Key & Compass presents:
The Garlic Cage, Episode I
by Taro and NOM3RCY

• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Characters, Endings, Inventory, Score
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• External links:
  • This game at IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Walkthrough

Garlic Cage

Because of the time limit, I'm not examining everything the way I normally would. I'm also taking advantage of automatic actions, where the game automatically takes a food item before I try to eat it, and automatically opens a door before I try to go through it.

> x plate. x rock.

> x bin. take flashlight.

> x wire. take wire.

> take rock. (Rock crumbles. Paper plate replaces cardboard plate.)

> x plate. eat clove. (+1)

You have a vision of a lab worker, William M. T. Jameston, putting meat and coffee into vials in a case.

> look. x book. (Learn about the de-populated town of Zicklefick.)

> turn on tv.

Typo alert! Note that every time this game says garlic glove, it really means garlic clove.

> look. eat clove. (+1)

Vision of J. Jameston herding villagers into a cellar and returning with baskets full of garlic.

> look. eat clove. (+1)

Vision of a glass box of villagers turning into garlic.

> look. eat clove. (+1)

Wire inside! You bleed. Something falls. It's now dark!

> turn on flashlight. (+1; the lights repair themselves.)

> x box. eat clove. (+1)

Vision of a German gas chamber turning people into garlic.

> look. put bit in box.

You are now in...

Dank Hallway

The pink door is north; the rusty door is south. You can ignore the flag.

> unlock rusty door with wire. s.

Closet

> eat clove. (+1; you have a key)

Vision of Trinity test and a crater filled with garlic. America also has the weapon.

Another vision of a door below a sewer grate on a boardwalk. Don't go to the beach.

> n. n.

Boardwalk

You can ignore all the trash here.

> d.

Odd Room

The golden door is locked and to the east.

> unlock door with key. e. (+3)

You were the first sentient garlic?

*** You have won ***

Based on the epilogue, it seems this game has an unreliable protagonist. We can't trust that anything the protagonist experienced was true, and was twisting everything they experienced to be about garlic. It's quite possible that the only actual garlic in this story was the protagonist themselves.

I also note that the number 326 seems to be significant somehow. The game's release number is 326. The readable page in the book is page 326. And there's 326 rounds in the fifth vision.

Extras

Characters

Backstory characters seen in visions, the book, and television:

• Chris P. learned about garlic cages from his father. Chris P. helped create the first full-sized Garlic Cage with William.
• William M. T. Jameston is a scientist in the first vision.
• James Jameston, William's brother, forced the townspeople of Zicklefick into the Garlic Cage at gunpoint. Later, he posed as a reporter and wrote about exploring the abandoned town with some investigators, one of whom he pushed into the glass box.
• Several people (Nazis and their victims in World War II) are seen in the fifth vision.

In the epilogue:

• You are garlic and always have been garlic.
• Two men in lab coats argue about how successful they were at making you sentient.

Endings

• You have died if you haven't escaped by 10:00 am.
• You have won if you escape before 10:00 am.

Inventory

• a Flashlight. It's in the bin in the garlic cage. Take it. Turn it on when the lights go out.
• a Rusty Wire. It's in the garlic cage. Take it. It unlocks the Rusty Door.
• a First Garlic Clove of Wisdom. It's on the Greasy Paper Plate. Eat it.
• a Book. It's in the cage after you eat the first clove. Read it.
• a Second Garlic Clove of Wisdom. It's in the cage after you turn on the tv. Eat it.
• a Third Garlic Clove of Wisdom. It's in the cage after you eat the second clove. Eat it.
• a Fourth Garlic Clove of Wisdom. It's in the cage after you eat the third clove. Eat it.
• a Garlic Box. It's in the cage after the lights come back on. Although you can pick up the box, it's better to leave it in the cage. Take the fifth clove from the box. Put the bit into the box.
• a Fifth Garlic Clove of Wisdom. It's in the Garlic Box after the lights come back on. Eat it.
• a Bit of Garlic. It's in the cage after you eat the fifth clove. Put the bit into the garlic box.
• an American Flag. It's in the Dank Hallway. Ignore it.
• a Sixth Garlic Clove of Wisdom. It's in the Closet. Eat it.
• a Key of Freedom. It's in your inventory after eating the sixth clove. It unlocks the Golden Door.
• a broken beer bottle. It's at the Boardwalk. Ignore it.
• an old magazine. It's at the Boardwalk. Ignore it.
• a candy wrapper. It's at the Boardwalk. Ignore it.

Score

• 1 point for eating the First Garlic Clove of Wisdom.
• 1 point for eating the Second Garlic Clove of Wisdom.
• 1 point for eating the Third Garlic Clove of Wisdom.
• 1 point for eating the Fourth Garlic Clove of Wisdom.
• 1 point for turning on the flashlight in the dark.
• 1 point for eating the Fifth Garlic Clove of Wisdom.
• 1 point for eating the Sixth Garlic Clove of Wisdom.
• 3 points for escaping through the Golden Door.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough is provided free of charge since the work it's based on has less than fifteen locations. Please consider it a thank you for your support!

I create larger walkthroughs too! Please visit my Patreon account if you're interested in helping me create more interactive fiction walkthroughs. I appreciate all the help I can get! Thanks again.