Hexamory System: Courage Guide

=====[ Hexamory System: Courage Guide ]=====

I. Introduction
II. How to Play
III. Answer Sheet & Strategy
	A. Byter
	B. Defreezer
	C. Decrypter
	D. Decoder
	E. Wallbreaker
	F. Word Jacker
IV. ????????
V. Closing Words

=====[ I. Introduction ]=====
Hexamory System: Courage is a (mostly) puzzle game about exploring a system filled with entries that tells the story of a barren Earth and what happened to it. The game is composed of 6 types of minigames, making up levels that unlock an entry once all 6 levels around the entries are completed.
Hexamory System: Courage is developed by KaiserKreuz, and is available on GameJolt and Itch.io. The game is Name-Your-Price on both sites.

Hexamory System: Courage on GameJolt: https://gamejolt.com/games/hexamory-system-courage/239891
Hexamory System: Courage on itch.io: https://kaiserkreuz.itch.io/hexamory-system-courage

=====[ II. How to Play ]=====
On the main screen, Left click to select a level. Right click to scan a level for more information, and Right click an entry to heal your health. The extra information can be crucial to solve some levels, so make sure to always check a level before going in.

The six minigames all have their own rules:

1. Byter: The Snake game, you can go through walls and appear on the other side (even the solid green wall on the right side of the screen). Arrow keys to turn direction. Once you have the amount of data (score) required, go through the hole that appears in the wall on the left side to finish the level.

2. Defreezer: Sliding ice puzzle. Arrow keys to move. You slide in the direction you moved in when moving onto ice, and only stop when colliding with a wall or landing onto solid floors. Reach the Defreezer (star shaped object on the right) to finish the level.

3. Decrypter: Match pieces shown on the right within time limit. Change the piece type with up and down arrows, and rotate the piece with left and right arrows, then press Enter once your piece matches the target piece.
The target piece is shown as dark gray silhouette on black background, which can make it hard to see. There is a time penalty for matching wrong, so be careful.

4. Decoder: Draw the shape shown on the right while having its sum matching the goal on the left. Arrow keys to move across the grid, Enter to select a cell, and Tab key to move to the validate button. Press Enter on the validate button with the correct cells lit up to finish the level.

5. Wallbreaker: A shooter game. Move with up and down arrows, and shoot with right arrow key. After all enemies are defeated, shoot each segment of the wall 3 times to break them and finish the level.

6. Word Jacker: A word scramble game. Given the letters of the word and a hint about its meaning, find the password. Use keyboard to type in the answer, then Enter to check your answer and finish the level.


=====[ III. Answer Sheet & Strategy ]=====
The health bar drains constantly as long as the game isn't paused, even if you're in a minigame or reading messages, so if you want a risk-free playthrough, you can screenshot the puzzle then press Alt-F4 to force quit the game, then solve the puzzles with the game closed. Make sure to save your progress after finishing each level by clicking the save button on the bottom of the screen.


=====[ III. A. Byter ]=====
In later levels, the mechanic of blocks that move and blocks that appear after a set amount of time are introduced. Getting any part of the snake's body caught by them will kill you, so it might take several tries. Remember you can always Alt-F4 out if you fail a level and don't want to take the penalty.

=====[ III. B. Defreezer ]=====
lv1. RDDDD RURDR URDRU RDRUR R
lv2. RRURD RR
lv3. UUURR DLDRU RR
lv4. DDDDR RULUR ULURU RURDR DLURR
lv5. RRURD RDLUL URDRD RR
lv6. RURDL DLURD RURDL DRR
lv7. RULDL ULUDR R
lv8. URLDR R
lv9. DDDRR RRRRR RRRUU LLLLL LDDDD RRRRR RUUUL LLLLD RRRRU LLLLL LDRRR R
More clearly: Dx3 Rx10 Ux2 Lx6 Dx4 Rx6 Ux3 Lx5 D Rx4 U Lx6 D Rx4
I was very stuck on this puzzle and asked Reddit for help. Thank you u/Grid_Gaming_Ultimate for coming up with the solution!
(It turned out checking info on this puzzle gives a really good hint. Always check the description...)

lv10. UUUUR DLURD LRR
lv11. RULDR URDLD RLDLU DRURU DRDR
Alternate (longer) solution: RULDR URDLD RLDLU DRURU LDURD RURR
Labeling the portals in lv11 column by column, portal 11 teleports you right to the end. The alternate path takes you through all the portals aside from portal 11.

