I need something... cryptic

[Oversleep]

So, between playing Assassin's Creed and loving Truth puzzles, cracking Diagram code, hunting for cosmere hints, trying to break Steel Alphabet and recently having started watching Gravity Falls, I realized I like such challenges.

So I'm looking for something, be it book, game, anime, cartoon, TV series or whatever, which has some background ciphers/cryptics/codes. Or just something I can rack my head over.

Note, I don't mean mystery/detective story stuff(not that I have something against it) but something good which also has that cryptic part.

Help me.

P.S. I heard about Endgame books, but I gave a flick through it and was not immediately amazed, so... Are they good?

EDIT: I also don't mind convoluted, mystery plots.

Edited March 31, 2016 by Oversleep

[aeromancer he/him]

The Code Book.

Okay, it's not actually a novel, but there is the 10k$ Code Challenge at the end of it (which has already been won).

[Zathoth]

Phoenix Wright and Zelda for games... Oh, and Warioland 3! Then Yahtzee (You know, the Zero Punctuation guy) made some point and click games, Ive only played the first one called 5 Days a Stranger, but the sequels should be good too... and they are free, so no reason not to!

 

House of Leaves is pretty cryptic, Im not sure if theres much of an answer if you actually decide to try to solve the book, because I didnt, but there may be. The Welcome to Night Vale podcast a pretty similar atmosphere to Gravity Falls, but once again Im not sure how much of a mental challenge it is.

 

One of my favorite Youtubers Dead Palette has an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) going on, pretty cryptic, all his stories are pretty cryptic... just, listen to his videos with headphones on, he is not PG 13.

 

tl;dr version
Phoenix Wright

Zelda

Warioland 3
5 Days a Stranger

House of Leaves

Welcome To Night Vale

House of Leaves

Dead Palette

 

Oh yeah if you havent read The Kingkiller Chronicle yet theres stuff to find for the one who looks.

[Oversleep]

Oh yeah if you havent read The Kingkiller Chronicle yet theres stuff to find for the one who looks.

There... there is?

While I found Kingkiller Chronicles awesome, I didn't find many clues... I mean, the skindancer in the first book drops "Rhintae" which probably means "Chandrian", so there was a theory that Kvothe is a Chandrian and his sign is silence; and also there's the story about how the Moon was stolen from different accounts, so there's something about Iax; and there are those three greystones which form an arch; "doors of stone" are also mentioned few times... and that's all.

But all of that is mainly speculation, while I'm looking for something more of puzzles - one day I'll try to break Alethi script (I know it has already been done; I just want a challenge), but first I need to crack Steel Alphabet. If I can do that, we will know what exactly atium and lerasium and harmonium symbols mean.

Edited March 31, 2016 by Oversleep

[Zathoth]

There... there is?

While I found Kingkiller Chronicles awesome, I didn't find many clues... I mean, the skindancer in the first book drops "Rhintae" which probably means "Chandrian", so there was a theory that Kvothe is a Chandrian and his sign is silence; and also there's the story about how the Moon was stolen from different accounts, so there's something about Iax; and there are those three greystones which form an arch; "doors of stone" are also mentioned few times... and that's all.

But all of that is mainly speculation, while I'm looking for something more of puzzles - one day I'll try to break Alethi script (I know it has already been done; I just want a challenge), but first I need to crack Steel Alphabet. If I can do that, we will know what exactly atium and lerasium and harmonium symbols mean.

Supposedly, according to Pat, Ive only read it once myself XD

 

Oh yeah you could try to solve the Kryptos Cipher! No one has fully solved that yet.

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

The Room series by Fireproof games. Fun spin on the escape genre with excellent graphics, amazing score and a chilling Gothic horror-esque vibe

[Oversleep]

Oh yeah you could try to solve the Kryptos Cipher! No one has fully solved that yet.

Well, there are many unsolved ciphers... but I'm also looking for entertainment in a more traditional way. Cracking codes is fun and all, but Truth Glyphs wouldn't be as entertaining if it weren't for the story of Assassins and Templars. Cracking Diagram was fun, but what gave it meaning was the story of the Stormlight Archive. And so on.

[aeromancer he/him]

Sherlock Holmes and the Dancing Men?

[Bowiespoon he/him]

If you like searching for a secret story, play dark souls.

[ecohansen]

Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently books have lots of small puzzles that wind up having solutions that can be reasoned out from elements elsewhere in the story--for instance, how a sofa wound up stuck on a staircase in a position it couldn't possibly be rotated into or out of.

 

Most things by Neal Stephenson have big cryptic elements: I recommend Snow Crash and Anathem.

 

What do you think of Nabokov?  Several of his books, like Pnin, Ada, and Pale Fire  have fantasy/sci fi elements, and all of his books are chock-full of puzzles to solve.  Dude created chess puzzles in his spare time.  There are a lot of uncomfortable elements, but the language is as beautiful as you can get.  Pale Fire is a quick read, and features royalty getting hit by lightning at a picnic--or does it?

