Neil Willcox Cursed With Beauty

Gamers crave one thing above all else: sluices. The worst feeling in a video game is when you see a sluice RIGHT THERE but you CANNOT RAISE OR LOWER IT.

For too long, sluices have been taken for granted and they are criminally undocumented despite being ridiculously prevalent for some reason. We need YOUR HELP to catalogue all examples of sluices (or sleece) in video games. Please leave all examples you can find in the comments of this post to help us continue our important documentarian work and to continue to advocate for the sluices that GAMERS CRAVE.

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in reply to @SluiceHype's post:

SWIMMY @swimmy1/14/2023, 9:05 PM

Pleased to report that 2021's "Eastward" contains (I believe) three sluices gamers must manage in order to traverse a sewer section https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/787167704112562238/1063925919602983002/9B759CD9-59EF-441B-841F-6EC490FFE994.jpg

lina invert @verthanthi1/14/2023, 9:49 PM

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon has a water stage with levers, but they control stairs, not the water.
Elden Ring has a sluice, but you can't change the water level.
Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past has a sluice that changes the water level in the third dungeon.

chel @chel1/15/2023, 3:18 AM

Leaving my warmest regards to the Veo Lu Sluice in Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - an entire level set at a sluice! As the years pass in-game, its control of the water level affects what you're able to access on the world map, and the opening narration of the level talks about the history of the sluice, ending on: "To us, the sluice is more important than anything". Great sluice imo

Will Uhl ✨ Merry Mancer Games @RaffiTheOwl2/13/2023, 4:02 AM

Came here to note this one! Top sluice in my heart.

Ellen (Destroy Mode)@ellivanelli1/15/2023, 4:41 AM

the Garamaythe Waterway in final fantasy xii has sluice puzzles galore and makes you come back like 3 times to unlock and discover all the shit

Kate Barrett @thewaether1/15/2023, 7:36 PM

Code Vein has a rusted sluice key but sadly the sluice itself cannot be seen nor interacted with! it only lowers the water level

SnepShark @SnepShark1/15/2023, 8:29 PM

In chapter 2 of The Hobbit (PS2), Bilbo must control a sluice to lower and raise the water level of a location. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ishD0rIFpP4 (5:42, 9:00)

To the annoyance of at least one gamer, each of those actions can only be done once, as the game does not allow you to control the sluice at will.

@tref1/15/2023, 8:42 PM

Rechosting this because sluice is close to my favorite word: juice

@newgenderplus1/15/2023, 9:02 PM

dragon quest 2 has a whole town whose entire purpose is to have a sluice opened. the town is called slewse.

Thew @Thew1/15/2023, 9:03 PM

Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse (2004) features a maddeningly tedious series of sewer puzzles, including this sluice where you must physically rotate the stick to pantomime turning a big crank: https://twitter.com/AmazingThew/status/1520583976573886465

also if you move the stick at anything approaching a comfortable speed, the gesture recognition bugs out and just flips back and forth randomly, so you have to do it really really slowly

Cko @piplup1/15/2023, 9:06 PM

Critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV features TWO sluice gates in the new Variant Dungeon feature, both of which you open one to change the boss mechanics between mud or water options, and the other to raise a bridge!

This is clearly why it is award winning.

Klara's planning ahead @klara1/15/2023, 9:51 PM

Xenogears was definitely my formative sluice experience. Not my first (that was Link to the Past) but definitely the one that left the biggest impression, thanks to how much time you spend in the Kislev sewers.

BáiYù @baiyu1/15/2023, 10:45 PM

Pleased to report that The Caligula Effect 2 by FuRyu + historia features lots of sluices in Chapter 2! In the Hashihime Gardens, your party has to raise and lower sluices in order to proceed to the next area. The only downside of the game is that after the chapter is complete, the garden will have proper bridges to each area, rendering the sluices inoperable :host-cry:

The Caligula Effect 2 is available on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Steam, and the Epic Games Store.

sphere of the sacred worm @geostatonary1/15/2023, 11:13 PM

In Myst IV: Revelations, the final Age you explore, Serenia, has a sluice puzzle that you need to do to change the water levels in some areas

wem ee @gearstation1/16/2023, 12:40 AM

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia on the 3DS (and the game it's based on, FE Gaiden) has TWO sluice gates! The protagonists of the game must open the gates in order to stop a flood from destroying the country!! ...and also get elsewhere in the level.

theres videos of the level(s) on youtube and the cutscene artwork is here! https://serenesforest.net/fire-emblem-echoes-shadows-valentia/miscellaneous/cutscene-artwork/

cohost's very best guy @Tendehka1/16/2023, 2:17 AM

You have to raise several sluices over the course of Final Fantasy Tactics, starting in Chapter... Two, I think?

