everything. It MUST work. We'll soon see.

: So we're gonna meet this African guy IN the London Eye?

: Not we, you. Mike will control the wheel. From the ground.

: Kids, this is gonna be the deal of our lives. With an unobstructed view. And? Whadda you say?

: (Pause)

: Yes "(Pause)" is spelled out in the subtitles

: You're crazy.

: I knew you'd like it. Come on, let's go. We're late. Pack your things. I've gotta quickly do something on the computer.



: A new conversation piece!

: Did you read this? Henston, the Foreign Secretary, is dead. Collapsed as his desk.

: Lucky bastard...

: I've been sadder.

: Come on Mike. (commas). You can't talk about him like that. He had a family. Three children.

: The people of the countries, whose exploitation he was responsible for, also had children. He wasn't undeserving.

: Don't be so cynical. That's not going to make the world any better.

: Now, stealing shit, on the other hand...



: Mike, we always said we WOULDN'T become like these people. If you don't care whether there are deaths or not...

:

: ...then I'd be like Henston, certainly. And that's why I say it's not a shame that he's dead. Where does your sudden love for this guy come from?

: Just because I don't wish death upon him, doesn't mean...

: Can we discuss this in the car? You've gotta go.

: Thank you, Bernard.

: Cathryn would rather got to Minister Henston's funeral to plant some flowers.

: That's enough Mike.

: That's enough Cathryn, too.

: OK, OK. Not on my birthday.





: They were already going, why do you stop me for one click, game? Now I can open the car door of the van.



: What?



Apparently, I need to go chat with Mike.



: So, everything ready?

: That's what I was gonna ask you. "Quickly do something on the computer", huh?

: Have you seen the paper?

: No, not again!

: Certainly have.

: Well? It's a good shot of me, isn't it?



: Going back to the previous update...



Which of those guys is Mike? I see two Bernards.

: If Spiderman did an office job.

: Come on, that's not nice. I've lost four kilos. Otherwise I wouldn't have made it even half way up the tower!

: I'm assuming he took the stairs.

: Tell me I was good.

: You were great. But a kitchen blender would also have been alright. I don't want to celebrate my next birthday in jail. Have you got your phone?

: Sure.

: Your keys?

: Yes mum. And YOU? Have YOU got your phone?

: Of course.

: OK. I'll be down in a minute.

: Quit

: Hurry up. I'll wait downstairs.

: Is there anything Bernard would like to discuss?

: Hey, Bernard.

: Hi.

: See you later.

: Evidently not. Let's leave.



: The walk animations are silly. See video.



Oh, I have to click again?
The car warps us to the London Eye.



: OK. And now?



: How did you come in contact with this guy?

: Well, that's a funny story. He heard about our South Africa deal and then he got in touch with Bernard.

: HE got in touch with us? Where did he get the number?

: No idea. Bernard said he had a message on his mailbox. That's how it came about.

: And you're certain this isn't a trap?

: Well, let's see... what do the Gamersgate promo screenshots for the game tell us?



: Welp

: Almost certain.

: Oh great. Come on. Let's go back.

: Nonsense, keep calm. I've checked him out. He's got at least five diplomatic passports, all of them fake. He's no cop.

: And I'm supposed to hang around with him in that pod on my own?



: Oh, look. There's a visitor to the London Eye. How unusual.



: Really?



: Yeah. The guy in the white suit.

: Could you be more specific, Mike? ... I would understand this exchange if this tourist trap in central London had any people near it. The way it does in real life.

: I don't know. I've got a bad feeling about this.

: Go on. You'll be OK.

: Oh alright.



: The team stick the headsets into their ears.



: This line is inaudible. Basically, from this point on every line Mike says in the scene literally sounds like it's coming from Cathryn's headset, with distance and volume taken into account. The sound engineer for this game was either absent or an idiot.

: Of course.

: That sounds like muttering of someone five meters away from you.



: Yep. Totally inconspicuous.





: Let's get started.

: I'm getting in now.

: Fuck it. I'm going to strike through every phrase that's inaudible.

: I'm with you. You're doing great.





: Mike spawns his remote control for a highly visible major landmark.



Here's the first puzzle of the game. We need to screw around with the parameters of the two waves to make their combined result look like the required pattern.



: The moment the puzzle is solved the device goes away with a loud clang.



: Just look at all these people. Every one of them has a dream, and every one of them is working towards it.

: The ride is accompanied by a tune YouTube recognizes as "Klangfreiheit / Sonic Liberty-KF010304_London_Eye-Dynamedion Music". The game had original music composed for it, and it's registered with YT apparently. I was lucky to visit the actual wheel untainted by muzak, when it was run by British Airways and had adorable "in flight" announcements.

Right after I compliment House of Tales of some effort, let me show you this.



Distant planes, birds, and some other fast moving stuff in the backgrounds of 15 Days are animated like this, and the gif is running nearly at full speed.

: As busy as termites, right? Millions of souls building proud ornate towers.



: Cathryn.

: Mrs. Cathryn. In our country termites are seen as the incarnation of the dead. The holes in their towers lead to the spirit world. Isn't that strange? No matter how high the towers grow, they still lead to the underworld. And no matter how high this big wheel turns, its foundations remain the dust of the earth, the mud, the dirt.

: Whoa... The guy's a loony. Shall I bring you down?

: You... you wanted to make us a business proposal?

: Business - that's an ugly word. You can help us. You can free a soul.

: I don't fully understand.

: Cathryn? Shall I get you down now?



: In case you failed to notice something...



Yes, they've put the background jpg too close to the models.

: Not just one lunatic, but two.

: That's a lot of money for a painting.

: It is fitting for this painting. My client doesn't calculate according to the market price.

: He'll know what he's doing.

: Or not.

: You don't need to worry about that. The picture is of great worth to him, and it should be for you too. Two million in advance, the rest on delivery. Is that acceptable?

: Don't say the wrong thing now.

: Is the money in the suitcase?




: We need about a week. If we fail, you get the money back, minus our expenses.

: You won't fail.

: We'll do what we can.

: That's enough now.



: Now I can barely hear Cathryn.



: He says to no one in particular.

: I'm counting on you, don't forget that.

: I'll keep it in mind.



: Good grief. What a charming fella. Let's get out of here.

: Yes, we sill hear Mike through her headset.





: And I'm back in control to examine stuff. Like the snack van.

: I'm not hungry.

: The balloons?

: Nice.

: And what is Cathryn's opinion on "The Giant Wheel"?

: Wow!

: Finally, the chalk drawing.

: I don't see what it's supposed to represent.

: No need to lash out just because you fail at painting. Let's get into the car.



: OK.

: A perfect time to take a break. We're only 30 minutes into the game

P.S. Bonus clips. There's the scene of the team explaining Cathryn they've got a new job, which sends the game deep into uncanny valley thanks to the arm gestures, and there's the start of the meeting with Odila, complete with goofy walking and awful sound.