Ratcheteer

Released on 09/15/2021
Made by Shaun Inman, Matthew Grimm, and Charlie Davis
Download: Season One, Week 12
79.9 MB.

Your master mechanic is abducted during some unplanned maintenance, setting off a lo-fi, top-down, action-adventure that finds the young Ratcheteer exploring the interconnected tunnels below the surface and a vast snowcean above to rescue friends, foes, and strangers alike.
-Ratcheteer's game page

Ratcheteer is a game developed by Shaun Inman, Matthew Grimm, and Charlie Davis.

Tools

The Ratcheteer uses tools in the same way Link in Zelda gets objects.

The tools featured in the game are, in order of appearance: 1. Lantern 2. Magnifying Glass 3. Wrench 4. Spring 5. Drill 6. Sail 7. Roll Armor 8. Steam Mech

Steam Mech parts

Steam Mech parts:

1. Gate Valve 1. Fan 1. Laser

Walkthrough

The original author Shaun Inman published some hints on his personal website. They are based on the feedback from players writing on this Reddit post.

The hints contained on the link above should be enough to let you pass the game without getting stuck. Sometimes you'll need to take a break and resume it again before coming up to the solution. You can also use the walkthrough below, but probably you'll ruin much of the fun.

Mechanic Town

The first two areas are covered in this video walkthrough by thrillhouse.vanhouten.

Power Plant

The Power Plant boss can be defeated by hitting the eyeball with the Wrench.

The treasure after the final boss contains the Gate Valve, that is a part of the Mech part.

Greater Caverns

From the right entrance from the Greater Caverns, go to the left until you get to cell 7F. You need the Spring to jump in diagonal and get the treasure. The treasure is Astral Rune Z.

When you back to Mechanic Town, you can go to the cell below the Master house (cell 6E) where there is a treasure that can be found by jumping over a hole with the Spring. It contains a Heart Fragment.

Go to the Power Plant, take the path to the west and go upstairs. Go all the way to the right and in the last room jump over the holes. When you go downstairs, you will find a treasure. It contains 25 pieces of ore.

Treatment Plant

You get the drill in the treatment plant.

In the first room of the Treatment Plan, jump over the hole with the Spring and push the moving block to the west to get the treasure. It is the Astral Rune S.

Cryo Colony

You get the drill on the Cryo Colony.

You can drill a shortcut by drilling the south wall in the room to the south of the one that has the boss door; this room features four waterpipes (cell 3G). The shortcut connects to cell 8C.

Revisit the Treatment Plant go to the northwest corner (cell 4D). In this room you will find a cracked wall that you can destroy with the drill. The treasure contains 50 pieces of Ore.

Revisit the Tunnels. Go to the cell that is to the east of the Cryo Colony, and to the west of a treasure (cell 5G). This cell can be access only from the south. You will find that there is a cracked wall to the east. Use the drill to break it, and then use it again in the next crack wall. Then you will visit cell 5H, where there is a treasure. This treasure is Astral Rune K.

Greenhouse

Rabbit ghosts stay still while you jump, so use the spring to move to avoid to get caught when there is one of them.

The Greenhouse map is heart-shaped. Once you get to the top left screen (cell 3D), you will find two streams. Push the blocks next to the streams to block them and be able to get the treasure, where you will find a key.

Go back to the way to the entrance, pass the closed boss door and you'll find a standard locked door. Behind this door there is a treasure, where you will find the sail. Use it to exit the screen.

Leave the Greenhouse through the main entrance and go to the east. You will find a side entrance to the Greenhouse through a dark tunnel. When you find the first rotating aisle, remember to leave it facing the standard lock door.

You will get to a room where the only way to pass is by gliding in diagonal. This is possible by jumping in diagonal and then using the sail.

If you go north (cell H3) you will find a room with a treasure. You can get it by pushing the rock, and when while being pushed by the stream jump and glide before falling on any of the holes. When trapped by the stream, use the drill to cover yourself. The treasure contains a standard key. Use the drill to cover yourself while coming back.

