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Hi! I'm Bart Bonte, a Belgian independent game designer and bontegames.com is where I blog about new interesting browser and mobile games. My own games are all in the left column (or at the bottom of this page on mobile). More info about me and my games on bartbonte.com.
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April 16, 2022

give up the ghost: a puzzle checklist [browser]

Give Up the Ghost: a puzzle checklist, a lovely puzzle game about a ghost that likes to push blocks by gate.

70 comments:

Anonymous said...

Roundabout has me stumped.
I can't get the blue circle door open.

Anonymous said...

Nope nope My brain is going to explode!

Urban Garlic said...

Pretty good brain-bender -- currently stuck on #10.

Spoiler for roundabout (rot13, decode at rot13.org)

Gur vafvtug V arrqrq jnf gb zbir gur oyhr pvepyr bhg bs gur jnl svefg, gura qb gur lryybj qvnzbaq, gura ng gur raq zbir gur oyhr pvepyr nyy gur jnl gb gur evtug naq hc, hfvat gur qvfnccrnevat gvyr bayl ng gur irel raq.

Anonymous said...

Stuck on 13 "portable".
I can get either side but not both yet.

Anonymous said...

This gets so much harder when you have to position the portal next to a wall so that you can then move the other end of the portal the way you want.

Anonymous said...

#24 has got me cooked.

Anonymous said...

Any help with level 12? can't get the X into the portal without pushing the portal all the way to the bottom

Urban Garlic said...

Don't recall that specific issue on #12, but a key insight for me is was that you can push portals through other portals. Does that help?

Urban Garlic said...

On #12, you can also move the portal in the bottom area -- my first move was to go to the bottom area without any items and push that portal up one, then do the X, then do the O.

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU!! yes, I never thought of pushing a portal through a portal - genius!

Canadam said...

#13 - If you can get either side, note which directions you can push the portal and with that in mind consider which of the Heart and X has to go thru the portal first. Also, there are two different ways to get the keys into the portal - one allows you to continue, one doesn't.

Anonymous said...

Can anyone offer a hint for 17? it doesn't seem possible to get 2 hearts...

Urban Garlic said...

My progress re-set overnight, so I'm not sure how far I'll get...

But for #17: What do you think happens to the stuff behind the portal when you duplicate a portal?

Anonymous said...

I don't understand these levels that have a hole in the floor you can't get around... like Backup (18) and Errata (20). Is there a trick to these holes I'm not getting?

Archangel117 said...

For those breakaway floors on levels like Backup (18) and Errata (20), they only breakaway when the ghost steps on and then leaves them. Objects can be pushed onto and off of those spaces without them breaking.

prohardver said...

I also stucked on 17, thank you, Urban Garlic, for the hint, that helped a lot! I needed Archangel117's advice too, thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hints for 34 "Hidden"? There is a rot13 hint on the site itself but I am stuck there.

Anonymous said...

Never mind on 34...I stumbled upon it. My only advice on this game is every time you think there is no solution try something out of the box. I find this game very hard.

Anonymous said...

This game is extreme. I thought Hidden level was hard, but now I've been struggling with 36 and 37 for a week, and it's a hell. I tried all mechanics which I learned before, but still no success. Always needing a piece or a move which is not there. I must be missing something. I always wonder how you have to think to design the puzzle so hard, but still solvable.

a12r13 said...

One of the fgreatest games I've played here...
Right now on level 13
Love it.

Unknown said...

I'm stuck already on 5 (Replica). I don't think I'm going to get far with this unless somebody posts a walkthrough.

Anonymous said...

I'm stuck on 20. I can either clear the right or left, but not both.

Smowler said...

Here's a Rot13 hint for level 20. Hope this helps.

Gur gevpx gb yriry 20 jnf gb abg svavfu znxvat lbhe 10'f hagvy lbh unir pebffrq gur oevqtr vagb gur 10 mbar.

Meblin said...

Any help with level 25 would be much appreciated

Meblin said...

Manage to get it sussed

Yu said...

I'm loving this game. I just started so I'm still at lvl 10.

Hancock said...

I'm stuck on lvl 19. I figured out one way to get all the x's and o's into off the walls but can't crash them into their respective blocks. Any help?

Unknown said...

Worked out what I was missing! After level 14, I need a break though.

eszterencs said...

