If Life Gives You Lemons, Make Out With A Lemon.

[rionaleonhart]

The first step to beating Exit/Corners is to prove that the mastermind isn't among us... using spelling and grammar.

I heard of Exit/Corners about a fortnight ago and went, 'Oh, I should play that,' and then timydamonkey recommended it to me a week later. The world evidently wanted me to play Exit/Corners, and I was happy to oblige.

Exit/Corners is a game in my favourite strangely specific genre, 'a bunch of people are abducted and put through traumatic, murder-filled trials for mysterious reasons'. Like Your Turn to Die, it is free and so high-quality I sort of feel like I've mugged the developer. Exit/Corners is also unusual against murder visual novels in that it was originally written in English, rather than translated.

Unfortunately, Exit/Corners is only available to play in-browser; there's no console or download version. This was slightly inconvenient, particularly as my save data was lost at one point (I was able to skip quickly through everything I'd already done using the catch-up tool), but the game interested me enough to keep me pressing on.

I really like Ink as a character. I enjoy his slightly dry sense of humour. He's a great protagonist, I think: not too exaggerated a character, so he can interact realistically with the people around him, but there's enough there to make him feel distinct.



I started headcanoning Ink as a trans guy very early on, and then, as the game progressed, I increasingly found myself suspecting I was actually just canoning him as a trans guy. He got flustered when he thought Aether and Liza were talking about menstruation, which threw me off for a while, but in retrospect he might have been uncomfortable because he thought Liza was asking him for a tampon. (After finishing the game, I took a look at a question-and-answer session with the developer, who has confirmed that Ink is trans.)

I got stuck on the puzzle you don't actually do yourself! Rae's solving the puzzle and told us not to distract him, so I went 'better not speak to Rae; am I just supposed to... wait until the twelve-minute time limit is up?', but in fact the game doesn't progress until you hit the 'speak to Rae' button.

I think I've probably missed out on a lot of dialogue because of my reluctance to ask the others for hints, which is a bit of a shame.

Rae: You can't just hack my arm off like that!
Beth: And here I thought you hated that word.

I laughed aloud. Incredible. (Rae is a programmer who hates the word 'hacking'.)

Sean: Say, you'd consider yourself a bibliophile, right, Ink?
Ink: Yeah, for sure.
Sean: You ever fuck a book?

ALSO INCREDIBLE.

I made the dialogue choice 'Don't be so hard on yourself' and Ink asked, 'Wait, did you hear that voice? It said "Don't be hard on yourself". Something like that' and OH NO, INK KNOWS I'M HERE. He's reacted oddly when I made dialogue choices before, but I didn't realise he was hearing me, the player make the choice!

I've just remembered that the name of this chapter was 'The Sound of Your Voice'. 'Your' as in my?

Ink's freaking out now. Sorry, Ink! I'm just trying to help you make good decisions; I didn't mean to make you realise you're a videogame character!

I'd love it if we actually get to talk to Ink, as the player, through the dialogue prompts. If he can hear me, let me communicate with him!

Ah, no, it's not me; it's a narrator. 'And no, I was not referring to me' would have hit harder if I hadn't already experienced 'He knew because I knew'.

INK'S ASKING IF ANYONE'S THERE, LET ME TALK TO HIM

'Also, might be a weird thing to say at a time like this, but I'm definitely shipping the two of you' goddammit Sean (I laughed aloud)

'Honestly, I'm... feeling pretty numb at the moment. Now's probably the best time for me to try. If some kind of trap goes off I'll just... try to deal with it, I guess.' Oh, Ink.

Don't ask me who did the murder, Exit/Corners! I don't know! I think Aether seems most likely, but I'm inclined to say Sean, because at least if we tell ourselves that the remaining Contestants can believe in each other and work together.

Am I playing as Ink or as the mysterious voice in his head? As the mysterious voice, I'd say Aether, because that's what I actually think. As Ink, I'd say Sean, because believing that will make it easier to press on as a team. It doesn't benefit us to suspect each other.

(I decided to say Sean, just in case - accidentally making Ink suspect Aether would have been worse than accidentally making the voice suspect Sean - but it turned out to very definitely be the voice in his head, so I quickly skipped through the chapter again and changed it to Aether.)

I'm delighted by Ink's ingenious 'see who can write Exit/Corners correctly' plan. The weird punctuation of the game's name serves an actual plot purpose!

