The Loop [thriller/puzzle]

[thisisausername]

lol im on the easiest level haha XD (yeah i know i suck at games XD)
it s the part when hes on the train and he got the riddle

“You spill your blood, I spill my secrets.” so then i just kept going north and then for some reason im back in the circus again...the walkthrough only said "Whatcha gonna do? Cut yourself?"

[Duskylli]

lol im on the easiest level haha XD (yeah i know i suck at games XD)
it s the part when hes on the train and he got the riddle

“You spill your blood, I spill my secrets.” so then i just kept going north and then for some reason im back in the circus again...the walkthrough only said "Whatcha gonna do? Cut yourself?"

oh that part you have to wake up and then cut yourself in the trailer

I'm playing on insane, the loops are making me insane. I stopped playing because

I hate clowns D8<

. This game is so freaky. But I like the concept, the puzzels and how it was written just not

freaky clowns!

[thisisausername]

ohhhhhhhh i cant believe i didnt get that lol XD now im on the part when the clown gave him a key to room 409 and then he had to kill sarah. i made him die once on that part cuz the timer ran out tho when i tried to load my save to the part when the clown asked him questions and i entered room 409 again, the timer is automatically up and i didnt even do anything yet...does that mean ii have to restart the game or something?? T_T and what does all the symbols mean...

[unknown5]

nice. played it on easy tho so got thru it quickly. rly liked the guitar chord clue. 409's a tad buggy, but not that serious. my comp's wimpy, so the load/save screens kinda lagged. cool game.

[owlcity89]

I saved right before I entered room 409, and I failed the 1st challenge and when I went back to my save and loaded, but when I tried to do the challenge again, I had failed before I had even begun. Does that really mean I have to play ALL. OVER. AGAIN?! ;-;

PS This is the best Visual Novel I ever played!!! And these are some of the hardest puzzles ever (so simple yet so evil!). You are the master. *bows*

[Greeny]

I saved right before I entered room 409, and I failed the 1st challenge and when I went back to my save and loaded, but when I tried to do the challenge again, I had failed before I had even begun. Does that really mean I have to play ALL. OVER. AGAIN?! ;-;

I'm pretty sure this bug has been fixed! :O
If you somehow have an earlier version of the game, try restarting the game, that should reset the timer.

[Caveat Lector]

Before I got an account with LSF, I’d been following the progress of some VN’s on the forums, and this had been a title I was looking forward to. And when it was completed, I downloaded it, and I can safely say I was not disappointed! I’ve replayed through this quite a few times, on all three levels, and what made it replayable for me was discovering something new with each play through, even the little things like what kind of story the author writes, or what to watch on TV. And of course, there was also the trophies. I easily snagged some on my first playthrough, but there were others I struggled with before eventually obtaining…

thanks to the help of the trophy room image file in the game folders.

What made this really work for me was how it tapped into a specific fear I have: The fear of someone breaking into my house (or apartment, in this case) and only having seconds to act and think at the speed of light. You did a great job of capturing this, and while some might disagree, I loved the real time countdown because it added to the tension and the urgency. I also loved the overall atmosphere of the game. It felt very ominous, unsettling, and a little creepy in some places.

I’m not coulrophobic, but the Clown was still effectively scary. There’s just something unsettling about someone who happily bashes you over the head with a smile in clown make-up…it just makes him seem even less human…of course, he became less scary once I knew what his *deal* was, and also because something about the scene where you sit down with him was relaxing yet “unnerving”, if that makes any sense.
I also have to give you props for trolling the player on Demented Mode. Reasons why are marked in SPOILERS, just in case other people like to read the comments before downloading, or if someone hasn’t tried it on Demented Mode yet, because trust me, it NEEDS to be experienced, not spoiled:

Specifically, I’m referring to the beginning in the apartment. It runs on the assumption that if the player wants to try out the hardest possible level, they’ve already beaten the “easier” levels and want a challenge, and therefore THINK they know what to do, only to be massively trolled. At least, it trolled ME. I began Demented Mode thinking “okay, maybe the puzzles will be a little trickier, maybe I’ll have to move a lot faster in the timed sequences, but oh well, it doesn’t look TOO bad so far. I’ll just have my nighttime beverage, go to the shelf, and open the enve—”
“Behind you”
Protag: “Huh? What’s behind m—”
*SPLAT*
Me: “MOTHERFU--!”