 

Old trickster folktales featuring Renard, Puss in Boots, Coyote, Loki, Raven, or Joha are fun.  A lot of them are baldly obvious these days, but then there's a lot of figuring out the cultural background that makes them real mysteries.  The Exeter Book is older than Beowulf, and consists of riddles that are pretty darn fun and raunchy.  For instance, there's this one--the answer is "a cow," so don't go thinkin' nasty thoughts.

Foot-furrowing, I walk and wound--

Living I ravage the raw land,

Lifeless I bind lord and servant.

Sometimes out of my belly I bring

The rush of drink to the fierce-hearted

War-man.  Sometimes the arch-wild,

Fierce-footed woman treads my back.

Sometimes the dark-haired, drunken slave

Lifts me up near the night fire

With hot hands--Turns, teases,

Presses, thrusts, warm and wet

Down dark ways.  Say what I am

Who living plunder the down land

And after death serve men.

Edited March 31, 2016 by ecohansen

[IndigoAjah he/him]

I second Anathem, and the Cryptonomicron

[Claincy he/him]

But all of that is mainly speculation, while I'm looking for something more of puzzles - one day I'll try to break Alethi script (I know it has already been done; I just want a challenge), but first I need to crack Steel Alphabet. If I can do that, we will know what exactly atium and lerasium and harmonium symbols mean.

In case you weren't aware, the Steel Alphabet has been cracked as well, (which doesn't mean you can't crack it again of course ). We know what atium and lerasium mean, though we don't have a meaning for harmonium. I'm pretty sure it isn't used in the Steel Alphabet, even in the AoL era and it definitely isn't in the Final Empire era.

[Quiver he/him]

Most things by Neal Stephenson have big cryptic elements: I recommend Snow Crash and Anathem.

 

 

Oh, jeez. I have to back Anathem on general principle.

 

If you want cryptic, I really can't think of anything better. Or worse. I got a copy a few years ago, and barely made it through the first chapter before being so hopelessly lost that I had to shelve it. 

[Oversleep]

In case you weren't aware, the Steel Alphabet has been cracked as well, (which doesn't mean you can't crack it again of course ). We know what atium and lerasium mean, though we don't have a meaning for harmonium. I'm pretty sure it isn't used in the Steel Alphabet, even in the AoL era and it definitely isn't in the Final Empire era.

Wait what? Steel alphabet has been cracked? We know the pattern between the position of the arc and the number and angles of the spikes and so on...?

I was only aware of the dot inside/outside for Pushing/Pulling...

[Claincy he/him]

Wait what? Steel alphabet has been cracked? We know the pattern between the position of the arc and the number and angles of the spikes and so on...?

I was only aware of the dot inside/outside for Pushing/Pulling...

Ah didn't realise that's what you meant, then no, not to my knowledge, just the letter assignments.

[Murasaki she/her]

Myst?

[Delightful]

Oh, jeez. I have to back Anathem on general principle.

 

If you want cryptic, I really can't think of anything better. Or worse. I got a copy a few years ago, and barely made it through the first chapter before being so hopelessly lost that I had to shelve it. 

What is Anathem?

[Unodus he/him]

try googling some Mindtrap puzzles? :3

[ecohansen]

Two more possibilities: Stand on Zanzibar and A Canticle for Leibowitz.  They're both fun, and you need to put some thought into figuring out complicated plots in complex universes.  But there's nothing as systematically solvable as the steel alphabet.

 

I've not gotten around to it myself, but I've heard that you can put a lot of intellectual energy into figuring out the Elder Speech in Sapkowski's Witcher series.  People like to play up Suzette Haden Elgin's Native Tongue, but I didn't find much to sink my teeth into.

 

What is Anathem?

A...book.  It has very clever things happening around the edges of a very stupid philosophical debate.

[Kaymyth she/her]

Myst?

 

Seconding this.  The Myst games are excellent and sometimes frustratingly obtuse.

 

I swear, if they ever invent a holodeck, these are the games I want adapted first because the worlds are soooo gorgeous.

[IndigoAjah he/him]

Anathem is also written by Neal Stephenson, who I think is an excellent author  but his style emulates Hugo in that it is dense, prone to tangents and lectures and puzzles and can be effort to read. I love it but some people might be put off by his style

[Oversleep]

I've not gotten around to it myself, but I've heard that you can put a lot of intellectual energy into figuring out the Elder Speech in Sapkowski's Witcher series.

Oh, its been a while since I last read Witcher. But linguistics isn't really my thing.

[Curiosity he/him]

Seconding this.  The Myst games are excellent and sometimes frustratingly obtuse.

 

I swear, if they ever invent a holodeck, these are the games I want adapted first because the worlds are soooo gorgeous.

 

These are my favorite games to play with my brothers. We're halfway (?) through the fourth one right now, though everyone being off at school makes it difficult.