Huh. I thought this was set in the US, but both Rae and Tiana write the twentieth of March as 20/3, rather than 3/20.

'Ink coughed up words between sobs. He was in no state to hold a conversation.' Excellent suffering. Good work.

Are we about to learn we're AI replicas of real people? I've been suspecting this for a while; it's going to be a rough realisation for these guys. (I wrote a fic along these lines for Your Turn to Die, actually!)

Ah, no! We're not AI replicas; we're real people experiencing a virtual reality. Probably easier for the characters to handle than the 'you don't actually exist at all' revelation, at least.

Wait, is Aether an AI? We've never seen her cough up blood, as far as I recall.

This is feeling very much like a cross between 999 and Danganronpa 2. In particular, the 'meek girl whose main role is obviously to be the protagonist's love interest OH WAIT SOMETHING ISN'T RIGHT HERE' aspect brings 999 very strongly to mind.

GETTING SENT TO HELP US, HECK YEAH

There's nothing built beyond the exit, so Ink's mind will just make his environment up if he escapes! This is fascinating and I'm definitely going to contemplate whether fanfiction could come of it.

Are Ink and the AI designed to manipulate him going to end up stranded in Ink's mind together? This is definitely fanfiction material.

It's my favourite thing: a bunch of misfit outcasts who don't really have anyone in their lives and end up powerfully bonded through a shared traumatic experience!

Ink's terrified, yesssss (sorry, Ink; you're my favourite character, and that means this is how I'm compelled to react to your suffering)

Falling until the world crashes! This is so rad!

Oh, I've just realised why the same pen wrote in different colours for Ink and Rae! Rae looked at it and went 'blue pen, blue ink'; Ink had the same pen at home (his mind probably created its design in the simulation) and knew the ink was black. That's actually really cool. I suppose whether the sword was real or not to Ink would have changed depending on whether I said I thought it was real (I didn't), and in either case Beth, thinking it was real, could use it as a real sword.

I also like that 379 presumably worked as the password because Ink believed it would work. (Clearly all those times I confidently submitted incorrect answers to puzzles should have been successful!)

I wonder whether the mention of a previous death game in the original Four Elements Hotel is hinting towards a prequel. I'd be up for that.

Nolan: It was Exit/Corners or nothing at all.
Ink: You know, I think 'nothing at all' might have been just fine.

Again, Ink's dry, understated humour is a delight.

I love Ink getting flustered when Nolan assumes he's asking about Aether in the hope of seeing her again. Ink's got so many awkward, complicated, interesting feelings to deal with.

It's a nice touch that there's no longer any narration in the 'real world'.

The end. I really enjoyed that game! But I do think it's a shame that we don't get to spend more time with Rae, or any time with Liza, after leaving the simulation; that feels like an oversight. (Fanfiction epilogue time?)

Oh, hey, I'm looking stuff up, and apparently Ink doesn't necessarily read Beth's letter at the end; he did it because I'd built up trust with Beth! I took an early liking to her and spent time with her at every opportunity. (I was pretty sad that she got murdered. We could have been her new family if we'd all got out alive!)

Also, apparently you can explicitly leave as friends with Rae and/or Liza, and I blew it. BOOOOOOO.

Fortunately, it's easy to replay chapters, so I've changed some decisions to build up my trust with Rae and Liza, and now they're both willing to accompany me for the finale. Time to do this again, this time having befriended people who a) survive the game and b) are not secretly AIs.

'Sure, I'll never inherit Thatcher Biometrics Limited. And I'll never see again, either. But that's okay. I don't need those things to feel good about myself.' Heck yeah, Liza, enjoy that hard-earned self-confidence! I'm about one minute in and this route is already a huge improvement on the 'Ink goes after Aether alone' ending sequence I got the first time.

'I... I don't know what to say. I thought I'd be going it alone.' Aww, Ink. I'm sorry you actually were alone on my first playthrough! It's all right; you've got friends now.

Huh. Bizarrely, it seems that 379 doesn't work as the password if you enter it on the first attempt; you have to make an incorrect guess first.

I really like that Ink responds to Sent's final 'I do love you, you know' with 'I won't forget it'. He can't return Sent's love, but he can acknowledge that it means something.

