Part 14: Barber Shop of Horrors
I'm sure you're all excited to see the solution for the bear claw tile puzzle. I shall keep you waiting no longer!
While I'm here, I guess I might as well update.
Toffile wants us to check the windowsills in the bakery and the shop. Sientara seconded checking the shop as well. I've basically just been waiting for someone to ask what's up so I can point out the most horrendous bullshit in this game. This is actually the worst puzzle.
That, apparently, is a windowsill. Checking under or on top of the little shelf there does nothing. It's not hidden in a tomato can or something. Waving your cursor around on the tiles reveals nothing.
Oh, wait, it does. One tiny fucking tile lights up, telling you it can be interacted with. It's a fucking pixel hunt.
Shivers, I thought you were better than this.
That gets us this token.
...which takes us back to the soda machine.
After inserting the token, all the buttons can be clicked, but only Desert Soda does anything. The rest just click.
I wanted Desert Soda but all I got was this DaVinci Cola.
While we're revisiting past locations, LoreOfSerpents once again shows far more familiarity with those music videos than I think anyone should have to suffer through.
They are, in fact, spelling "Lyle" YMCA-style in Spell It Out, and that's the login we need. The password, as should be obvious, is Olivia backwards. ~drama~
...well, that's profoundly unhelpful. It's always the exact part you need that gets corrupted on the disk.
Now I do believe you all requested we get a haircut.
The Chinese-themed barber shop (I don't know, man) is located just across from the cafe.
There's another poster of Ivan, tacked to the wall just above the puzzle lock.
Speaking of which, we have to deal with another one of these fuckers.
Damn it.
Fuck.
Fffffffffffffff
Is that...?
Yessss.
Finally.
I get that the Shivers designers like their theme rooms, but the kindly old barber named Ivan having a thing for Chinese decorations is a bit of a stretch.
"I realize this is a game about Native American mythology, but can't we cram some China in there? I bet we can."
There's a very small desk on the other side of the door, with the usual trappings.
Well, usual plus this. I'm really not sure what the missing razor is supposed to clue here. Why would the hotel dude steal the razor? What does it mean?
People Being Dicks
Oh. That was actually nice.
...also depressing.
"...you're not there. Cool!"
Wow, it looks like nobody hated him. He really was just a kind old man.
Strange, the missing persons report didn't mention anything about a blatantly obvious answering machine message taunting the rest of the town about the missing barber. The sheriff is also a Very Smart Person.
This is where I point out that the game actually separates new and old messages. If the light is blinking, the left button plays a new message. The right button plays old messages, including anything you listened to from the left button. Nobody had listened to any of the above messages.
There are two saved messages, though, so let's listen to those, too.
"...he join us. Later."
I can't tell if he's kinda sorta nice for inviting the guy or a total asshole for calling him pathetic after his family died.
"...chair. It's black. Some ritzy place was just throwing it out. I thought of you and wondered if you wanted it. If so, call me and let me know if there's a good time to drop it off."
I'm pretty sure he meant to say "barber chair" and not "electric chair" but maybe there's a reason everyone seems to want to avoid getting a haircut.
Moving on, there's a picture hanging up nearby.
Ivan totally looks like he's up to something. If you pay attention to the various clues we've already found, I'm pretty sure he's an old perv. I find that hilarious.
On the other side of the room...
Please tell me he doesn't cut hair with those swords. While electrocuting you. This guy is the worst barber ever.
This is potentially useful information if you haven't already figured out who everyone is.
TV.
Gum. (Ew.)
...oh for fuck's sake.
Yes, sir. Right away, sir.
I feel a sudden urge to look at the barber pole outside.
The bottom opens up to reveal a piece of paper.
I'm pretty sure we can actually read that, but for now let's finish exploring the barber shop.
There's quite a scene across from where the TV is sitting.
There's a button on the ground to the right. On the left there some kind of coin remaining in the drawer pulled out from its hiding place beneath the statue. For some reason, we can't pick either of these things up. I'm very disappointed in you, Shivers 2.
Since I didn't show a clear enough shot of it earlier, here's what the floor looks like. According to the file in the sheriff's office, these are a size 12, but I'm beginning to think the investigation didn't really get much farther than that.
...and now for the
Subtlety really is not Darkcloud's strong suit.
First a snake, then bees, and now motherfucking spiders. I'm not particularly afraid of spiders, and I'd still probably run screaming if something like that happened to me.
Examining the inside of the sink more closely leads us to the next puzzle: a basic maze, but with a trick. Each time you cross a bridge, all bridges of that color disappear and all bridges of another color appear. The order is blue->red->yellow and then it repeats. Here's what it looks like after you cross the blue bridge next to the starting tile:
You'll also notice colored buttons. Stepping on one will depress the post of the same color, allowing you to cross it. Once a post is down it'll never come back up again, so don't worry about crossing buttons multiple times. One more thing: you can't go backwards. You can cross the same tiles as much as you want, but moving backwards is not allowed.
For example, imagine if you make a beeline for the blue button (crossing the red bridge). Stepping on it depresses the blue post, but then you're stuck. The red bridge has disappeared and you can't go backwards to get to the nearby intersection.
The goal of the puzzle is to get to the egg at the top. There may be multiple solutions, but I'll post the one I got in the next update.
"...Mouth?"
Predictably, solving the puzzle earns us another bahos.
...and that's it for-
Oh. Hi Mom.
Looks like there's one more thing to vote for this update. It's time for the big choice:
Who is Darkcloud? Let the crackpot theories and wild accusations fly!
Puzzles:
Notes:
Who is Darkcloud?
Find something to use on the gas pump.
Relatedly, get gas for the mine.
Find three chess pieces.
What do the directions in the church music and Spell It Out mean?
The goddamn bees.
"Look for the Bahos under the griffin."
What's the computer message mean?
What do we do with the 'DaVinci Cola'?
Voting:
Who is Darkcloud?
So... heads or tails? Maybe the coin will land on its edge.
Location list:
Max's Cave
Mine Entrance (needs gas)
Warehouse