Jareth's Labyrinth is a game simulating a giant life size Maze. You have
13 hours in which to solve the Labyrinth, and face Jareth at its center. Jareth's
Labyrinth is inspired by the movie Labyrinth and associated novel, in which you
follow much of the movie's storyline. This can be considered interactive fanfiction,
in which Labyrinth and all Labyrinth characters are Copyright (c) Jim Henson
Company.
It's not necessary to have seen the movie to play, but being familiar with the
scenes and characters certainly helps.
Jareth's Labyrinth contains many of the movie's locations and characters.
Locations that can be visited include outside the walls, endless passage, brick
Maze, shaft of hands, oubliette, Cleaners tunnel, hedge Maze, Forbidden Forest,
Bog of Eternal Stench, junk plains, Goblin City, castle, and Escher Room.
Characters that can be interacted with include Hoggle, fairies, the Worm, Alph
and Ralph, Helping Hands, phony warnings, the Beggar, the Wiseman, Ludo, door
knockers, Fireys, Sir Didymus, junk lady, Humongous, goblins, and Jareth.
Jareth's Labyrinth has the following executable program for Windows. (Just download and run it, in which no setup is needed, although security
prompts may need to be accepted.) Alternate download locations include
Indie DB and
GameJolt and
Itch.io. Jareth's Labyrinth is also a script that comes with the program
Daedalus. Daedalus along with its applets such as
Jareth's Labyrinth is a 100% free program for MS Windows, which can be installed
from the Daedalus setup program. Once installed, click the
"Jareth's Labyrinth" icon in the "Start / All Programs / Daedalus / Scripts" program
group to run, or select the "File / Run Script / Jareth's Labyrinth" menu command in
Daedalus itself. The latest version is 3.5.
Jareth's Labyrinth is free and also open source, in which its source code
(i.e. the script loaded into Daedalus) can be seen
here. That text file can be modified (assuming one is familiar with the
Daedalus scripting language) to change the Maze, add characters and dialog, and
so on.
Jareth's Labyrinth is a turn-based game, which means that only when you move
or take action, will other things happen. It takes place in first person, in
which you see through the eyes of your character. The interface to Jareth's
Labyrinth consists
of the following keys:
F1: Display help text (shortcut: '?'). You can select this whenever
you want to see what the other commands do.
F2: Restart Labyrinth from beginning (shortcut: '~'). This will start
a new game, erasing any game in progress. Parts of the Labyrinth will be
randomly generated.
F3: Chat with whoever's in front of you (shortcut: 'q'). You're not
alone in the Labyrinth, and talking with some creatures is necessary to get through.
F4: Physically interact with what's in front of you (shortcut: 'e').
This can be a creature, or an object such as a door.
F5: Climb up (shortcut: 'u'). There are a few ladders or other places
in the Labyrinth where you can move up and down.
F6: Climb down (shortcut 'j'). Normally you can climb back up
anything you can go down, but not always.
F7: Rest in place (shortcut: 'z'). This does nothing but advance the
time, and allow other things to happen. Rarely if ever needed, but still an
option.
F8: Toggle map view (shortcut: 'i'). Switches to or from an overhead
map view of the Labyrinth. Can make long Maze sections of the Labyrinth much
easier to get through.
F9: Mark your path (shortcut: 'f'). Places an arrow on the ground in
the direction you're facing. This can be useful to mark passages you've already
been down.
F10: Unmark your path (shortcut: 'v'). Erases any arrow on the ground
that you placed earlier.
F11: Tilt view down (shortcut: '['). Angles the view so you're
looking more downward. This can be used to check for marks on your path without
having to move.
F12: Tilt view up (shortcut: ']'). Angles the view so you're looking
more upward. Press 'spacebar' to return to looking straight ahead.
At the bottom of the screen is the
status line, which contains the following:
Compass: Displays the direction you're facing. Knowing your
orientation can be useful to avoid getting lost.
Time Left: Displays how much time you have left to solve the
Labyrinth. You lose ten seconds every time you move, chat, or interact. Rotating
in place takes no time.
Smell Bad: If you've stepped into the Bog of Eternal Stench, the fact
that you smell bad will be listed here too.
Jareth's Labyrinth isn't a difficult game. The whole thing can be
completed
in less than 15 minutes if you hurry and know exactly what to do, although the average person should expect to take an
hour or more. Nevertheless, here is a
complete walkthrough for how to solve it:
Outside Labyrinth: Go to Hoggle. Hoggle is located slightly West of the
starting location, by the pool of water. Chat with Hoggle four times until he
says "You gets in there..." The gate into the Labyrinth will appear.
Enter it.
Endless passage: The passage just inside the entrance really is endless, in that you can move
in either direction indefinitely. The endlessness is implemented by invisibly
teleporting one backwards once they reach a certain point, which means if one
goes back down the passage, they'll reach the entrance again relatively
quickly. To get out of the endless passage, face the North wall and try to move
through it, in which 1/10 of the walls allow passing through. Alternatively, the
Worm can be found down one of the passages (chosen randomly), and directly
across from the Worm is a guaranteed way through the wall.
Brick Maze: Make your way through the brick Maze clockwise, 180
degrees around the Labyrinth until along
the middle of the North wall you reach a room containing Alph and Ralph. Turning on overhead view will make navigating this Maze much
easier.
Alph and Ralph: Chat with one of Alph or Ralph (doesn't matter which)
11 times until you answer the truth-teller and liar riddle. It's up to you to interpret
which door to take based on the question you ask. The quickest way to know which
door to take, is that it's always opposite the guard's answer. In other words, if the
guard says "yes" then you should take the other door, and if the guard says "no"
you should take the door in front of you. If you take the right door, you'll
immediately fall into the shaft of hands. If you take the wrong door, you'll
immediately fall into a shaft of deadly spikes, which will kill you. (The wrong
door really does lead to "certain death"!) If you avoid Alph and Ralph and keep
navigating the brick Maze, you'll eventually go 180 degrees around again until
there's nothing but dead ends.
