Save the Universe, Please Walkthrough
Default Controls:
Arrow keys – move left, right, down, and up
Space/enter – interact with the environment
Esc – access the menu
F1 – toggle sound and screen options, reset movement/interact keys
Menu Options:
Items – check your inventory of items, weapons, tools, and furniture for your ship quarters
Cell – use apps (only Helpful Dolls is available initially; turn it on if you’re lost), check your logs, view the bestiary, or get hints
Equipment – toggle your tools and personality-influencing items
Status – check your stats (strength/defense, how many memories you’ve found, and personality numbers)
Party – change the formation of your party members (select who you want to move, then who to exchange spots with)
Save – save your game (there are only 16 spots, but you can always copy and paste the save data files into another location on your comp for save keeping, thus opening more slots)
Surrender – close the game
Stats:
Personality – There are three types of personality traits in STUP: charm, kindness, and roughness. These are influenced by which answers you choose during conversations, and will ultimately effect how the other characters refer to you, if your officers are interested in a more intimate relationship with you, and if you get an alternate route to dealing with the universe at the end. Individual characters will also track how nice you are to them personally and will react to you accordingly in some places.
Strength/defense – This isn’t a combat game, and all you have to do to clear animals out of your way is be stronger than them. If you are, you’ll win, and maybe collect some money to get stronger, buy personality-stat-altering items, or redecorate your quarters. If you’re not, they’ll detract from your defense. Your health is shown in coffee cups on the top right—just don’t use up all your mugs, and you should be fine.
Memories – Along your travels, you can find memories of past trips with Aysha and Nadalie, and each memory has a number of hidden conversations in it. These will often build up your affection with one officer or another, so they can be very useful if you want to have one of them at your side by the end.
Arrow keys – move left, right, down, and up
Space/enter – interact with the environment
Esc – access the menu
F1 – toggle sound and screen options, reset movement/interact keys
Menu Options:
Items – check your inventory of items, weapons, tools, and furniture for your ship quarters
Cell – use apps (only Helpful Dolls is available initially; turn it on if you’re lost), check your logs, view the bestiary, or get hints
Equipment – toggle your tools and personality-influencing items
Status – check your stats (strength/defense, how many memories you’ve found, and personality numbers)
Party – change the formation of your party members (select who you want to move, then who to exchange spots with)
Save – save your game (there are only 16 spots, but you can always copy and paste the save data files into another location on your comp for save keeping, thus opening more slots)
Surrender – close the game
Stats:
Personality – There are three types of personality traits in STUP: charm, kindness, and roughness. These are influenced by which answers you choose during conversations, and will ultimately effect how the other characters refer to you, if your officers are interested in a more intimate relationship with you, and if you get an alternate route to dealing with the universe at the end. Individual characters will also track how nice you are to them personally and will react to you accordingly in some places.
Strength/defense – This isn’t a combat game, and all you have to do to clear animals out of your way is be stronger than them. If you are, you’ll win, and maybe collect some money to get stronger, buy personality-stat-altering items, or redecorate your quarters. If you’re not, they’ll detract from your defense. Your health is shown in coffee cups on the top right—just don’t use up all your mugs, and you should be fine.
Memories – Along your travels, you can find memories of past trips with Aysha and Nadalie, and each memory has a number of hidden conversations in it. These will often build up your affection with one officer or another, so they can be very useful if you want to have one of them at your side by the end.
Part 1: Shyp
Select “new game” to begin. Then click up or down to reach the number of the sprite you would like to play as and hit enter. Choose your hair the same way and confirm (scroll up/down to the option you want and hit enter). Then select the letters for your name (use Esc to delete letters) and choose “OK” to continue. Next, type in your 3 pronouns the same way. Congratulations; you’ve made a captain!
