Part 27: Submachine 10: The Exit

Part 27
Submachine 10: The Exit


Click here to play the game yourself.

It's time for the final game in the main series. This one was released in December 2015, which was actually only a month before I started this LP. It feels like ages ago. Memory is a strange thing.


Let's get this show started. The game starts with the strange device we found in the Layer of Light at the end of the last game.


Clicking on it reveals it's a kind of portal, taking us on a trip down memory lane.

♫ Thumpmonks - Submachine 10 - Containment


Shiva drops us off in this area, the Northern Garden Docks.


Two things of note in this first screen: the floaty stones in a radial pattern that look like they should house a Karma Portal only reveal a small blue dot if you bring your mouse near. It doesn't seem to do anything. And any floating rocks can be pushed around by the mouse in this game. It's hard to control and doesn't actually have a use, but it's a neat little detail.


Time to explore. Be warned: this game is as large as several previous games combined. This LP is still quite far from done.


There's a screen on the stand in the middle:

Why, thank you king. So, this area seems to be related to the South Garden of Submachine 7 - but possibly also to the Dock of Submachine 8. Those vague blue lines in the background were there in Submachine 8 as well. In fact, they seem to be created by the devices to the left of that marble gate we just went through.


There seems to be something anchored here. This place isn't quite a sea dock. By the way, the screen on the stand next to the anchor has the same message from the king, but the stand to the right is different.

Sounds useful. Let's climb the ladder first.


Up here we grab the Light Sphere, which we'll need shortly.


The cables go down the hole, but the device here doesn't seem to do anything yet.


To the right, another blue dot, and a stand that takes our Light Sphere.


When we click on it, we discover another convenient way of travel.




We take the stairs and explore the right side first. This room has a docking schedule on the wall, and a very convenient item, the Backpack.


This game still has the 10-item inventory limit, but there's so many items and so many ways to go through this game that more often than not you'll hit the limit. The Backpack gives you 36 additional inventory spaces. An optional item, but one you really don't want to go without.


Further to the right, some kind of pod and then a strange vending machine.

We don't have anything to put into the slot so we'll be back later.


The stairs going down from the pod lead to nowhere.


The left side of the upper floor has these levers. Only one can be down at a time. After playing around with them for a bit, I decide to pull down the leftmost lever and go outside to see what has changed.


Ah, the ladder moved to the leftmost dock. There's nothing up here though.


We need to move it to dock 3, the one with the anchor.


Up here we find a very old looking ship. It's dark inside, but we can see enough to pry something off the wall.


Conveniently, it's the Ship ID Number. Having no other options, we take it straight to the vending machine inside the building.


We get a Bottle Fuse, which goes in the underground device. We've barely started the game, and already we're running around like crazy carrying items everywhere.


Anyway, with the Bottle Fuse in the power source, we can power up the cables and also the ship.


RTL
Now we can more fully explore the Captain's Ship, as it's called. This place is dirty, covered in weird moss and there's rust everywhere. I hope it doesn't collapse under our feet.


To the left and up the ladder, let's stop at the first landing.


RTL
The telephone has a tiny animation of the dial turning, but it's so rusty it doesn't do anything anymore.


The three levers just show the axes when you look through the scope. Apparently this is a reference to the Mover in Submachine 5, which also had a scope with x, y and z axes. I actually didn't know that was in there when I played Sub5.


Anyway, climbing to the top of the ladder, there's another sort of control room.


We pick up the Door Valve here and backtrack to the ship's entrance.


To the right, we immediately run into another fork in the path. Well, let's go up first.


RTL

Hm. Let's just keep that in mind.


The leftmost room just has a red light. Let's return to the fork and explore the right side of the ship now.


Damn... I thought there was a dead guy in there, but it's just a suit. Phew.


RTL
We come up in another part of the ship.


It's incredibly helpful to notice and grab the Ladder Piston here right away. Otherwise you'll just get stuck later and have to explore everywhere to find the missing item.


To the right, we use the Door Valve on the hatch and climb through.




At the end of the long tube we find a working Karma Portal. Let's get out of this dirty ship!

♫ Thumpmonks - Submachine 10 - Mettle


We appear at a rooftop in a completely different place. One of these days we're gonna fall to our death when leaving some misplaced Karma Portal...


Climbing further down, we find ourselves on what seems to be another roof. Removing the lid and dropping the ladder down lets us continue.


Welcome to the Angel Ruins. Peeking into the hole at the bottom, we find the first Secret in plain sight. We just don't have any way to reach it...

This game has 10 Secrets, but it'll be a while before we can get most of them.


We open up the door and climb down the stairs, where we're greeted by a statue of St. Cristopher, the patron saint of travellers. Appropriate. But it's kinda strange to run into imagery of yet another religion in Submachine.


To the left we find a door that's closed shut and a strange machine.


To the right we find something that vaguely looks like a Portal from The Lab. We'll get back to that in a second. Further on, St. Alexius of Rome, another patron saint of pilgrims and travellers.


Further to the right, we find something interesting in the pod. It's a disabled Sub-Bot. Sub-Bots are otherwise referenced in Submachine Universe and in forum posts by Mateusz. They are maintenance bots created by the Subnet, that travel through Portals fixing things. In fact, there's evidence that the oldest Portals were created for Sub-Bot travel, not for humans.


Further to the right, it looks like the world has been falling apart. It's not obvious but we can climb down the wooden structure in the left screen.


RTL
Where we find a ladder that takes us even further down.


RTL
At the end of the line, we find a device that seems to be missing several parts.


So, what about that Portal device? Well, this is what's known as a Binary Portal. You can read the three top buttons as a binary number. Our current location, the Angel Ruins, are at binary coordinates OOO. In this game, all eight 3-bit coordinates are valid.

So this is where the game opens up wide, and gets difficult. There's suddenly so many places where you can go, and of course you have to go to one place to collect items or hints to solve puzzles in another place. If you don't know what you're doing - and even if you do - it's easy to lose track.


So, join me next time as we get into the actual meat of this game.