You are back to the diagonal jump screen. Now go to the south (cell H5) and stump the enemies to get the door to be open.

When you go to the west (cell G5), you can access the standard lock door you couldn't reach before. Use the key to open the door.

In this room (cell F5) there is a treasure that can be reach by gliding through the platforms. One time you will have to glide in diagonal. The treasure contains the Greenhouse Boss Key.

Come back to cell H5, where you stumped all crabs. When you find the rail tool in the next stages, you could take the rail on the east that faces north and get to open the standard lock door on cell H4.

Go back to the side entrance of the Greenhouse and get back to the Surface. Junmp to the south and then find your way to thethe Greenhouse main entrace, going to the west, then north then west again. Once you are again in the Greenhouse, go to the west.

When you find a room full of crates, go to the the east to visit cell 5E that contains a treasure. To get the treasure you need the sail to jump and stomp the enemies on the platforms. The treasure contains a half heart

Go to back to the west to the crate room. Use the crate to replenish your life before you meet the final boss. Set the rotating aisle facing north. You will find the boss door in cell . You need to stump on the ladder to be able to reach it. Open the boss door.

The boss is in a platform in the middle, with a small size. Stump on him and reach the platform to the east, when the boss takes its final gigantic form. Each time you stump on him, it will split in lesser forms but spikes will emerge temporarily from the central platform, so ensure you come back to the side platforms as soon as possible. The least forms may even suicide themselves while you try to attack them.

Go to the west and stump on the floor to open the three freezers. Talk to the Tracker that was caged by the Astrals inside the right freezer. Open the treasure and get the fan.

Go back to the east and take the portal. You will be teleported to the entrance, where the Lifer Major is waiting for you. Talk to him. He'll tell you to chase the Astrals through the Snowcean. He's blocking the way to the exit, so you'll have to find your way to the east to the side entrance.

Back in the Surface

You will find two Astrals in the entrance of the tunnel. Talk to them many times. The one that speaks English will ask you to meet the the Astral Elders and give you indications in Astral about how to get the Outpost from the open Snowcean. If you have obtained letters, you should be able to understand him without issues.

east, north, west, north, east, north, east, north

Go back to the village in the east. Talk to the villagers.

There is a treasure to the north of the village you (cell 4C) that can be obtained now we have the sail. Use the drill with the crank to destroy the block in front of the blocked pipes on the top of the screen. Then use the drill to get yourself to the second stream from the top of the screen and use the momentum to jump and glide to the left of the screen. Remember to press left while jumping and gliding. It may take you a few tries to get it. The treasure is a Heart Fragment.

You can jump inside a well where the children are (cell 6D). There is one treasure in the first room that can be obtained without the sail. You will need the sail and the drill to get to the next room in the north.

In this room there is another treasure. Use the sail to stomp the stairs and access the treasure (100 pieces of ore). There are portals within these tunnels that are shortcuts to previous stages where there were wells.

The portal to the west takes you to the well by the Factory in Mechanic Town. Go there to give the fan and the 250 pieces of Ore required by the metalsmith. He will keep working on the Steam Mech.

Go to the Power Plant and take the stairs to the left. In cell 2F you will find two turning L's. The one below, when set in the right position, sets you the way to a treasure. You will need the sail to jump and drift over the hole to get the turning L. The treasure contains a Heart Fragment. Push the moving block to north or drift back to get out.

Go to the Tunnels and visit the cell that is in the northwest corner (cell 4C). Jump and drift over the holes with the sail to get the treasure. It contains 50 pieces of ore.

Still in the Tunnels, go to the east until you reach a cell where there is a treasure (cell 5H). Jump and drift over the holes with the sail to get it. It contains a Heart Fragment.

Still in the Tunnels, go to the room that is full of crabs in the north of the southeast corner (cell 7H). Stump on them to kill them. Use the drill to break the south wall. Use the sail to jump over the holes. You will find a treasure with 50 pieces of Ore.