Ink: Say... we're all going to be keeping in touch, right? Nolan gave me some extra data to look over and I'd be happy to pass along any—
Rae: Yeah, yeah, we'll be in touch. You don't gotta make up some bullshit reason.

Awww. Friendship!

'...or we could live, you know?' is the perfect line to end this game on (even if technically there are a few more lines after that), and I'm glad I took the time to get the ending that gives it to us!



On an entirely unrelated note: there's an episode of Phineas and Ferb where a mind-controlled Perry the Platypus shaves Dr Doofenshmirtz's legs, and I just have a lot of questions.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Yay!!

“(After finishing the game, I took a look at a question-and-answer session with the developer, who has confirmed that Ink is trans.)”

This is confirmed in-game also in one of the ending sequences – I played through 2 sets of ending sequences, it was said in my second. Ink does not take very well to it being brought up.

“I got stuck on the puzzle you don't actually do yourself! Rae's solving the puzzle and told us not to distract him, so I went 'better not speak to Rae; am I just supposed to... wait until the twelve-minute time limit is up?', but in fact the game doesn't progress until you hit the 'speak to Rae' button.”

Haha! I spoke to everyone else first, but then went, “I seem to have no other option.” And started continually bugging Rae.

“I laughed aloud. Incredible. (Rae is a programmer who hates the word 'hacking'.)”

Beth is amazing. (Also, is well over the “acceptable female important character age” – whoo!)

“I made the dialogue choice 'Don't be so hard on yourself' and Ink asked, 'Wait, did you hear that voice? It said "Don't be hard on yourself". Something like that' and OH NO, INK KNOWS I'M HERE. He's reacted oddly when I made dialogue choices before, but I didn't realise he was hearing me, the player make the choice!”

It is a very weird point in the game where you suddenly realise you’re not choosing Ink’s dialogue choices, he’s hearing you say a choice. The first time, I noticed something was a bit weird but brushed it off, then the next time I was like “no, this is definitely not Ink making a dialogue choice”.

“Don't ask me who did the murder, Exit/Corners! I don't know! I think Aether seems most likely, but I'm inclined to say Sean, because at least if we tell ourselves that the remaining Contestants can believe in each other and work together.”

I was suspicious of Aether all game because she was just too nice and got along very well with Ink so was expecting a twist. She also had the most opportunity. I ruled out Rae immediately, decided it probably wasn’t Sean as it was basically an afterthought and he hadn’t said anything earlier about them separating, and then could not decide between Aether or Tiana – in the end I went with Aether.

“I'm delighted by Ink's ingenious 'see who can write Exit/Corners correctly' plan. The weird punctuation of the game's name serves an actual plot purpose!”

I was so happy that I got this. I was examining things closely: three different answers so one specifically can’t be suspicious, one has a different date but that’s easily explained by the time passing being taken/not taken into account, nothing to contradict the names… hmm, that’s some interesting spelling. It turns out Ink DID de-mask the culprit with spelling and grammar! (The subsequent chat was funny because I totally read it as “Exit Slash Corners” despite the game saying “we’ve only ever called it Exit Corners!” Suppose that’s a downside to no voice acting where it may be less obvious?)

“Are Ink and the AI designed to manipulate him going to end up stranded in Ink's mind together? This is definitely fanfiction material.”

Yes plz.

“It's my favourite thing: a bunch of misfit outcasts who don't really have anyone in their lives and end up powerfully bonded through a shared traumatic experience!”

I told you you’d love it. :P

“I also like that 379 presumably worked as the password because Ink believed it would work. (Clearly all those times I confidently submitted incorrect answers to puzzles should have been successful!)”

You guessed the password? (Well, technically, the alternate password – some puzzles have alternative solutions. That one is an alternative.) Nice! I played around for a bit then gave up! It was funny when I looked up about how things changed when I finished – I didn’t look up any puzzle solutions on my first go and I found that the first time around I’d completed one of the puzzles with what is technically an alternative solution rather than the intended one. (The dates puzzle.)

“I'm about one minute in and this route is already a huge improvement on the 'Ink goes after Aether alone' ending sequence I got the first time.”

I got this too. Beth was my favourite so my default position was “SIDE WITH BETH ON EVERYTHING”. Sorry Rae and Liza, your only fault was not being Beth.

“I really like that Ink responds to Sent's final 'I do love you, you know' with 'I won't forget it'. He can't return Sent's love, but he can acknowledge that it means something.”

