____ _ _
| _ \ ___ ___| |__ __ _ _ __ __| |
| |_) / _ \ / __| '_ \ / _` | '__/ _` |
| _ < (_) | (__| | | | (_| | | | (_| |
|_| \_\___/ \___|_| |_|\__,_|_| \__,_|
_ _ _ _____ _ ____ _ ____
| | | | __ _ _ __ __| | |_ _(_)_ __ ___ ___ ___ | _ \| | / ___|
| |_| |/ _` | '__/ _` | | | | | '_ ` _ \ / _ \/ __| | | | | | | |
| _ | (_| | | | (_| | | | | | | | | | | __/\__ \ | |_| | |__| |___
|_| |_|\__,_|_| \__,_| |_| |_|_| |_| |_|\___||___/ |____/|_____\____|
__ __ _ _ _ _ _
\ \ / /_ _| | | _| |_| |__ _ __ ___ _ _ __ _| |__
\ \ /\ / / _` | | |/ / __| '_ \| '__/ _ \| | | |/ _` | '_ \
\ V V / (_| | | <| |_| | | | | | (_) | |_| | (_| | | | |
\_/\_/ \__,_|_|_|\_\\__|_| |_|_| \___/ \__,_|\__, |_| |_|
|___/
Rochard: Hard Times DLC Walkthrough
Author: Jatt2613
Version: 1.01
Last Updated: June 25, 2013
Copyright 2013 Jeremy "Jatt2613" Watson
----------------
Version History
----------------
1.0 - Guide completed
1.01 - added Neoseeker to the list of websites allowed to host this file
-----------------------
[TC] Table of Contents
-----------------------
1. Introduction [I]
2. Walkthrough
Part One: CONTAINER CHAOS [CC]
Part Two: Shaft Shuffle [SS]
Part Three: Brainyard [BY]
Part Four: Assembly Line [AY]
3. Afterword (Copyright, Contact Info, Credits) [AW]
Use the codes in the brackets along with the find function in your browser
(Ctrl-F) to jump to each section.
---------------------
1. [I] Introduction
---------------------
Welcome to my walkthrough of Hard Times, the DLC for Rochard! Hard Times is a
series of four additional levels that focus on solving harder puzzles than you
saw in the campaign, rather than story. It's a lot of fun but can be tough at
times. I got stuck several times while playing through Hard Times, and when I
tried searching for a guide or a video online, I found nothing! I was surprised
at the lack of information on Hard Times, and as I eventually got through it on
my own, I decided to make my own guide to help out others who might be looking
for the same thing I was as I played it. This walkthrough will be just that: a
detailed guide on getting through every puzzle in Hard Times, so I would
suggest only using it if you get stuck. If you just read it straight through as
you play, you might as well not even play Hard Times, as you won't be solving
the puzzles at all. With all that said, I hope this helps those of you who do
get stuck and either can't move on or don't have the patience to bang your head
against a wall for a while trying to figure it out. Enjoy!
A note on phrasing: I played Rochard and Hard Times on PC, and as such, those
are the controls I know and that I refer to in this guide. I'll tell you what
I'm doing (such as toggling on low gravity), but I'll also say how to do it (by
pressing Caps Lock), and the controls will obviously not be the same as the
console versions. I don't feel too bad about this, however, and will not be
looking up the other control settings as this game is fairly simple in terms of
controls, so I'm sure each reader can figure out what I mean. Also, as this is
DLC, I assume the people playing Hard Times have played through the original
game and will be familiar with the controls.
In one part of one of the levels, you must reverse gravity back and forth
several times. When this happens, rather than trying to change the way I say
things for each swap, I will refer to up, down, ceiling, floor, etc., based on
their position on the screen, not the way Rochard is oriented. So up will
always be the top of the screen, down, the bottom, and the ceiling will be on
the top of the screen. Therefore, you'll see things like "drop to the ceiling"
or "jump up toward the floor," which don't seem like they make sense, but do
when you are upside down. Just be aware of that if you're jumping in and out of
this guide.
