Game #112: Savage Island – Part I

Savage Island is the 10th game in Scott Adams’ Adventure Series and it is not for the uninitiated. The game thus far has been brutally difficult.

I have been extremely busy with work the past four weeks and thus my gaming time has been drastically reduced. I have found myself playing the game in 30 minute segments on nights where I’m not too exhausted. The game gives up it’s secrets only after great persistence. I’ve been like a starving man searching for bread crumbs.

You begin the game on a beach next to a large stone head lying near the shore. I had no idea what the premise of the game was when I first started to play it.

I can only surmise at this point what I’m likely supposed to do but more on that later. Moving about from location to location is not as simple as previous text adventures that we’ve played. For example, when you move south from your starting location you can spot a volcano in the distance. You cannot move in any particular direction from that spot however if you type in GO VOLCANO then you suddenly find yourself on the rim of the volcano looking down. There have been a few instances like this where you have to interact with your environment rather than moving in a particular compass direction. This has made exploring the island slow and tedious as you test each compass direction and then have to resort to interacting with descriptive elements as well.

I have been able to slowly make some progress with the game however I am still dealing with multiple puzzles.

One of the biggest puzzles in the game has got to be the bear. Yes this seems like an episode of Lost which wouldn’t come around for another 15 years or so. Once you are standing on the rim of the volcano you can make your down into the caldera and once you do so you’ll find a cave and a lake; and also a bear. ( it took me quite a bit of playing time before I even realized that I could go down in to the volcano ) The bear would routinely sniff me, lick me, and then eat me. This caused me to have to restart the game multiple times. I slowly came to realize that the bear is attracted to the sweat on my body. If you swim in the lake before you encounter the bear it will buy you some time. The more actions you take however and the more time that goes by you’ll begin to perspire again and when you do the bear will eat you.

The bear is generally found in the cave and there is also a dark opening in the cave that I can enter however I have no light source. I’ve yet to take the time to attempt to map the cave in the dark. The game warns you that you can fall and break your neck by moving around in the dark so I’m assuming there must be a light source somewhere however I have yet to find it. There is also a ledge just off the main chamber of the cave that overlooks a lava flow and it is incredibly hot in the room. I am sure it is there for a reason.

Here are all of the current puzzles I am currently working on:

• the bear – examining the bear reveals that it is sick – it is also attracted to the sweat on your body so I believe I have to help the bear in some way or give it something
• the dark cave – I need to try to find a light source of some kind
• in my most recent session I had two huge breakthroughs – I discovered a bottle of rum by digging in the sand at the beach – I dumped out the rum and filled the bottle with seawater and tried to give it to the bear or dump it in a natural stone basin in the cave but my attempts have gotten me killed each time. I’ll keep experimenting with the bottle of rum but it seems key
• I also discovered that if I hold my breath I can dive down to the bottom of the lake. I found a knife down there but each time I try to carry an item in the water it leads to me drowning. I believe I have thought through a solution to this problem but so far I have failed to properly implement my plan. One of the things you have to deal with is a hurricane which hits the island. In one of my play sessions I heard a loud crash and discovered that a palm tree had been knocked down. I was able to pick up the tree trunk and carry it around. I believe I have to get the trunk and take it down to the lake and perhaps I can use that as a flotation device to help me. The problem is the hurricane keeps killing me. I am sure there is a spot on the island where I can be safe from the strong winds and then obtain the tree trunk. I will work on that this week.
• I discovered I could climb the head on the beach and once up there I discovered an atoll in the distance. I believe that I am to build a raft and make my way over to that atoll. Why a raft? I see no other way to cross water filled with sharks to a neighboring atoll. I have a trunk from a palm tree; and I spotted some vines when I was examining the jungle but I couldn’t get the vines. Perhaps the knife; if I can obtain it; will allow me to cut the vines. We’ll see
• So I need to deal with the bear, the lake, the hurricane, find a light source, get materials for a raft, and make my way off of the island.

It took quite a bit of time to pull this information from the game. Time and persistence and constant experimentation has led to the puzzles that I’ve presented to you. The game is extremely tough and does not give up it’s secrets easily. I will continue to plug away at this and hopefully have an update for you next week and I’ll have more to say about the game itself.