Submachine Two: The Lighthouse

Found on: http://submachinegames.com/submachine_2.html

Created by Mateusz J. Skutnik
Flash game
Rating: Everyone. Again, probably 10+ just because its a puzzle game.

Once again, a creepy soundtracked gamed. Submachine 2 opens up with a fizzling screen, and there's dialog on the bottom, explaining that the last game was an arcade game, but that the person that's playing thinks its all a dream. But they don't remember waking up...

Here is where you begin.
Apparently, you are outside of some red-bricked building, staring at Submachine, the arcade game. (as you can see, the graphics are more developed and creative than the original). All is quiet, except for the incessant chriping of crickets. Without any further instructions, you must go around looking for things, but aren't told what to go find. You have a journal page, but its such a mystery, that it just adds to the depth of the game, rather than gameplay.

Just follow your instincts from here; point and click. In your inventory, you see you already have a crystal of some sort, and a counter for little red marbles. These are "secrets", and you can find them hidden throughout the rest of the game.

So, you start out, aimlessly wandering around the red-bricked building, and all you see are a weird, sci-fi-esque instrument, a gramaphone, an empty wall, stairs, and a small room with a cog and chair on the ground. Well, you have a crsytal and a sci-fi machine; and a cog and a broken gramaphone. Sounds like a good place to start. Once you get the gramaphone working, the rest of the creepy soundtrack is added in a clever way: the gramaphone is the soundtrack. Prepare to feel paranoid.

From here, you must use your Myst/Riven instincts, and take special note to almost everything: Fromt scribbling on the walls, to how things are laid out. DON'T give up, just keep going, as you might've found out by Submachine. If not, well, just stick to it. I'm serious. Skutnik, the creator, really did a good job with creating a feel to the game, you are completely lost in some abandonned building (later to be the lighthouse, like in the picture from Submachine, Extended. You also feel like something is going to jump out at you, which adds to the overall gameplay. There are keys, journal pages, lights, switches, videos, dark sewer passages (which can get confusing. I suggest drawing a map), everything you can ask for in a point-and-click, puzzle game.

Differently from Myst/Riven, your perspective isn't truly first person for the whole game. Many rooms seem like it, but in reality, you can't see inside two sewer lines at once. Also, differently from Submachine, Extended, there's different soundtracks for certain rooms, and the whole 'think this way' is subtly taught to the player. Finding the red "secrets" helps prepare you to look for other small, hard-to-see items that will need.


Much better graphics than the last one, eh?






This game is another wonderful installment to the mysterious (and sometimes frustrating) Submachine series, and each new addition just makes you want to play more. When you finish each one, you feel a sense of accomplishment like, "Yes, just BEAT THAT!...Ok, next game."

Green light. All systems go. M, I'm coming for you, and your karma arm! Wait, where's Einstein?
After flipping the switch, there's a white light, and there's a grainy video of a man walking to the edge of the water, and realizing its just the image on a screen.

And so ends, Submachine 2

More on the way


4.7/5