You’ll start off in some alien caverns, which your first officer Nadalie has something to say about. You’ll have several points through out the game where you can pick your response to people; choose wisely, because your stats will decide what kind of personality you have, and that will effect how your officers feel about you, and eventually if you have an alternate route in dealing with the universe’s climax. Answer Nadalie accordingly, and she’ll join your party.
Go to the bottom-left bridge to advance to the next screen. Nadalie will then tell you about the menu; press Esc to open it, go to your cell phone and check your logs if you get stuck. Or you can turn on “Helpful Dolls”, which will act as a cheat to show you suspicious places. Go up the top-left ladder, then over to Aysha by the well. She’ll tell you that you’ve found a very important artifact, and back on the ship, you’ll hear both her and Nadalie’s side. Pick one, play peacekeeper, or come down on them for the disruption. When you’re free, talk to either one to add them to your party, or head off alone.
Head up and out of the mess hall. You can explore your ship here if you like and talk to your crew, or head to the elevator on the upper right. Use the terminal on the wall to choose your floor (the bridge and your quarters are on Floor 1), then exit the elevator again. If you took Aysha or Nadalie with you, they’ll say goodbye to you here. Your quarters are through the top left door.
In your quarters, you can shop and redecorate from the computer terminal by your bed once you have money. For now, head to bed to move on to the next day. Before you leave, grab the relocator gun on the table in the bottom left corner by the door. Then exit into the hall and head down onto the bridge. Unfortunately, Aysha has bad news! Soothe or scold her, then head out and back to the elevator. Enter 5 for Engineering. Click the icon by the left door to learn the ATK Calculator app, and there’s another two relocator guns on the lower deck. Enter the door on the far left to confirm the trouble.
After ordering the ship ahead, you’ll get five minutes before you can proceed. Either use it to explore the ship, talking to people and/or trying the memories, or drink coffee to skip the wait. There’s a mug on the right table and a coffee maker on the left. You can also play with your ship’s mascot, Pluto the Puppy, outside the bridge to skip the time. Return to the bridge when the time’s up, take Aysha into your party happily or begrudgingly, and go back to the fifth floor’s bottom for the transporter room. Talk to Uta to choose your transporting location. You can try the shuttle, but your real destination is the planet Girmania.
Part 2: Girmania
While on Girmania, watch out for spikes in the ground—they’ll damage your party. Once the initial conversation’s over, head across the bridge and up to the right of the waterfall to collect a shovel and pickaxe. Right now, as you should have 2 people, 2 relocator guns, and 2 tools, just optimize both yourself and Aysha on the equipment menu. Then head over to the cave-in left of where you found the tools and dig through. Unless you like bumping around in the dark, go back to the menu after to flick on your cell’s light. It’ll cost you some power, but if you don’t pop in and out too much you should manage. If you get lost in the caves, you can also use the new trail marker app, which is less cheat-heavy than the helpful dolls, but does take up power.
In the caves, head straight up the first map. On the second, go to the far left corner for some rope and equip it to either Aysha or your captain. At the top middle next to the short/wide barrel, you can make a ladder. Now you’ll have animals in your way, which you can avoid all together if you’d rather take the long way around and not bother with money/redecorating/upgrading or 100%ing. But if you have both relocator guns equipped, you should be able to take both the Girmouse and tin sprites fine; you can check their strength in the bestiary and yours in the ATK Calculator app of your cell (assuming you collected it from Engineering.) There are two girmouses on either side of the map. There’s another cave-in at the top right. On the next map, there’s another girmouse and a silver cave sqrrl you can take, but the brown cave hoppr is still 1 point out of reach. Avoid both for now and head straight up. On the maze-like map there’s a tin sprite and cave bun on the right and a cave sqrrl on the left you can beat. Above where the sqrrl is there’s a crack you can pickaxe through. Above that is another bun, and then you’re free of the caves. Aysha will automatically turn off the light for you.