In this level, some of the portals send you sliding forward upon exit, and some you simply stay on top of the exit portal. I haven't found anything that indicates which portals will make you slide.

lv12. URDUD UUDRR
Labeling columns from A to I, and the rows from 1 to 4, the teleport map is as follows:
(XX indicates the portal kills you instantly if stepped into)
A1 <-> D4, A2 <-> F3, A3 <-> B1, A4 <-> B2
B1 <-> A3, B2 <-> A4, B3 <-> H2, B4 <-> I2
C1 <-> E2, C2 <-> H4, C3 <-> E3, C4 <-> F4
D1 <-> I1, D2 <-> G1, D3 <-> F2, D4 <-> A1
E1 <-> F1, E2 <-> C1, E3 <-> C3, E4 <-> G4
F1 <-> E1, F2 <-> D3, F3 <-> A2, F4 <-> C4
G1 <-> D2, G2 <-> XX, G3 <-> H3, G4 <-> E4
H1 <-> I3, H2 <-> B3, H3 <-> G3, H4 <-> C2
I1 <-> D1, I2 <-> B4, I3 <-> H1

The route taken in this solution is
A2 -> F3 -> F4 -> C4 -> C3 -> E3 -> E4 -> G4 -> G3 -> H3 -> H2 -> B3 -> B4 -> I2.

lvEX. This level contains 4 parts.
DRURD RDLUL URURU LULU
DRURD LURDR URURU RDLDL DLDLD LRULD L
RURUR URURU LURUR URDRU
LDRDL DRDL RLRDD

=====[ III. C. Decrypter ]=====
For this game in general, you'll need your monitor brightness way up and wear glasses if you have bad eyesight, since the dark silhouette on dark background is quite hard to see.

For lvEX, I recommend first matching the piece shown, then imagine turning the direction marker independently so that both sides match up.

=====[ III. D. Decoder ]=====
While you can trial-and-error your way out of this game by first drawing the shape then move it until the sum matches, I personally recommend screenshotting the grid and work it out with math by assuming one of the cells as x, and calculating the value of the rest of the cells relative to x, such as the cell to the right of x being x + 9.
Setting x near the center of the image will allow you to cancel out most of the numbers, then solve for x.
The solutions below all have exactly one number in the pattern, indicating the cell I set as x.

lv1. 250
  [  ]
[ |50| ]
  [  ]

lv2. 520
[ |64| ]
[ ]__[ ]
[ |  | ]

lv3. 375
  [  ]
[ |75| ]
  [  ]

lv4. 314
[ | ]  [ | ]
  [ ]__[ ]
  [ |36| ]

lv5. 462
[ | | |66| | | ]

lv6. 160
[ ]  [ | ]
  [11] [ ]
[ ]  [ ]
[ |  ] [ ]

lv7. 765
[ | ]  [ | ]
    [76]
	[  ]
[ | ]  [ | ]

lv8. 666
[ ]  [ ]   [ ]
   [ ]  [80]  [ ]
[ ]  [ ]   [ ]

lv.9 444
[ ]
  [ ]
    [69]
       [ ]
	     [ ]
	       [ ]

lv10. 762
[ ] [  ] [ ]
[ | |59| | | ]
  [ ]  [ ] [ ]

lv11. 1000
It's hard to tell if the pattern is 4x4 or 5x5 in this puzzle, but trying to solve it as 4x4 will show it's impossible, since x will be some fraction instead of a whole number.
[ | |  | | ]
[ | |  | | ]
[ | |40| | ]
[ | |  | | ]
[ | |  | | ]

lvEX. 5000
I decided not to align this one. Note that a column across is +15 rather than +9 in this puzzle because of the larger grid.

    [ | | | ]
  [ | | | | | ]
[ | | ]   [ | | ]
[ | ]       [ | ]
          [ | | ]
		[127| | ]
	  [ | | ]
	  [ | ]
	  [ | ]
	  [ | ]

	  [ | ] [ ]
	  [ | ]

=====[ III. E. Wall Breaker ]=====
This game is pretty lenient, giving you 3 lives in each level. The only real tip I have is to not chase after the shielders, simply spam shots in a single line and they'll run into the bullets.

For lvEX, go for the topmost shooter first. You may get hit once or twice, but afterwards you can take out the shielders safely by spamming bullets in the same row, then take out the other shooters one by one. For the boss, only the center of it registers hits, and you'll have to rely on it not doing attacks to be able to deal any damage.