And yeah, this, along with other no-longer-safe-on-this-level actions made me scream various obscenities at the computer, but make me laugh now that I think about them. Well-played.

That being said, however, Demented Mode was a little TOO hard in some places, like in the second act:

I could only figure out the train puzzle thanks to the video walkthrough posted by ChaoticEvilFTW. And then, wouldn’t you know it, I didn’t know how to play the guitar, so back I go into the “real” world where I HAVE to find the book, but it’s not where it usually is…and then I decide to smoke, cuz what the heck, the protag’s trapped forever, emphysema’s the least of his worries—oh wait. The book. Some parts of Demented Mode run on the assumption that once the player realizes they can’t just do what they did on the other levels, they’ll get desperate and try every possible non-lethal action, but the train puzzle was when it got to be too much.

Apart from that, this was a very well-crafted game, and I look forward to other titles from you in the future!

Oh, and about a *certain* scene towards the end in Demented Mode…

“I guess I'll just pick up the razor--wait, THAT option wasn’t there before, wonder what happens if…wait, what…what….” *sequence ends* “WTF JUST HAPPENED!?”

PS If anyone’s feeling masochistic, here’s a challenge: Play through the game in Demented Mode from beginning to end WITHOUT saving. Have fu~n….

[kersplode]

damn. DAMN. I love this game so far, but I'm crazy stuck. I'm using the hint guide and I'm on the easiest difficulty, but I can't seem to spot any form of clue for finding the suitcase code after room 409. I've checked every single room and gone into every area of the hotel, but there's nothing out of the ordinary. even tried the wine. guess I might be an idiot--I really wanna solve this thing without brute-forcing it, so may I have some sort of clue? even though I haven't finished it yet, I must say this might be one of my favourite visual novels ever.

p.s.: is it meant to say 'an guitar hero'?

[Caveat Lector]

It's on the wall on the first floor. Keep going west until you see it. You probably can't see it because it's blocked by the menu. Click on any of the "Enter Room" options, and the screen should be clear. Then you can see the number. Write it down. Barring that, the image of the wall with the combo can also be found in the game files if you know where to look.

[hikaa212]

just played this, and I really LOVE it was stuck few days ago and finally have motivation to play it (I TRY not too look at the cheats~ hahaha). I only beat the crazy mode though, I will try to figure out Insane and Demented mode next time >:)

the ending really creeped me out btw, clowns...

[iceheart831]

Ok my bestie and I tried out this game on demented and finished the game XD if anyone really wants a guide it's on my facebook and public in my notes section (The guide was too large for this post...and there are a LOT of spoilers probably lol I tried to limit the amount and put warning before all of them etc.)


PM me if you can't see it and are actually interested in using it, then I'll just post the guide on here....

This is the fruit of my blood, tears, and deterioration of my mental sanity, enjoy:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/jade-lil ... 2595297303


Now, I just want to say I LOVE this game (created a lemmasoft account just to post this) lol it drove me up the WALL xDDDD we played in the dark and I'm not sure about my friend but I was too busy laughing dementedly when triggering loops to get scared.

With every time I either:
a. died
b. triggered a loop
or
c. all of the above

the level of my blood thirstiness just increased xD

Props to the creator I look forwards to stalking you in the future for more games, I've already dowloaded The madness and will be playing/vlogging about it tomorrow <3

ps. Not sure if the link above is even allowed to be posted here, but if not please PM me and I'll remove the post and just post the guide lol. Would love to hear your input on it greeny :3 to see if I actually solved any puzzles or if I'm just the luckiest girl in the world XDDDD

[Greeny]

It brings a tear to my eye every time I read such a heartwarming story about mental breakdown.

I hope you enjoy The Madness, and that it strips away any last fraction of sanity you may have left! ;D

I'm sure it's okay to post such a link here, there's even a walkthroughs board for official and unofficial guides if you wanted to post your guide here.

[Caveat Lector]

I have a basic gist of how to get the various trophies in the "secret" trophy room, if that would be okay, too.

[darkphilious]

Congrats on the release! (Even though I'm 2+ years too late to say this x_x) This has got to be one of the most intense VN that I've ever played. It was fun playing the game, though I don't know how many mini heart attacks that I got playing this game, lol. This game is crazy hard to beat too, but that's what makes it interesting. I'm going to play this game again now that I'm reminded of it. Thanks for making this awesome game!