Go to the Cryo Colony to the room that is in the southwest corner in the map (cell 9C). Use the sail to jump and drift over the holes, and open the treasure. You will find a Heart Fragment.

Go to the room that contained the Cryo Colony boss treasure (cell 2G). You can get quickly by taking the teleport in the first room and then going north. Once you're in this room, jump and drift to the east. Drill the east wall. You will find a room with a treasure that contains 100 pieces of Ore.

Go back to the Surface.

In cell 7E you can drill the wall to the east. In cell 6E there is a treasure of 25 pieces of Ore that can be reach by jumping and gliding.

If you keep drilling to the east you will find a cul-de-sac in cell 5E that gives you the hint that there is a treasure within the same cell, but it must be reach from the village. Go to cell 6C (where the Archive house and Tracker are) and drill one of the walls to the center-left to the south. Jump to get the treasure, that is 10 pieces of Ore.

Go to the west. In cell 6H, before reaching the Snowcean, you can drill a block to the south to find a treasure that contains 10 pieces of Ore.

Go to the west to reach the Snowcean.

Snowocean

Go to the north twice and then to the east to get the missing cell in the Surface. You will find a treasure here that you can get by avoiding the holes. It is 10 pieces of Ore.

Go back to the Snowcean and get the treasure by jumping and gliding over the water. It is the astral rune F.

Go to the south through the shore. You will find another treasure that you can get by jumping over the water. It it the astral rune M.

Go back to the entrance of the Snowocean. Jump and glide on the raft. You move it using the crank.

Take a random route to get lost and get a treasure with the Astral Rune B.

Back to the start, once you are in the open sea take this route:

west, west

You will find a treasure with the Astral Rune P. Once you get the treasure, take back the rift and go anywhere to come back to the start.

Back to the start, once you are in the open sea take this route:

east, east

Then jump over the water with the sail to get a treasure that contains the Astral Rune Y. Once you get the treasure, take back the rift and go anywhere to come back to the start.

Back to the start, once you are in the open sea take this route:

south, south

You will find a treasure that contains the Astral Rune G. Once you get the treasure, take back the rift and go anywhere to come back to the start.

Back to the start, follow the directions told by the Astral by the Greenhouse exit to get the Astral Outpost:

east, north, west, north, east, north, east, north

You will get the Astral Outpost. Talk to all the Astrals in the Outpost entrance. Go to the north and enter the igloo. Read all books within the shelfs. Talk to the Astrals. One of them will give you the Mines Key. The other gives you the hint that their leader knows how to get to the Mines, so you have to find another Astral that was not there. You may remember a Hermit Astral that was hidden behind the waterfall and you couldn't understand at that time, but now you know better Astral he's worth a visit.

Before looking for the Hermit Astral, drill the wall to the east. Jump and drift over the holes to reach the end of the tunnel. On the surface, break the cone to get a treasure. It contains a Heart Fragment. It also gives the clue that there is another treasure in the same cell, but unreachable from where you are.

Go back to the shore where the raft is. Jump on the water and move to the east to get the treasure you just saw. It contains 10 pieces of Ore.

In the Outpost there was a well entrance that allows you to get portals back to previous stages. Jump into it. Stump to get the ladder to the north. Go to the east to find a treasure of 100 pieces of Ore.

Go to the south and find the portal that takes you to the Greater Cavern. Head north to find the Tunnels, where the Astral Hermit lives.

In the left entrance of the Tunnels (cell 9E), arriving from the greater Caverns, you can find a treasure if that can be get using the sail. Jump and drift to get 10 pieces of Ore.

If you take right entrance to the Tunnels from the Greater Caverns, head west and jump a lot of platforms to get the waterfall. Go behind the waterfall and talk to the Astral Hermit. If you have been taking the Astral Runes, the directions to the mine must be very clear:

south, east, south, west, south, east, north, east

To go back to the Snowocean, go back to the waterfall and head east twice, then north to find the Surface. Then go back to the starting point of the Snowcean. From the open Snowcean, take the rift and the directions to get to the Mines:

south, east, south, west, south, east, north, east

In this way, you will get the Mines, that it is the next level.