Cliff 🦖 Pervocracy @pervocracy1/16/2023, 1:58 PM

In Diablo 3, there are two "flow control gates" (blizzard was not confident their players know what a sluice is) that must be manipulated to progress past a waterfall

@aune1/17/2023, 5:38 AM

Dark Souls 2 has some sluicing to get around on one of the paths out of Majula

@dullfocus2/12/2023, 10:40 PM

Chained Echoes (P5, Xbox, PC, Switch) has a two dimensional sluice in the Narslene Sewers at the very end of the game. The developers wisely choose this mechanic to be endgame material, respecting the utilitarian beauty of the sluice.

Saul @saul2/12/2023, 11:41 PM

Resident Evil Revelations 2 has a section all about raising sluices! Barry keeps yelling at Natalia to raise or lower the sluice. He yells shit like "NATALIA, THE SLUICE"

Parker Posey's Mouth @AllisonIsLivid2/13/2023, 4:19 AM

A Skyrim quest called The Path of Knowledge prominently features a dungeon called Nchardak, which is supposedly the ruins of a Dwarven "Aqueduct." It is in reality an ancient Dwarven Sluice Puzzle.

cube~@mu-suwi2/13/2023, 9:30 PM

Sonic Adventure 2 has this beautiful level called Aquatic Mine which takes the already notorious format of the randomized Knuckles hunting level and adds a great deal of sluicing. There's three water levels you can raise and lower arbitrarily and plenty of twisty underwater passageways that need the water at a certain height to be accessible.

That stage also contains a hidden missable power-up which lets you breathe underwater, which is useful only here and in the final level, wherein Rouge solves a puzzle in a great big sluice chamber and hits a big button that floods it with LCL, and Knuckles has to then navigate it without drowning.

@civ2elvis2/14/2023, 3:17 AM

in dwarf fortress not only do you raise and lower sluices, you MAKE them. potentially, your dwarfs can craft legendary floodgates with names, elaborate decorations, and menacing spikes.

Bob @Boberta2/14/2023, 5:47 AM

Bugdom (1999) contains several sluice-like water raising segments in level 9. There's Walls Of Death Fire What Kill You Instantly inside of the fire-ant hill, and you have to kick a valve to raise water and put out the fire. Doesn't have many of the modern sluice puzzle conventions, such as floating crates and multiple layers of ground being relevant to the puzzle, but still worth documenting.

slime girl ☠@diane2/17/2023, 9:43 AM

here 2 mention the sluice in phendrana in metroid prime

@November-Dog-20222/21/2023, 1:41 PM

Chrono cross when are you required to engage with the sluice ? ~60% through the game

Video: the sluice problem, the water flow is too strong https://youtu.be/VU_j88Gm54Q?t=826

shutting the sluice to reduce flow of water https://youtu.be/VU_j88Gm54Q?t=1023

the flow of water is low enough to get to the other side now the sluice gate has been tightened https://youtu.be/VU_j88Gm54Q?t=1287

Minor sluice ? possibly not a sluice ? open minor sluice #1 https://youtu.be/VU_j88Gm54Q?t=1330

open minor sluice #2 https://youtu.be/VU_j88Gm54Q?t=1572

Other notes: the guide: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps/196917-chrono-cross/faqs/48347

actually uses the word sluice

@November-Dog-20222/21/2023, 2:25 PM

Bomberman 64-

Blue Resort - Stages 1&3

BlueResort Stage 1 -

First sluice. Closing of sluice gives access to the river channel below it https://youtu.be/yKkqGCC4WHg?t=395

Second sluice. Opening of sluice drains some of the remaining water which is down at the end of river channel https://youtu.be/yKkqGCC4WHg?t=428

BlueResort Stage 3 -

Closing the sluice gives access to the river channel bellow it https://youtu.be/slWIp0psQHw?t=173

Area that once was full of water can now be accessed https://youtu.be/slWIp0psQHw?t=208

other notes-

Stage 3 Contains a hidden Gold card and a costume only found in the area drained of water after closing the above sluice