I feel so dumb... :-D It went well for a while, but now I've hopelessly stuck on level 22. I also tried bigger levels with no success, they all look impossible, even there are only a few options to try and still... My brain is probably limited, I have no more out-of-the-box ideas. Huge respect for the developer of this game, and for everyone who could go further... :-) I will give a few more try, but I am afraid I have to give up. :-O

Anonymous said...

Stuck in the last level for 2 days, this game insane :)

EF said...

I must commend the coding of the game engine - it is a work of art! Handling closed loops, infinite recursion levels, and every corner case I can think of!

Anonymous said...

Just finished the last level, this game is a masterpiece. Thanks for sharing Bart.

Smowler said...

FYI youtube now has a walkthru for the first 11 levels - search for "give up the ghost puzzle checklist". I'm hoping for another installment into the 20's soon. I've gone to infinity and beyond, but can't find my way out...

Anonymous said...

I'm currently stuck on 24. I've figured out how to make two usable X's, but not a third.

Meblin said...

Here's a video I made for level 24

https://youtu.be/QfwLjEU_Gpw

Unknown said...

I've been stuck for a few days on level 19, like Hancock. It looks impossible; I suspect there's something about pushing one portal through another that I don't understand. Does anybody have a walkthrough?

Canadam said...

@Hancock & Unknown - Lvl 19: It's all about 'Preparation' - getting pieces set up in the required positions before commencing clearing. Maybe you don't need to get 'all' the X & O's off the walls? There is only one place to position each transporter to get the X & O's to their destinations, and a related ability that comes from that that is key to getting them thru the transporters. Take care with your order/speed of clearing so you don't lose that ability before you need it again. Hope that helps without giving too much away.

Anonymous said...

I am also stuck on 19... can someone please explain how the gray blocks with the small grid of orange and yellow squares work? Why does pushing the heart into the heart block open up all of those blocks with the small orange/yellow grid except for the one by the exit? How are you supposed to know what opens that block?

Anonymous said...

The gray blocks with the small grid open when every other gate on the screen has been opened :)

Unknown said...

@Canadam,
Thanks, I've now made progress on level 19. I can match up the Os or the Xs, but only by breaking the bridge to the portal I need to get the other pair. If I could move the portal on the island up or down it might work, but I can't see how to do that either. Any more clues?

a12r13 said...

Some hints for #19 :

1 : where can you move the central teleporters so that once the heart pushed in place, the teleporters on left and right become "pushable" back to the center ?
2 : once the heart pushed think about how you can go the left and right "islands" by teleporting, so that you can actually get those teleporters back to the center - for that, don't be in too much of a rush and do things in the right order....
3 : you want to get the "X" and "O"s to the center (don't you ?) : that's not so difficult, but must be done step by step because you'll use the same teleporter, which means you'll have to push it from one side to the other - think carefully about that.
4 : once all "X" and "O"s are in the center, there's one last "trick" to find, which is "once I "removed" one of those (the 2 "X" or the 2 "O" - no matter because the level is symetrical) how can I "separate" the teleporters in the center ? That one is not the easiest.... but once done, you're ok.

A very intersting level, indeed.

Anonymous said...

Stuck on level 30 now. So far my strategy is to move the right portal up one, then put the blue circle to the right and purple X above so I can move the left portal and access the X stuck at the very top. Problem is once I do that I can't figure out how to get the X above the right portal off the wall so I can move it towards the exit.

Anonymous said...

Level 24 - i think it involves time portals where you undo what you've done but i can't make enough sense of it. purple crosses just appearing seemingly randomly. ugh.

Anonymous said...

Levels 35 and 36 are beating me lol

a12r13 said...

@anonymous - 2 may 20:25

What happens is that you've pushed a teleporter on a duplicator.
When you do so, it creates a new teleporter on the target, and this new teleporter will teleport you in a new level exactly similar to the one you were in when you duplicated the teleporter in the first place. (in this particular level, you'll see your "inactive twin" remaining where you were when you activated the duplicator).
Using again these duplicated teleporters can create an infinite series of levels.
The interest is that you can come back from these levels - and possibly do it pushing items you've found there....

Unknown said...

a12r13 on 1st May: thanks! It clicked eventually.

I've now reached level 25 and I think I need to sleep on it again (several levels were solved by leaving it overnight). Are there an infinite number of rooms, which all start the same apart from the first one?