---------------
2. WALKTHROUGH
---------------
[CC] CONTAINER CHAOS
When you walk right through the first blast door, you'll see two of the
large metal crates that slide up and down tracks, as well as some lasers. This
is reminiscent of part of the original campaign, only in that instance, you had
four crates to work with. In this case, you have only two, but you have several
horizontal lasers to get through. To start, jump on the first crate and let it
fall until the laser is right at the top of the crate, then jump to the next.
Don't let the laser go above the crate; if you're cutting it close, it can
sometimes do this right after you jump off the first crate. As the second crate
starts to fall, wait until it is far enough down that you are under the laser,
then use the G-Beam on the first crate to move it down with you. Pull it down
far enough so that you can jump back onto the first crate without hitting the
laser, then jump back onto the first crate. You'll do the same thing but in
reverse now: let the first crate fall a little, then G-Beam the second until
you can jump onto it again. Finally, just let the second crate fall far enough
to block the last laser, then hop off the left side. Walk through the blast
door on the right. Congratulations: you've just completed your first room.
In the second room, we get to play with gravity. This room can be sort of
annoying, and not because of the puzzle itself: there are several little laser
drones flying about that will constantly be shooting at you. When you first
come through the door, take out the first drone, then slide the grey metal
crate on the rails up on the ceiling over to the right so that it overlaps the
wooden crate on the ground. Use the console to reverse the gravity, then hop
on top of the crates, which should now be stacked on the ceiling. Use a low-
gravity jump to jump from the top of the wooden crate to the ledge on the right
above the electric floor. This can be a slightly tricky jump, as you will often
hit your head on the floor while jumping from the crate, therefore not having
the height to make the jump. Just make sure to stand on the far right edge of
the crate before jumping. Once you have made the jump, drop down to the red
force field on the ceiling, then use a low-g jump to hit the console and
reverse the gravity again. As soon as you fall, quickly run to the left and
drop down the opening there before the crate that was above the red force field
slides down and blocks it. Be careful, as there will often be another drone
waiting down in that little area for you. Kill it, and then take the time to
finish off the rest of the drones (three more) and the human enemy waiting for
you on the other side of the crate in front of you. Standing to the right side
of the lowest crate, use your G-Beam to pull it to the right so that it is
about halfway between the console on the ceiling and the ledge on the right.
Reverse the gravity using the console on the left side of the room, then go to
the console on the ceiling. As you hit the ceiling console, use low-g and run
to the right so that you land on the crate you just moved. Then you are a
simple low-g jump away from the ledge and the end of Container Chaos!
[SS] SHAFT SHUFFLE
This level is all about fuses. There is one sitting on the ground in front of
you when you enter the "L337 hanger;" grab it with your G-Beam and plug it into
the first socket. Run through the first force field, which is now blue, and
grab the fuse through the red force field near the ceiling with your G-Beam. It
will turn blue, so you'll just have to move the fuse down and bring it through
the larger field, now red. Drop the fuse inside the small area you are in and
use low-g to pick up the large cargo container that is in there too. Throw the
container through the red force field onto the electric floor in the next small
area, then plug the fuse into the socket above you. Jump through the now-blue
force field onto the crate you just placed, then get the fuse the same way you
got it before: through the small red force field near the ceiling. Throw the
fuse through the red force field to the right into the hole with the fan in the
floor, then trigger low-g so that it floats up into the socket on the ceiling.
Finally, just low-g jump over the electric floor to finish up that part.
Grab the fuse from the socket and head to the right. In this area, you'll be
G-swinging, so you might as well just toggle low-g on with caps lock rather
than holding shift the entire time. What you will need to do is throw the fuse
through the red force field near the ceiling, jump through the blue one and
grab the fuse again as it falls, throw it into the socket above the next set of
force fields, then grab the G-swing block in the now-blue force field. If your
timing is off or you make a different mistake, you can actually stand right
next to the red force field on the tiny ledge, or use the g-swing block back at
the original ledge you jumped from. Once you pass through the first force field
over the electric floor, you'll have to grab the second fuse from its socket
near the ceiling and throw it through the red force field near the ceiling all
in one go. Once again, if you need to, land on the tiny lip next to the red
force field (or, if you get the second fuse out but just don't get it through
the next field, you can just stand in the blue field, giving you more room) or
swing back on the previous g-swing block. Once you get through with the fuse
and back on solid, non-electrified ground, just throw the fuse up into the red
force field above the door so that it lands in the socket, and head on through.
