Rusty Lake Paradise

About Rusty Lake Paradise

Rusty Lake Paradise is the third premium point-and-click adventure from Rusty Lake, the Dutch studio behind the Cube Escape series, Rusty Lake Hotel and Rusty Lake: Roots. It came out on Steam in January 2018 and is also sold on iPhone and Android.

Jakob, the eldest son of the Eilander family, comes back to Paradise Island after his mother has died. Since her death, which no one will explain, the island has been struck by the ten plagues of Egypt. To stop them you look for his mother's hidden memories and join the family in rituals that become stranger with each plague.

You play it as you play the other Rusty Lake games: you click around hand-painted scenes, pick up and combine items, and solve the puzzles each scene hides. Each plague has its own atmosphere, puzzles and theme music, and the pastel background paintings are by the Dutch painter Johan Scherft.

It is not frightening through chases or jumpscares. The unease comes from the calm way it shows terrible things: the masked family standing around a coffin, the water turned to blood, swarms that settle over everything. It suits players who liked Rusty Lake: Roots or the Cube Escape games and anyone who wants a horror story told through puzzles.

How to play Rusty Lake Paradise

1. Click around each scene of the island to look closer and find items.
2. Pick up items and use or combine them where they fit.
3. Solve the puzzles of each plague to lift it and move to the next.
4. Look for the mother's hidden memories as you go; they carry the story.
5. Come back to finished areas later to find the island's secrets and achievements.

Tips

• Write down symbols, numbers and colour orders you see; they are often the answer to a puzzle in another scene.
• If you are stuck, check every scene again; a plague often changes what you can reach.
• Play with sound on; each plague's music and sound effects hint at what to do.

Questions