Anonymous said...

25 has infinite rooms.

Anyone have a hint for 33? I've been stuck on that one for a little while now, seems impossible. I can't even figure out how to get two usable 5's on the right side to unlock the barriers, never mind four.

Anonymous said...

L33: 10 and 5 don't merge. You need to build 10s, alternate them with 5s, and push the while line. And meanwhile you have to figure out how to store the boxes on the way, so that they don't merge when pushing the whole line to through the portal.

Anonymous said...

Any help with 36?

Anonymous said...

L36: Push top left box over the edge. This disables the top middle portal and turns him into a red box. The mechanics used here is blocking portals exits, allowing pushing their counterparts.

Anonymous said...

L36: I've figured out that much, but the sequencing after that is tripping me up. Which portals "make" the two boxes needed to finish the level? Also, are the lower-middle 2 portals used at all during the solution?

EF said...

L36: Yes, the lower-middle portals are used in the style of this level.

Anonymous said...

Still stuck on 36: doesn't seem to be possible to retrieve a lower-middle block.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone have any L35 hints?

Anonymous said...

I figured out 36: and no, you do not need the lower-middle portals...

EF said...

Apparently there are two solutions to 36. I threw the lowest middle portal overboard and then used the one above it as a block.

Anonymous said...

Has anybody solved 37??

Anonymous said...

L37: Push the red portal until you can walk in. Push 9 out, build 10, place 10 next to the middle wall, walk out and push 9 in. This moves the nested portal so you can get in. Push 9 into the inner portal, create 10 by merging 9+9 and 10+10. Push 10 out, unlock doors 10 and 9. Move 9 out, push the red portal over the edge, push 9 through the left portal until it clones. Move around the 9, push it again through the portal, it creates 10, unlock door 10, enjoy L38 :).

Anonymous said...

But how can you move the 9 to clone, when the passage in the upper platform is blocked? This might have been a level update...

Anonymous said...

Check this picture https://imgur.com/a/Ko9a9WO - it's showing getting the last 10 from one 9.

Anonymous said...

Oh, of course! Thank you for the help!

Anonymous said...

I figured out L35! Still working on Ls 36, 38, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, and 50!

Unknown said...

Now up to level 28, Uncover - sleeping on it didn't help. I can open the portal and use it to eat the X sitting on the exit, but then the portal is sitting on the exit and if I don't open the other side I can't get the heart to its match to make space to push the portal into, but if I do (open the left side), there's nothing to push on.

Anonymous said...

L28: The point is to keep one X outside, do all the work with the heart, move the inside portal and use the outside X to block the exit of the inside portal to allow pushing the outside portal. Check https://imgur.com/a/YFBTatP, I hope it's clear. I'll have to install a video recording tool, screenshots suck.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone been able to complete 39 yet? I been stuck on that one for a few days and can't even figure out how to save one shape, never mind all three of them.

Anonymous said...

L39: Just a hint - this level is matryoshka, you need to use multi level portals nesting. Also, nesting a portal allow you to move it where you would not be able to push it otherwise. Nest, move the outer portal, and push the inner out. If this doesn't help, I'll post a full video.

Unknown said...

Anonymous 8th May, L28: Thanks, I don't remember exactly how I did it (I forgot to check the imgur) but those ideas were useful
Anonymous 4th May at 19:54, L33: I thought it was something like that but I can't work out how to get from 5-10-5 to 10-5-10, as opposed to 10-10-5 and the 10s merge. How can you store anything, when it's a new copy of the portal every time?

Anonymous said...

L33: Next hint - when you have 5-10-5, put 10 between a portal and 5 door so you can move the inner portal over the disappearing platform into another portal. Then just don't get lost and collect all 5s you need.

Unknown said...

I came back after a break and now I'm stuck on level 36. I keep thinking I've found a solution and then it breaks down. For instance, after reading EF's comments, I worked out how to throw the portal off the lower-middle island without getting stuck -on- the island; but I can't get below the portal above it, to move it to anywhere useful.

Unknown said...

@Anonymous on 13th May,
Please post that video! I'm stuck like the previous Anonymous. I looked at the rot13 hints on the game site, and I don't see why point 3 isn't first since I can't do anything useful without it, but the sequence I thought would achieve that didn't.

 

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