Once in the next room, grab the fuse from above the door. Toss it into the
right side of the shaft through the red force field and trigger low-g, sending
both you and fuse floating upward. You'll both eventually hit a force field
you can't get through, so then just float through the blue force field on the
right, grab the fuse and toss it through the lower red field so that it ends up
on the side you were just on, while you're on its side. Once again, hit low-g
and continue your journey to the top. Once you come out of the shaft, head
through the slanted blue force field to the left and pick up the fuse. If it
has sunk back into the shaft, just turn off low-g for a few seconds, then turn
it back on. It will pop back up and you can grab it. Launch it through the top
part of the slanted force field, the red part, head back to the right through
the blue part, grab the fuse and toss it through the red force field on the far
into the shaft with the fan. Turn on low-g to make it rise, and head back to
the left to use the g-swing blocks to move upward yourself. Once you reach the
next platform, you should find the fuse waiting for you, having been blown out
of the shaft by the horizontal fan. Grab it and jump up next to the door.
You will have to then throw it up through the large, horizontal red force field
to the left, then jump through the blue force field above you and grab it
through the smaller, vertical red field which will then be to your left.
Obviously, low-g is a necessity for that. Then plug it into the socket on the
right wall, while staying far to the right to avoid the laser that will turn on
when you do so. If you have trouble doing that all in one jump, feel free to
fall back down next to the door: the fuse will sit on the blue force field
above the door, so when you're ready to plug it in you just have to jump up and
grab it. Once you get it in, the blast door will open, and you can go through
it and head up the shaft using the fan and around to the left.
Drop down onto the large red horizontal force field and grab the fuse again.
Then jump up to the ledge on the left with the fuse. This is a tricky part.
Standing at the left edge of the ledge, above the electric floor, throw the
fuse onto the electric floor, but NOT into the socket yet. Then jump through
the blue force field and land on the red one. Pick up the fuse. Now you will
need to start your low-g jump just like the vertical red force field wasn't
there, and while in the air, throw the fuse down through the red force field
floor and into the socket, turning both fields blue and letting you complete
your jump. Then grab the fuse from the socket, and get ready for more g-swings.
In this area, there are several floating g-swing blocks in a large open shaft.
The goal is simple: reach the top with the fuse. You're going to have to
repeatedly throw the fuse into the air, swing up, grab the fuse, throw it
again, and keep swinging. Just keep doing that until you're able to throw the
fuse onto the ledge, which is in the top right corner of the shaft. There's not
one set way to do this, so I'll just give a couple tips: once again, toggling
low-g on rather than just holding it can help, and don't forget you can land on
the g-swing blocks and just stand there. That can be useful to catch a little
break, and then to jump off again so as to get more height before throwing the
fuse. Also, you can see the ground when you're standing on top of the first
g-swing block, so if you want a small head start, land on the first block and
just pick the fuse up off the ground from there. Once you reach the top, you're
faced with the same puzzle we just saw on the floor below, only in reverse.
It's actually a lot simpler this time. Throw the fuse into the socket in the
electrified floor, then put a sticky grenade on it (select those by pressing
the 2 key). Jump through the now-blue force field, and once through, trigger
the grenade. It will damage the fuse, turning the bottom force field red and
allowing you to land on it. Then just jump through the blue force field to the
right and land on the ledge. Make sure you do it before the fuse is fixed and
turns the bottom field blue again, sending you to a shocking death. Once on the
ledge, grab the fuse once more from the socket.
This next part looks more complex than it is. Actually, I'm not sure if I did
it the "right" way or if I cheesed it, because I didn't use the fuse on the
ceiling or the g-swing block, and I didn't do anything with the force fields.