Head up to the house, through the gate, and meet Sherifa. She’ll be skeptical, but Aysha will stick up for you according to your personality. Once you have Sherifa in your party, you have access to her equipment and bestiary. If you dart into the house and grab the key in the chest upstairs, you can technically jump ahead to the next paragraph, but if you want everything, there’s a camouflaged wood sqrrl above the house. Now that you know how to navigate the caves and presumably have money from monster-relocating, you might want to beam back up now and pick up another gun for 2$. You’ll have to start before the caves, but at least now you can defeat the 2 cave hpprs from before. If you equip someone with Sherifa’s key, you can enter her house. Upstairs, there’s a chest with a garden key, an app sticker that’ll add a music option to the ship’s rec room, money in a chest, money in a powder box, and a bed and bath you can rest and recover health in.
Move on via the gardens on the upper right with a garden key equipped. There’s one switch to be turned in each of the four corners. On the bottom right there’s a set of drawers for it. Bottom left has a cupboard. There’s a hidden door in the middle of the bushes on the top left you’ll need to equip the key from Sherifa’s house to open; it has another cabinet and a while to be dug up with the shuffle for the next key. Equip that to reach the hidden top right room and final cabinet, then head back to the main room’s middle bookcase.
Now you’ll be at a maze. The pink mush’s here have an ATK of 6, so unless you beam(ed) back up and by/bought another relocator gun, you can’t defeat them and will have to avoid them. The hedge buns are the same as the hopprs, and if you have both previously available guns, you’re set. If you want to catch them all and get all the money possible, just go through it all and hack all the bushes. If you want straight to the end, turn on helpful dolls to block off dead-ends. Along the far left path, there’s a mush top left and a bun right of it. Another set is on the lower middle tier on your way back from the left path. A sqrrl’s along the very bottom. The far right leads up to a mush and bun at the top. Heading left of that path is a dig spot. The last path, heading from the middle of the bottom’s right, will take you to the end. The whole maze is worth more than 10$, so worth a look around.
There’s a bun on the next thin map and a gap in the trees to proceed. Through it lies Nadalie. She’ll tell you her reasons, and you can sympathize or not depending on which officer you’d rather have. After it all, call the ship to head back.
If you did everything on Girmania (and already spent 2$ on a gun for Sherifa) you should now have 30$ to spend at the computer shop and a music app to get from the rec room. Girmania-inspired decorations are now available for your quarters, in case you want to live in a more woodsy style. Don’t forget to heal in the shower or sickbay. When you’re done, head to the bridge, then back down to engineering to transport down.
Part 3: Z’mbi
While on Z’mbi, watch out for broken glass and poison puddles. After getting settled, head right to find a dig spot with a key for the upper building. There are three wtrds in the upper right corner with an ATK of 5 you can knock out. Try to leave the office via the broken exit door and a new alien will come down the stairs; go talk to her and gain a new ally. If you didn’t buy an extra gun back on the ship, it’s easy enough to now for her, since you’re so near the beginning of Z’mbi. If the others are all leveled up to max, you shouldn’t need it anyway yet; the most powerful monster in Hyoyeun’s bestiary is 9.
With Hyoyeun in tow, you can now exit. There are 5 monsters roaming the street and some money in a northern bush. A store in the middle of the map has a dmn, a register you can rob, and new tool in a waste paper basket behind the till. Equip the grabber and check the pothole south of the store for a hospital key. With that grabber you can now also find money in three of the holes up, left, and down around the town square. A building at the top has a lzzzrd, hole, and register of money. In the upper left corner is a cannonball; check that to put a new memory package in your quarters.
Once you’ve done all that (or if you don’t want to bother) head to the top right building with the red doors. It has another dmn on the first floor. The second floor has rope in the upper middle room, a money hole, and a lzzzrd. The next floor down has a saw in the open box. Equip it and head out back to the hole, where you’ll need some rope to clear the graveyard. You can use your light in the tunnel, but if you want to save your bars, the exit’s just right. There are two weeds and a hole to check. Through the bush is a crbrs. Head up.