I thought the Sent-Ink relationship was fascinating, especially as for so long it was very unclear whether it was trolling and divide/conquer or legitimate.

(Also, those rotating pattern puzzles were hideous. They are, and have always been, my blindspot.)

I was also very proud of picking up all the foreshadowing on Liza. I had a suspicious which as I went along got more and more evidence and the second the “what is Liza’s secret?” prompt came up I typed it in and got it right. I was glad I was actually reading the game correctly and not having crazy theories – and if it hadn’t been that I’d have been completely stumped for what else the answer might have been!

-timydamonkey

[rionaleonhart]

Thank you for prodding me! As you predicted, I had a great time.

This is confirmed in-game also in one of the ending sequences – I played through 2 sets of ending sequences, it was said in my second. Ink does not take very well to it being brought up.

I just tried to find whether the other ending was on YouTube, but apparently not. This game really hasn't been as widely played as it deserves! Maybe I'll try for the second ending myself at some point.

Beth is amazing. (Also, is well over the “acceptable female important character age” – whoo!)

Beth is great. I love how sharp she is, and how much thought and care has obviously gone into her character. She's not just 'generic old woman'; she's just as much a part of the cast as anyone else.

I was suspicious of Aether all game because she was just too nice and got along very well with Ink so was expecting a twist.

I was torn between 'something more has to be going on with Aether' and 'but she seems so genuine!', so I suppose it makes sense that the twist was 'something more is going on with Aether, but Aether herself isn't aware of it'.

379 was the only thing I could think of for the password! I think I tried 'SENT' and 'SENT SENT' first, then went straight for 379. My first reaction to seeing it was correct was 'but it's not a password; it's just numbers! call it a passcode!' and then Tiana went '??? 379 isn't the password; what?' and I realised perhaps there was a reason I was being told to enter a password instead.

Beth was my favourite so my default position was “SIDE WITH BETH ON EVERYTHING”.

YEP. I put all my friendship eggs in one basket, and then that basket got murdered.

I thought the Sent-Ink relationship was fascinating

Me too! I was absolutely delighted when it turned out that Sent wanted to speak to Ink alone in order to confess his love.

(The rotating pattern puzzles took me ages, too.)

It hadn't occurred to me that Liza might be blind, but I thought she had some sort of disability, so I guessed pretty quickly when I saw the answer prompt 'Liza used to be' and there was only room for five letters in the answer.

[(Anonymous)]

I just tried to find whether the other ending was on YouTube, but apparently not. This game really hasn't been as widely played as it deserves! Maybe I'll try for the second ending myself at some point.

Yup, there's not much in the way of LPs. I had to look it up in a walkthrough - there are various puzzles that have alternative solutions (they're the ones which if you do the "input your choices!" saved game crash fixer it makes you redo, when it doesn't make you redo the majority) and you need to get a specific answer correct (aka. say the sword is fake). I think that's the unlock condition since you replayed to get Rae and Liza with you at the end yet still didn't get that section.

Of course, the issue is you may not realise whether you solved it via the alternative solution the first time (the date one I did naturally via alternative solution).

There isn't that much that's different, it's just a few comments but I think it's interesting.

[novel_machinist]

I did not read the whole post because I now want to play these games!! Thanks for the recs!

[rionaleonhart]

I hope you enjoy them! It's incredible how much effort and passion has clearly gone into these games, considering that they've been released at no cost.

[pict]

On an entirely unrelated note: there's an episode of Phineas and Ferb where a mind-controlled Perry the Platypus shaves Dr Doofenshmirtz's legs, and I just have a lot of questions.

I think it may be time for an intervention, my dear.

[rionaleonhart]

Did I dream that episode? Was it real? It seems very unlikely, but I'm sure that's what I saw!

[handmaid]

So I played this game at your recommendation and really liked it, thanks! There were a couple of times I went 'WHAT WHOA NO WAIT I GOT THIS -- i do not got this" and the like. In my mind the Mysterious Sponsor was a bored Akane Kurashiki and nobody will convince me otherwise.

[rionaleonhart]

I'm glad you enjoyed it; that's great to hear! It does feel pretty laser-targeted towards fans of Zero Escape. (Also, that is the best possible interpretation of the mysterious sponsor and I'm adopting this headcanon immediately.)