=====[ III. F. Word Jacker ]=====
lv1. SCARY
lv4. COWARDICE
lv6. EERINESS
lv7. CHILLING
lv8. MISGIVING
lv9. MONSTER
lv10. PANIC
lv11. TERRORIZE
lvEX. FEAR

lvEX works differently from the rest, with the letters given being another hint to the password instead of the word itself. Using the alphanumeric decoding rule on the name of the virus F-5118 will show that its true name is FEAR.

=====[ IV. ???????? ]=====
After all the EX levels have been solved, ???????? becomes available. Make sure to read the letter from the doctor pleading you not to open it before opening it anyway. You can also check for information on the lid for a hidden message.

Instead of mostly keyboard controls, this part of the game uses only the mouse and tests your hand-eye coordination. The battle autosaves every 2 minutes and preserves your progress on defeating the virus.

The virus has 3 attacks, which loops in the same order for phase 1:
1. Purple bubbles appear on the top of the screen, and fall after a short moment. The bubbles deal damage when they fall to the bottom of the screen, click on the bubbles to burst them before they do.

For this attack, I advise leaving bubbles that spawn too far away alone, and keep your cursoron the top of the screen.  The bubbles spawn and drop quickly, but generally this is the only attack you will take damage from in phase 1.

2. Yellow targets appear on the screen one by one, and shoots after a moment, inflicting damage. The time between a target's appearance and being dealt damage is plenty, so make sure you click on all of them. If you slip, skip a target or 2 and keep up with the rest of them.

3. Giant purple bubble with an arrow inside appear, and chases after you. The bubble moves slowly, but explodes and deals damage on contact. Simply move around the screen in a circle to avoid this attack.

There is a fourth event that can occur during attacks or in the downtime between attacks:
Letters that make up the word "COURAGE" appear and move across the screen. Collect all 7 of them and click on the word formed on the bottom of the screen to turn your cursor into a pill that can deal damage on the virus. I advise prioritizing getting the letters over avoiding damage, since if you miss one, it can take several attacks before it shows up again.

Once your cursor turned into a pill, it stays so for the rest of the battle as long as you don't die. If you die, you'll need to collect the letters again before you can continue dealing damage.

While you have the pill cursor, click on the small purple bubble with a colored core within it to burst the bubble and expose the core of the virus, then click on the core to deal damage and advance the battle. There appears to be no penalty for spam clicking near the virus, so it's safe to do so when the virus refuses to stay still.

The virus' core changes color depending on how much damage you've done to it. It also dictates the movement pattern of the virus, and indicates the phase of the battle.

0 damage: Blue core. Long downtime between attacks. Virus stays still aside from occasionally disappearing and reappearing on another part of the screen.

1 damage: Green core. Shorter downtime between attacks. Virus attempts to avoid your cursor constantly. Drive it to the edges or the corners of the screen and spam click it.

2 damage: Yellow core. Virus bounces across the screen in a zig-zag pattern.

3 damage: Orange core. The virus can do two attacks at once starting from this phase. Virus bobs up and down in place. The attacks gets nerfed in the phase: less small bubbles spawn, the time between each target is increased, and the large bubble, while faster when you're far away, reduces its speed to a near stop when you're close.
Collecting letters during this phase can be very tricky. But since the game saves your letter collecting progress, a strategy could be to collect most of the letters then die after it autosaves.

4 damage: Red core. The virus keeps using two attacks at once, but the diffculty seems to be increased. The virus moves back and forth diagonally.

5 damage: Purple core. The virus uses all 3 attacks simultaneously. It can get incredibly chaotic but this is the final phase. Don't bother avoiding damage, instead go for the virus, which will now be teleporting around the screen very frequently.

After the final hit, the virus is defeated. Loading back into the game lets you check the time of completion of your run, along with a small commentary about it. Make sure to check the new messages too. Reopening the game lets you view your score book, which displays the time of completion of your run.

=====[ V. Closing Words ]=====
I first played this game 5 or so years ago, then got stuck on the final boss before giving up. One day after 5 years, I remembered the amazing music in this game, and the battle I never finished. Then over the course of 2 weeks, I went through all the levels and document their solutions in case someone else might need it.
Fortunately didn't get stuck on the final boss this time. Though I did lose some sleep over how eerie the game is. It makes me really happy to finally reach the end.

Thank you to KaiserKreuz for making this game and David Peck for making the soundtrack that reminded me of everything. Thanks to u/Grid_Gaming_Ultimate for coming up with the solution of one of the puzzles so I didn't get stuck even earlier on. And thanks to my friends for listening to me ramble about this game despite knowing nothing about it.