Another crbrs is up top. The two small holes have money. The next building needs a key, which you can find in the hole below the wood that needs sawing away from the fence. With that equipped, you can enter the upper right warehouse.
The first base floor has a dmn and stairs on the bottom right. A ladder on the left will take you to the final floor—a little too late. Confront Nadalie again and give Uta a call.
Head back to the ship, rest up, and spend your money as you like. The Z’mbin pack is now available for your room, and you should have a new set of memories available on your table. When you’re ready, take back the bridge. Your crew wants a rest, but if you did it all before coming here, just talk to Cmdr. Gbadamosi and pick a destination. You’ll get a distress call either way and redirect. Another minute (which you can kill via coffee) and talk to Cmdr Gbadamosi again. Then it’s down to the transporter room and onto Rarul.
Part 4: Rarul
The town you beam down to is empty, but Hyoyeun can sense something east. There’s a bloound on the upper right; if you upgraded everyone’s weapons on Shyp, you can beat anything now. The south beach has 2 sheep and money in the recycling. Head right of town after and into the house to meet the last Raruling. Now that you have 5 people in your party, you can change the order via the formation on the menu. (If you’ve been good to Aysha, she’ll mention she doesn’t mind being last, as she already knows you care.)
Head outside with Chu’si. Your destination’s up, but her cocikens and cocows can’t be relocated as they’re already where they belong. Head back to town to deal. The first building just has clothes the party wants but can’t have, but the second house heading left has a goldcat and a register. The top right house has another goldcat. The top middle has an app sticker. The top right school you can save for later. For now, head down and left of town to move on. There’s a basket of vegetables in the next screen; pick it up and head back to the hay left of Chu’si’s house to automatically move the cocows.
Heading up, there’s a sheep to catch. If you try to approach the river, the team will realize there’s no bridge. Hyoyeun thinks she can build one. Head back to town and the upper right school. It has both a bloound and goldcat and money in a bottom left drawer. Bricks are over in the cafeteria, and if you take those back to the workbench in the bottom left market, Hyoyeun will make bridge parts. Take them back to the map above Chu’si’s house. Make the bridge, backup, cross it, and defeat the pigi. There’s another one on the next map. Examine the blue block, and you’ll find out you’ve got a better bet at the market. Either walk back or call Uta and have her beam you there.
In the market, put the food right between the wooden beams on the cliffside. Enter the tunnel when it opens, and use your light if you don’t want the dark. The hole on the left has money. The stairs on the left will take you to the upper right; use the other downward stairs there to reach the bloound and another money hole. The downward stairs on the upper left of that area will take you to the top; head through the wood arch to leave.
There are 3 sheep and a pigi outside the temple. There’s a bush in front to weed. Inside, Chu’si will complete the trials, and you can head up and on. Confront Nadalie, fail, and head back up to the ship. A new speed app is in engineering, and Rarul design packs are now in the store.
On the bridge, you’ll get a message from Nadalie with good and bad news. The bad is you’re stranded. Take Hyoyeun down to engineering on deck 5, and she’ll do her best. Take the others to floor 2 for guest quarters. Lastly, take Aysha back to floor 1. Say goodnight... unless you’ve been charming Aysha, in which case she’ll offer you a date. Choose if you’d like to or not. Either way, when you wake up again, proceed to the bridge. Once you have your crew back, head to engineering to transport down.
Part 5: Ancungeon
You’ll start off in a cellar with a “ghost.” While you’re on Ancungeon, watch out for holes in the ground that produce spikes. There’s money in the empty barrel in the middle, then head left and out. In the first courtyard there’s a bush to weed for money and a melotree. South of that is a room with a blakpup. The next cave has 2 spidars and a left exit. The next map has Zahra, queen of Ancungeon and your newest ally. Head right.