But maybe those are all red herrings to mislead you, and I haven't seen any
other way to do it, so it could be my way is right. Anyway, the way I did i is
simple and easy, so that's what I'll put here. The fuse actually blocks lasers,
so just hold it over a laser so that it's blocking it, and then drop it. It
will fall through the red force field and land on the blue one, still blocking
the laser (if it rolls off or something, just grab it and reposition it, but
it never rolled off for me). Then just walk to the other side, grab the fuse,
and repeat with the next laser. You'll shortly be past all four. Then throw the
fuse through the small red force field above the blue one, walk through the
blue one and grab the fuse again.
This next section is repetitive jumping, basically. Throw the fuse into the
socket on the ceiling by the force fields, then grab the large cargo container
(low-g, obviously). Throw the cargo container through the now-red force field
so that it lands on the laser, blocking it. Try to make it land as far to the
left (i.e. - as close to you) as possible while still blocking the laser. Then
grab the fuse from the socket and throw it through the upper force field, which
is now red. You don't have to throw it anywhere in particular -- just make sure
it lands in the first area and doesn't go through the next force field as well.
Then do a low-g jump, and press yourself to the right against the red force
field. Hold the D key so that you keep moving right, and as you fall, you
should slide over once you get under the red force fields and land on the
container you previously placed. Now here's another fun part. You're going to
need to do a low-g jump a little to the right, grab the large container and do
a recoil jump with it to land on the red force field. If you mess up on the
recoil jump but still manage to grab the container, don't try again in that
same jump. The second grab pulls you down and then pushes you up much less than
the first one, so just try to land on the container again and try again. The
main thing is to just try to throw the container straight down to give you as
much upward momentum as possible. It shouldn't be much of a problem, but make
sure not to go to far to the left since the laser will be firing upward again.
Then you get to repeat the process: grab the fuse, throw it into the next
socket, position the container over the next laser, pull the fuse and throw it
into the next area, and do the low-g jump onto your container. Another recoil
jump, and your on the next force field. Do it all again once more, and you'll
be right by the exit. Grab the fuse, put it in the socket above the door, and
head on through. On to the next level!
[BY] BRAINYARD
You'll be seeing a few more enemies in this level. The first thing you need to
do is a simple recoil jump through the blue force field above onto the ledge to
the right. There's a turret sitting above the door, so just grab it, shoot it,
or even ignore it and head through the door. In this pit, there's a turret on
the left wall, a guy with a gun and two cargo containers. Dispose of the
enemies as you see fit, then do a double recoil jump to get out onto the other
side. Now, you could just do a normal recoil jump, then grab the second
container from the ground and use it for the next jump, but I prefer to do it
slightly differently. I throw one container straight into the air in low-g,
grab the second and do my recoil jump, then grab the first from the air for the
second recoil jump. The first method will get you right to the edge, but the
second will give you more height, and thus more wiggle room, which can come in
handy later when you have to do it in real puzzles and not just practice.
Whichever way you choose, just remember how you did it, since, as I said,
you'll be doing it again later. Head through the door once you get up on the
ledge.
In this room, the first thing you'll want to do is get rid of the turrets.
There are three: one you'll see immediately right below you in the yellow force
field, the next is on the ceiling right past the red force field, and the third
is on the far right wall. You can just shoot or grab the one by the red field,
and even though the yellow field is supposed to stop shots, you can still shoot
the one inside it since it sticks out of it. For the third, you can either wait
until later to kill it or just jump while standing next to the red force field
to shoot down and hit it. Whatever you do, make sure not to fall down the blue
force field in the floor yet. This part's pretty tough. You'll need to face the
yellow force field while standing on the right side of the blue force field in
the ground. There's a fuse in the upper left corner of the bottom area, under
the door. As you step through the blue field on low-g, you will need to grab
that fuse before you hit the ground. Once it's removed, the electricity on the
floor goes away and you won't die when you touch down. This can be hard to do,
because the remains of the turret can block your G-Beam, so you have to be
pretty spot on to grab the fuse in time. Once you reach ground without turning
extra crispy, drop the fuse and grab the container that's to the right. Set the
container down on top of the little vent in the floor. Run through the yellow
force field and put a sticky grenade on or next to the socket, then go back
through the field and stand on the container. Put the fuse back into the
socket, electrifying the floor again. This also turns on the blast door at the
end of the room, which will let us get through it once we reach it. Trigger the
grenade and run to the other side of the room, under the blue force field.