Helping Hands: Inside the shaft of hands, go down (press "j") and the
Helping Hands will bring
you down into the Oubliette. If you tell the Helping Hands to bring you up,
you'll be returned to the passage above you in the brick Maze. Continuing down the passage will
connect with the passages as if you skipped Alph and Ralph altogether, and
eventually lead to dead ends.
Oubliette: Go to the bench, and interact with it twice to show the
door underneath the bench and open it. Go down the revealed passage, and past
the eight rock faces in the wall who will give phony warnings, until you reach
the beggar.
Cleaners: Chat with the beggar (who's really Jareth in disguise)
eight
times until he summons the deadly Cleaners. You'll be rotated in place to face
down the passage from which the Cleaners are approaching. If you touch or let
the Cleaners touch you, you will die. Therefore, turn around and go
down the passage in the opposite direction. Stop one space before the bars which
block the passage, and turn right to face the panel on the South wall. Interact
with the wall panel three times until it falls away, and a new passage is
revealed. Go down this new passage (letting the Cleaners pass behind you) and go up
the ladder at the end (press "u").
Wise Man: Chat with the Wise Man seven times and he'll tell you how to get out of
the hedge Maze room you start out in. Normally, whenever you leave by one of the
four passages, you're teleported so you reenter on the opposite side. However, if you walk backwards
down one of these passages, you'll instead reach the rest of the hedge Maze.
This scene was cut from the movie, but can be found in the novel.
Hedge Maze: Make your way through the hedge Maze counterclockwise,
180 degrees around the Labyrinth until you (facing East) pass the entrance to a
room containing goblins tormenting Ludo. Turning on overhead view will make navigating
this
Maze much
easier.
Ludo: Interact with each of the four goblins surrounding Ludo, to make them
go away. Interact with Ludo, to untie him from the tree and turn him back
right side up. Chat with Ludo three times until the two door knockers appear in
the wall.
Door Knockers: Interact with the Right Door Knocker to remove the
ring from its mouth, then chat with it five times. Interact with the Right Door
Knocker three times in a row to put the ring back in its mouth, and then once
more to open the door behind him. This will reveal the Forbidden Forest area of
the Labyrinth. Note you can open the door behind the Left Door Knocker to reveal
a different area of the Forbidden Forest, however entering here will just lead
you 180 degrees around the Labyrinth clockwise until the forest dead
ends.
Fireys: The Forbidden Forest is a type of Maze. Enter the forest and
work your way 180 degrees around the Labyrinth counterclockwise until you encounter the
pack of five Fireys. There is a ladder leading up on top of the wall behind the
Fireys. Interact with a Firey to throw his head away and make him move out of
your way. You need to move at least two Fireys to get to the ladder. Climb the
ladder by moving into it, or by pressing "u" while next to it.
Forest Wall: Once on top of the wall in the middle of the forest,
follow it clockwise nearly half way around the Labyrinth past the SouthEast corner of the
Maze. There's an arrow at top of the ladder at the start pointing in the
direction to take. You can also follow the wall counterclockwise, but it takes
longer. Eventually, you'll reach a gap in the wall marked with another arrow,
which leads to the other side of the wall.
Sir Didymus: Move down off the wall to the inside. Beware of the message
"something nearby smells absolutely horrible", because that means you're next to
the Bog of Eternal Stench. If you step into the Bog, you'll be permanently
marked with a message that you "smell bad", but will have no other negative
effects. Follow the edge of the Bog until you reach the bridge blocked by Sir
Didymus. Chat with Sir Didymus six times until he gives you permission to
cross, and he moves to the opposite side of the bridge no longer blocking your
way. Cross the bridge.
Plains: After Sir Didymus, carefully navigate along the edge of the
bog clockwise until you enter the forest again. Continue navigating clockwise through
the forest 180 degrees around the Labyrinth until reaching the NorthEast corner,
which will allow access to the plains. Once on the plains away from trees,
navigate clockwise to the South edge where the Gates to Goblin City will be
found. Ignore the Junk Lady, whose just there to distract you. You can go around
the plains counterclockwise too, but clockwise reaches the Gates faster.
Humongous: Interact with the outer gates to open them. Ignore the
sleepy goblin, although nothing bad will happen if you don't. Once entering the
outer gates, these gates will close and lock behind you. Take one step forward,
and the inner gates will close revealing the giant Humongous. Climb up Humongous
(press "u" once), then interact with Humongous three times to take control of it
and shut it down. Climb down Humongous (press "d") and interact once to open the
inner gates to Goblin City.
Goblin City: Goblin city is basically a Maze composed of buildings
and goblin guards. Navigate the Maze by circling the castle clockwise 360
degrees. At no point is it necessary to enter any of the goblin homes. Once you
reach the front of the castle, interact with the door to open it.
Escher room: Once inside the castle, go up the stairs all the way
until you reach the Escher room. The Escher room is a Maze on the inside surface
of a cube, with ladders indicating how you can move. If you try to move where there's
no ladder leading, then you'll fall to the ground i.e. the bottom side of the cube. To
get through this 3D Maze, start on the East face where you entered, two spaces
South from the entrance hole. Then do the following to reach and go out of the exit
hole: Up, Up, South, West, Up, West, North, West, Down, North, Down, North, Up,
East, Up, South, West, North, Up.
Jareth: Once you reach the roof of the castle, Jareth will be found
on the roof. Chat with him eight times until you get a message that he turns into
an owl and flies away. Congratulations, you have beaten Jareth's Labyrinth! :-)