Inside, there’s money in the first empty pot. If you head down, you’ll find a redpup and blakpup. The bottom room right of that has more money in a pot and a chest with a key to equip. The right tall hall has an angar. To the right of that is a courtyard with a tiegr and a melotree. Head up two screens through the castle and left back into a courtyard for a dave and a dig spot of money. Head right again and keep going right into the next courtyard, the past that back into housing. There’s a blakpup in this hallway and money in the pot. With a saw, you can head up and into the next courtyard with a tiegr, melotree, and dig spot. Right of that is a new hall with an angar. In the top room, there’s money in the middle pot and a new app sticker. The middle room has an angar. The bottom room has the next key you’ll need. Equip it and head on back to the fancy brick room with the big stars surrounded by winged statues.
Up those stairs, they’ll complain of locked doors, but if you collected the key from the pantry earlier, you can head right on up. Same with the doors on either side of the throne. If you go out the lower left door, you’ll find a memory jar on the balcony. Back in the throne room, go to the upper left door, and you’ll find a room with a blue torch blocking your way. Zahra will give you, the captain, a crystal; equip it. For this, you’ll need it specifically on the captain. There’s now a butterfly by the entrance; these sort of function as non-cheat helpful dolls, visible only with the crystal. You can turn them on via your or Zahra’s apps once you’ve checked that first butterfly.
When you head down and south of the throne room, each bookcase on either side has a switch room behind it. Pull down the chain/rope levers. That’s two out of four. Next head through one of the paintings between them; it’ll take you back to a small dining room. Head left and up to the first indoor hallway and check both paintings here for the other two switches. Backtrack through the small dining room, back through the paintings, up through the throne room, and try one of the studies again; you can now get through either right or left. (Technically, you could’ve just done either both right switches or both left ones and only banished one of the torches, but they’re right next to each other, and now you’re home free. Go through Zahra’s room and up onto her balcony.
For once, you beat Nadalie there! But she’s not far behind. After a heated confrontation (and an absent Raruling), you’ll be beamed to her ship. If you chose to visit it earlier, you’ll notice it’s gotten quite a few upgrades since then. Nadalie will deal with you according to how you’ve treated her. You’ll have a few chances to reject her or sympathize, but get sent back either way. The others still haven’t found Chu’si or the shard and leave it in your hands.
Call Uta and beam up. Collect Chu’si and head to the elevator. There’s now a healing app in sickbay. On the bridge, you’ll order shyp back to Erth. Outside, Sherifa will make Hyoyeun rest and Chu’si will offer for Zahra to stay with her. You’ll be left with Aysha. If you’ve charmed her and you went on the last date, she’ll offer you another one. She’ll stay in your party then and follow you.
You can visit the others in guest quarters if you like; Chu’si, Zahra, and Sherifa will be asleep, but Hyoyeun will be up making coffee and will ask you not to wake Sherifa. Their quarters will be decorated according to their planets if you’ve bought the corresponding packs. Most rooms you visit with Aysha will cause a conversation, but the captain’s mess gives you the option to invite her for a meal. Going to your quarters will prompt her to leave you. In the observation lounge, you can tell Aysha which alien is your favourite and hear her thoughts on them. There she’ll ask if you want to go to bed with her, and you can agree, choose an asexual relationship with her, or decline her entirely. Head back to your quarters to go forward to the morning.
If you brought Aysha back with you, she’ll be in your kitchenette in the morning. You should have more money now, and the fancy Ancungeon packs are now available if you want to do more decorating, or you can buy some accessories to change your personality stats. When you’re ready, exit your quarters to meet up with the party. Check in with your bridge, then head back down to the transporter room.
Part 6: Erth
After a pep talk from Uta, beam down to Erth. So far, so good. But the main room of the museum’s locked, so you’ll have to unlock it from each corner. Head to the bottom left first for the Girmania-altered section. There are butterflies everywhere now from the shards’ mess, but don’t rely on them; they’re only in the general areas. In that first room, there’s a memory magazine. There’s a bookcase door at the top with key in an empty barrel. Head left, cross the bridge, cut the weeds, go through the tiny not-really-maze, head up through the indoorish rooms, and pickaxe/shovel through the cave. Cross the grass and down to the switch, then back through the hedge door that opens. You’ll notice one of the fountains is missing, indicating that you’ve completed a section.