Grab the container and do a recoil jump up through the field onto the ledge
next to the door. The fuse will repair itself, opening the door and letting us
though.
Refill your explosium, then go stand on the very far right of the red force
field, right up against the wall. Grab the cargo container on the left side of
the electrified floor, then drop it back onto the electrified floor right under
you. Grab the fuse from the left wall. It will kill the red force field,
dropping you onto the container you just placed. There's a turret in the corner
on the right side of the room; now's a good time to kill it. You can also have
a nice evil chuckle when you kill the guy patrolling in the top right of the
room by removing the socket on the right wall when he walks over the red force
field. It will drop him, but he won't have a nice container to land on like you
did. Anyway, once the enemies are gone, use the two containers to leap frog
across the electric floor until you're under the right-side blue force field.
Put a fuse back into the socket on the right wall, and put a sticky grenade on
it. Remember how I said you would have to do a double recoil jump? Well, now's
the time. Do a recoil jump, trigger the explosion to remove the red force
field, then grab the next box and do another recoil jump. This is where
throwing the second box up really helps. Anyway, once you reach the top, wait
for the fuse to repair then head through the blast door.
As soon as you enter this room, you'll probably have a turret shooting at you
from above, so take it out, then get rid of the second one that is to its left.
You can also use some grenades to take out the guy walking around up top since
you have a refill station right there. Once the enemies are gone, refill your
explosium, then stand on the ground floor to the right of the elevator. The
fuse you need is on the far right side of the room, but there are a lot of
force fields between you and it. But there's a way around that. First, put a
sticky grenade on the fuse. Then switch to your anti-grav grenades (default 3
key). You'll have to put two onto the fuse; after one, it will just sort of
hover right about the ground. After two, it shoots upward, and once it hits the
barrier you can trigger your sticky grenade to destroy the barrier it will
shoot to the ceiling, so quickly jump to the ledge with the explosium refill,
then jump up and grab the fuse. Once you have it, head back to the ground floor
and put it in the socket in between the red and blue force fields. This will
turn on the elevator, but it also turns on some electricity part of the way up
the elevator track. Get on the elevator and send it up, but quickly jump off
before it gets to the electricity. Wait until it's halfway between the top
floor and the explosium refill ledge (pretty much right at the electricity),
then remove the fuse, stopping the elevator. If you misposition the elevator,
just replace the fuse and use the elevator call button. You can stop the
elevator on the way down, or wait until it hits bottom and try again going up.
Jump up using the elevator and the ledges, taking the fuse with you. Put the
fuse in the socket on the ceiling at the top and go through the blast door. On
to the last level!
[AL] ASSEMBLY LINE
This level is deceptively simple. It's easy in concept, harder in practice.
You'll start in the center of a sort of confusing looking room with a lot of
force fields. There are conveyor belts, fans, and a laser. Firstly, don't
panic. Once you understand what's going on, it's pretty easy to get a hang of.
There are four machines that the conveyor belts go through, labeled A, B, C,
and D. Periodically, a box will come out of machine A that says B. You need to
pick up the box and put it on the conveyor belt leading into machine B. It will
then come out the other side of machine B and say C. When it gets over to the
fan on the side, you have to turn on low-g so that it floats up the air
current, then turn off low-g so that it lands on the next belt and keeps
moving. You then grab it and put it on the belt that leads to machine C. When
it comes out, it will say, you guessed it, D. You need to once again turn on
low-g to get it to the next belt, then grab it and send it to machine D. When
it goes through D, it goes away, and one of the eight red force fields on the
bottom of the room blocking you from Skyler will go away. See, I told you it
was simple. But here's the hard part: see the three lights on the top of the
room? Well, if you miss grabbing a box and let it fall onto the laser, it blows
up. When it blows up, a light comes on. When all three lights come on, YOU blow
up. OK, that's a little tougher. But the REAL reason it's hard? At the
beginning, you'll be getting pretty much one box at a time. As you lower more
force fields to get to Skyler, you start getting more and more boxes. Soon,
you'll have every conveyor full, boxes falling all over the place, and boxes
running into each other. Oh, did I not mention that if two boxes hit each
other, they blow up? Well, they do, and it turns on two lights, because two
boxes blew up.