There should be other places to go with the raft, as even if you follow the previous indications you will find unvisited cells in the Snowocean map.

Mines

You can drill the north wall in the second room you visit in the Mines. There is a treasure here with 10 pieces of Ore.

If you go west you will find the boss door and a dead end (cell 4E) from where you will glimpse from the distance some old miners. Back to the previous screen before the dead end (cell 5E) you will find a crack on the west wall that you can drill. Inside this cave, you will find a treasure with a standard key.

Go back to the central room and now choose the east way. You will need to drill your way often. It's a linear way of many screen until you find a stairs going down. You will have to drill a lot of walls and kill moles to exit this screen to the east. The next screen is similar. To the north you will have to drift many times and take the trampolines to get the locked door. Use the standard key to open it.

In this room you will find a treasure that contains the Roll Armor. From now on, everytime you find a friendly froghorn you must dash him to unlock the rails.

Go back to the room where you found a miner and a froghorn. Dash it.

Go back to the room where you found the standard key (cell 5D). There is one part of the room that is only accessible by using the roll armor. Once you get there, go downstairs.

From the room where there are many rails (cell 8C)

The first and fifth (last) rails are interconnected. They take you nowhere.

The second rail takes you to find a treasure in cell 7C, that is Astral Rune Q.

The third takes you to find a treasure, that is a Heart Fragment.

The forth rail takes you to the stairs.

Drill the west wall. In this room you will need to jump and glide in diagonal and then use the roll armor to get the rail before you fall. The treasure in this room is a standard key.

Go back and go north. Drill the wall to the west. Take any of the rails with the roll armor and remove it in the only platform where you can stop. Jump and glide to get a treasure, that is the boss key.

Go to the east. Roll until the end of the rail (cell 3H). You will find here a treasure containing the Astral Rune J.

Keep going to the south west corner of this room. You can drill the west wall from there. In the next room, roll and dash to get to the standard key door. Use the standard key to open it. You will find here miner 3. Dash the monster to unlock a rail.

Go to the final boss door that you saw before (cell 6E). Talk to Miner 4. Dash the monster to unlock the rail. Dash to go across the rails and get the Mines boss.

To beat the boss, use the wreck with the crank to hurt it, and then dash the wall where it is shaking.

Once it has been beaten, go across the rails to find an empty treasure. Take the side rails to go back to the Snowcean.

Heading to the Crater

Talk to the Astral to take the Laser Emitter part. Take the rail to the west to go back to Mechanic Town.

Jump into the well next to your house. Take the rail to get a treasure. It is 500 pieces of Ore.

You will also find the message in a bottle that you can read by using the magnifying glass. It says in Astral:

west, north, east, north, west, north, west, south, west, south, east, south

You will also see in the distance a character that you cannot reach.

Take the portal and the raft. Then from the raft, take the route in the bottle. It is the S. Island. Enter the hut. You can play music by setting next the piano and move the crank. The characters represent the team behind Ratcheteer and their families, so this is a kind of easter egg.

Outside, if you go into the well, you won't see the character you saw before in the distance.

Go to the Tunnels, to the northeast corner of the map (cell 3H). Use the roll armor to use the rail. Open the treasure to get 100 pieces of Ore.

Go to the Greenhouse, in the Surface. Take the path to the east, then all north, then east and south, and find the room with the crabs (cell 5H). Stump on the enemies and take the rail on the east using the Roll Armor. Open the standard key door. Jump and drift over the holes and drill the east wall. You will find a treasure with 150 pieces of Ore.

Go back to Mechanic Town through the portal tunnels. In the cell where the Metalsmith's Forge is (cell 7F in Mechanic Town) you can drill the east wall to find an unvisited cell. Use the sail to jump and draft over the holes. Use the roll armor to take the rail. You will find a treasure of 250 pieces of Ore.

