EcoQuest - Step by step walthrough

ECOQUEST is a series of educational games with an ecological theme. The first installment — THE SEARCH FOR CETUS — tells the underwater adventures of nine-year-old Adam among his friends — fish, dolphins, and crustaceans. The intention of the ECOQUEST series is to familiarize children with the natural world, show the harm humans cause to animals, and teach how to coexist with the environment. The game is designed for children aged 8 to 16.

First, you need to learn a few basic rules of cleanliness and animal rescue. It's best to wipe the seagull covered in oil with a cloth soaked in detergent, and just give some water to the little troublemaker in the cage. Take a special garbage-eating bag and a jar. Your father will give you some experimental cleansing solution. You pass through the door with a combination lock and find yourself in a room with a pool.

A sad dolphin, who got tangled in fishing nets a few days ago, is very lonely and swims sadly in circles. The hint on the board tells you how to deal with him. First, talk to him in a calm voice, then feed him mackerels. Swim with the dolphin, and then play toss with a hoop. The little dolphin, Delfinicus, will bond with you and cheerfully engage in play. When he asks you to set him free, don't hesitate.

After a few days, you'll meet him again, as he'll come to you for help. The underwater kingdom is in danger, the Patron of All Business has gone missing. Delfinicus can only trust you because he knows you're sensitive to harm and capable of helping. So, you gear up for diving and set off. Just around the first corner, you encounter a transatlantic ship, which not only pollutes the sea surface with thick oil but also dumps hundreds of pieces of garbage. Using the garbage bag actively, clear the way, and you'll be able to pass freely. In the open sea, put on the breathing apparatus and dive!

Delfinicus introduces you to the magnificent underwater world — the land of Eluria, hidden from human eyes behind a terrible tangle of colorful seaweed. But the city is declining. Some green toxic substance seeps, tons of garbage are everywhere, thrown by people from boats and ships. Swing into action with the garbage bag and tidy up a bit. It's worth keeping only the old wire basket and the dirty shell. Delfinicus swims away, and you head left, into the magnificent, equally polluted garden. Here, besides picking up trash, you can try out your father's invention and clean the dolphin statue from grease. Then, the garden boss — a small sea crustacean — will come out from under the stones and give you a special vial of medicine.

Now swim to the temple, assemble the mosaic on the wall, and take the bronze shell from the pedestal. If you place it in the statue's hands, it will blow a loud horn, and you'll be able to take the trident from the hands of the Poseidon statue. Now, activate the mechanism in the wall with the trident, and your eyes will behold the Oracle — the prophecy. The Oracle will ask you three riddles, to which you must answer by pointing to the figures on the mosaic. In order, you'll have to point to a human, a dolphin, and a heart. The Oracle will treat you to a stack of poetic prophecies — from which it follows that you should bring it proof of the underwater people's trust.

Now, swim to the small pantheon, where you'll talk to the golden mask of the Senator. Turn the fragments of the columns on the left wall so that they lock in the correct position. The building will shake, the mask will fall, and it will turn out that the entire Senator was just a small, shy crab. If you clean the dirty shell found earlier with a cloth and give it to the crab, it will give you a small golden badge.

The badge is a pass to the underwater settlement, where access is guarded by a blue guardian. Each burrow houses some aquatic creature. Shortly, you'll see a small red fish getting tangled in a plastic bag. If you push it into its burrow, freeing it from the trap, the fish will give you algae-eating tadpoles as a gift. They'll come in handy to replenish the food supply for another inhabitant of the settlement, who will then reward you with a very sharp shell fragment, which will help the pike get untangled from wires. Revenge is unavoidable — the bone received from the pike will help extract a balloon from the turtle's throat, which this glutton accidentally swallowed. The turtle will give you four screws!

Now, talk to the blue supervisor and swim to the surface to convince the fisherman to do a minor modification to his boat. The boat's propeller injures passing fish, so simply attach a basket to it with screws, and everyone will be happy!

When you return to the bottom, it will be slightly littered again, but it's worth stopping the hand pump. The rest — into the bag! Shortly, you'll encounter a half-dead fish in a burrow, intoxicated by the poisonous substance leaking from the jar. The jar goes into the bag, and you pump out the poison through the window.

In Eluria, cleanliness is finally beginning to prevail! All the residents gather for a grand assembly, and as a thank you for the great help you've provided, they give you a golden mask. This is proof of great trust, and the oracle, as a reward, treats you to a poem again.

You sail into wider waters. Here, next to a magnificent old sculpture, some selfish fish kisses its reflection in the mirror. Scare away the narcissist and take the mirror. Then, as you swim to the right, you'll encounter wonderful warm-water vegetation. You'll find a pirate cave, with a skeleton dressed in a costume straight from Sir Drake's ship. You'll need to use a halberd and the key attached to the skeleton will be yours... almost. It will be swallowed by a fast red fish! The chase will be in vain, you'll lose sight of the fish. Look at the plump anemone in the corner, suspiciously giggling. Just irritate it with the rope untied from the post, and the anemone will spit out the key at the bottom.

Then, find the octopus buried in the sand and startle it with the mirror. Pull out the rope from the sand. Now leave an empty jar, and when you come back later, the jar will be open. It will serve as a trap for the glowing fish hidden in the statue's ear. Then, pry open the reservoir lid and take the float and metal ball from the storage of the wrecked vehicle.

Now it's time to search the dark cave in the eastern part of the lagoon. Shine the light from the jar and remove the stones, one by one. Before entering the hole, be sure to put on a diving suit, which you'll find in a box hidden among the stones. But you won't open the box with any other key but the oiled one.

In a moment, you'll discover the source of the poisonous, green substance! Old barrels with dangerous solutions, long ago hidden underwater, have decayed and started leaking. Quickly attach a transmitter and a line to the float and tie it to the barrel. Once the transmitter floats to the surface, it will alert the coast guard, who will call in divers to clean the cave of the deadly cargo.

Swimming with Delfinicus in the now clean waters, you'll encounter a recently wrecked whaling cutter. Suddenly! The fearsome giant ray — the scourge of the waters — attacks. Escaping with Delfinicus, you'll get tangled in old nets. Cut through with a shell to clear the passage, but the dolphin can't manage to escape, and the ray takes him away into the distance.

You return sadly to the cutter. Out of boredom, you unlock the stubborn door to the cabin with the trident. The harpoon's line tightens, and you hear the whale's cry! Now you know — Cetus is simply trapped by the wreckage of the cutter, from which fishermen tried to kill him. You sail up and encounter a huge body. After entering through the jaws, you'll need to saw off the harpoon tip. You sail around and pull out the harpoon, then treat the wound with medicine from the vial. Now, quickly! Together with Cetus, you head to help Delfinicus. He distracts the ray while you swim to the cave and free your friend from the nets. Then, use the poisoned bone — just hit the ray once, and Cetus will teach it a lesson!

The people of the underwater city thank you for your help, for showing great heart, and for the great sacrifice in saving them and the entire underwater realm.