This level is pretty tough. Like I said, once you know what you're doing, it's
not that difficult a concept. But when you're on your seventh or eighth gate
and you've got boxes flying around everywhere, it feels like you're juggling,
and the penalty for dropping the balls is painful, explodey death. And believe
me, you WILL drop the balls. You're going to fail a few times on this one until
you get a rhythm going. There's not much I can tell you about this, other than
just keep trying it for a while, and it will get easier. I died quite a few
times, firstly because I didn't know what I was doing with the boxes the first
few times until I figured out they needed to go into each machine, and then
I died just getting the pattern down.
A few tips:
- If you need to slow things up slightly, keep low-g on. It will stop the boxes
that are on the fans, but beware: don't let another box come up behind the
first one and hit it. You can also stand on the red force field in front of the
conveyor belt coming from the A machine and block the B box from falling, but
once again, don't stand there too long or another box will come out and bump
it.
- It's better to let one box fall and get control of all the others than trying
to save every box and have two or more fall or run into each other. You have
three strikes before you're out; use the first two if you need to.
- It's sometimes hard to pay attention to both sides at once, so when in doubt,
turn on low-g. At the least it will buy you some time since you'll have to wait
for the next box to come to hit any that are floating on the vents, rather than
having the first box just fall onto the laser.
- Make sure you don't get stuck on the conveyor belts leading to machines B or
C. You can get off of them if you step on them, but it will definitely slow you
down, and if you have a bunch of boxes all coming at once, it can be death.
- If you get the right angle, you can grab a box that is floating on top of the
vents from the middle of the room. This can be very useful when you have a box
on the other side of the room heading for the vents that needs to be lifted up.
Once you get all eight red force fields down, everything stops and you don't
have to worry about explosions or the lights anymore. My advice is just ignore
the force fields and focus on the boxes. It's no use thinking, "One more force
field to go!" when the fraction of a second you took to look down and check it
makes you miss a box and blow up. Just focus on the boxes, and when it ends, it
ends. Once it does end, just walk down to Skyler to finish the level, and the
DLC. Congratulations! You just beat Hard Times.
-----------------
3. [A] AFTERWORD
-----------------
Once again, I hope you enjoyed this guide and that it was useful for you. This
was written over the course of a couple hours right after I finished playing
the game, so it is very possible there are things I didn't notice, other ways
to complete the puzzles, or mistakes in this guide. If you see something wrong,
feel the guide is incomplete, or if it's really hard to understand, contact me
at Jatt2613 (at) gmail (dot) com. I probably won't be updating this guide, as
it's complete, but if there's something big I feel needs to be in the guide or
a lot of people just don't understand something I wrote, I will put it in and
give you credit. Please don't email me with questions about the game, as I put
all my knowledge in this guide, or small suggestions. If you do email me, put
"Hard Times walkthough" in the subject line or it will probably be deleted with
no reply.
CREDITS, THANKS AND REFERENCES
- There are no references for this walkthrough. It was written immediately
after I finished playing Hard Times as I played through a second time and was
based on my experiences.
- Thanks to Recoil Games for making an awesome game.
- Thanks to GameFAQs for originally hosting this guide.
- Thank you for reading!
COPYRIGHT
This document is Copyright (c) 2013 Jeremy "Jatt2613" Watson. All Rights
Reserved. This document may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form
and under any circumstances without the complete consent of the author. The
only sites currently allowed to use this document are:
GameFAQs <
http://www.gamefaqs.com>
Neoseeker <
http://www.neoseeker.com>
If you are interested in posting this guide on your website, send me an email.
I'll probably say yes, but I want to be asked first. Also, if you're reading
this on a site that is not listed above, please let me know.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.