Go to and give the Metalsmith the laser emitter and 500 pieces of ore. Talk to him again and you'll be able to take the Mech. Jump into the Mech to use it. Use A to fire the laser and use the crank to aim it. Press B to dismount.

Leave the Mech for now and go into the well next to the Metalsmith's Forge. Take the rail to get 250 pieces of Ore.

Take the Mech. Go north, then to the east to get the Greater Caverns. Go north to take the entrance to the Tunnels. In one room you will have to take a rail, activate a light sensor, go back quickly and cross the bridge. Destroy the lava blocks with the laser. You will get the Snowcean.

The Crater

In the first screen there are plenty of rocks to crush to get life, in case you need to replenish your lifebar. Go north.

In the next screen, leave the Mech Armor and push the blocks in your way toward the wall to clean the way for the Mech. Go north.

In this screen there are drones attacking you. Use the laser in circles to kill them. When you have kill one very fast after it emerges, leave the Mech and push the block toward the hutch to avoid more drones emerging and opening the doors. Take the door to the left with the Mech.

Use the laser to destroy the lava block that is blocking the way to a treasure. Go back to the previous screen and leave the Mech next to the small door. Cross it, and get the treasure. It's the boss key.

Go back to this screen with the Mech through the big door and open the boss door.

Defeat the boss, that is the Destroyer. You just need to point the boss with the laser and when he's set in the middle, dash it with the Roll Armor. You have to repeat this many times. In the meanwhile, you will have to destroy lava blocks that protect the Destroyer and the drones that circle you.

Once it is killed, you will get the final credits.

Astral Runes

In this section, you can find how to get the astral runes that are located in treasures spread across the map. There are 26 astral runes, one for each alphabet letter.

?

You can find it in Surface, in cell G5. You access it from the south, by drilling the wall.

B

You can find it in the Snowocean, by using the raft and following these directions (or probably just getting lost):

west north east north west north west north

C

You can find it in the side entrance of the Greenhouse, to the east of the main house. You need the sail to access this tunnel and the treasure.

D

You can find it in the entrance of the Greenhouse, just in the screen to the north. You need the spring and the sail to get the treasure. Keep in the air to make the ghost move towards you.

F

You can find it in the Snowcean, in cell 4B. Jump and glide to get the treasure.

G

It is found in the Snowocean, by taking the raft and navigating south and south. Then get a treasure that contains the Astral Rune G.

J

You can find it in the Mines, in cell 3H. You need the roll armor (and other tools, like the sail) to get to this room. You can access it taking the west route from the start, and going to the very end.

K

Revisit the Tunnels. Go to the cell that is to the east of the Cryo Colony, and to the west of a treasure (cell 5G). This cell can be access only from the south. You will find that there is a cracked wall to the east. Use the drill to break it, and then use it again in the next crack wall. Then you will visit cell 5H, where there is a treasure. This treasure is Astral Rune K.

M

You can find it in the Snowcean, in cell 7B. Jump over the water to get the treasure.

P

You can find it in the Snowcean, taking the draft and once you are in the open sea going west and west.

Q

You can find it in the Mines, in cell 7C, by taking the second rail from the left in the previous room.

S

You can find it in the first room of the Treatment Plant (cell 7E). You must jump over the hole by using the Spring and push the moving block to the west to get the treasure.

Y

It is found in the Snowocean, by taking the raft and navigating east and east. Then jump over the water with the sail to get a treasure that contains the Astral Rune Y.

Z

You can find it in the Tunnels. From the right entrance from the Greater Caverns, go to the left until you get to cell 7F. You need the Spring to jump in diagonal and get the treasure. You can also use the spring and the sail to jump straight twice.

Developers

• Shaun Inman (Design & Development)
• Matthew Grimm (Music & Sound)
• Charlie Davis (Illustrations)