Head up and left for the Z’mbin mini-level. Go up the street and through the right door of the building. There’s a key in the bottom right corner. Equip it for the upper middle door. Cross the metallic room into the graveyard/hospital, then middle left through the square sewer. Up and left is the switch and another shortcut back.
Rarul is the upper right door. Head up into the forest, and there’s a dig spot on the left. Use it on the backdoor of the far right house. Cross the beach and head up and right. Step on the switch in the temple, then head back.
The last wing is on the bottom right. Go through the Ancungeon hall, then down at the crossroads. There’s a key in the bottom basket. Go up after, then right through the forest and past the weeding bushes. Cross the upper bridge in the next section and proceed through the iron-gate and right along the pavement. Cross the next courtyard and slide over the upper right bookcase in the study. Head up through the bedroom and pull the switch on the balcony, then return.
If you want to do anything else, do it now, because the middle door will take you to the end. If you’re looking for a different outcome, now is the time to beam up, buy personality accessories, and equip them. If you want to play any more memories and change your Aysha/Nadalie preference, go now. Otherwise, proceed.
If you didn’t charm Nadalie at all, you won’t get another chance to switch. (Or if you did and shoot her down anyway.) Nadalie’s pissed, and you’ll face her wrath. ...But she’ll face yours too, and that of your friends. Aysha will have a pivotal role if you’ve been close to her, and if you dated her, she’ll be there in your quarters after it all. Then go down to see the others, and you’ll be treated accordingly. You’ll get your stats afterwards, and congratulations, that means you’ve beaten the game, and Saved the Universe! (Thank you.)
Memories:
Memories give you a peek at your officer’s personalities, a chance to alter your stats with them, and healing items (that can be sold) for each “moment” you find in them.
Gargoyle (Nadalie) – The gargoyle is available from the beginning in Nadalie’s quarters. The moments are: the skeleton cage, the blue potion, the open coffin, the candles, the open book, the gargoyle statue, the yellow crystal, the pink crystal, the gargoyle head on the bottom left purple crystal, and the exit.
Purse (Aysha) – The purse is available from the beginning in Aysha’s quarters but needs tools from Girmania and Z’mbi to complete. The moments are: the little machine on the first table, the bookshelf, the dig spot on the top right (requires a shovel), the tools, the parchment, the golden pot, the purse, the bottom right hole (requires a grabber), the stage, and the exit stairs.
Bowling ball (Either) – The bowling ball is found on Z’mbi and can be played with either Aysha or Nadalie. This is a useful thing if you’re near the ending and want to alter your Nadalie/Aysha stats. The moments are: the mural, the pile of bones, the golden canon, the TNT boxes, the dragon statue, and the cave exit.
Jar (Both) – The jar is found on a balcony on Ancungeon, then in Aysha’s quarters. The moments are: the horse stables, the pub upper right of the stables, the bricked-off water, the hole in the floorboards by the bottom right inn, and that inn.
Device (Nadalie) – The device, which sort of looks like a grey gameboy, can be found in the lobby on Erth, then in Nadalie’s quarters. It covers you and Nadalie back in your Erth apartment. It’ll be sparsely decorated like your Shyp quarters. The moments are: the fish tank, the device, the fridge, and the door.
Magazine (Aysha) – The magazine can be found in the Girmanian Wing on Erth and appears in the cafeteria. It covers the first time you met Aysha in a coffee shop. The moments are: both people, the bottom left meal, the counter, and the coffee mug, which ends it.
Bug fixes:
Version 1.3: Equipment works on any party member, repainting quarters now lasts, several typos fixed.