Underground Blossom: Unraveling the Story and Its Achievements

Underground Blossom, a puzzle and point-and-click game developed by Rusty Lake, tells Laura Vanderboom’s life story. This puzzle game structures and lays out the storyline based on the linear progression of both time and the subway line, and intrigues the players even more with secret stations waiting to be discovered. It is not an overstatement to say that players only complete half the game when reaching The Lake Station. This post will introduce the basics of the game, explain its core story, and give hints on how to unlock all its achievements!

What Game Genre Is Underground Blossom?

Underground Blossom is a puzzle and point-and-click game in the Rusty Lake Universe.

The game features various types of puzzle-solving, including using tools, finding clues, looking for passwords, interacting with NPCs, etc. There are also many mini-puzzles that stand alone and do not require extra clues from the game to solve.

As a point-and-click game, Underground Blossom emphasizes on thinking and reflecting on the story and clues. There is no high requirements for players controlling and maneuvouring skills over keyboard or controller. The minimum control requirement makes it a game for relaxation and unwinding. Players can take as much time as they want to play through the game.

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Who Developed Underground Blossom?

Underground Blossom was developed and published by Rusty Lake in 2023. The studio has produced and distributed the Rusty Lake series, Cube Escape Collection, and other standalone games related to the Rusty Lake Universe like Underground Blossom.

Robin Ras and Maarten Looise established the independent game creation company Rusty Lake in Amsterdam in 2015. The studio’s main goal is to create puzzle games with an “escape room” theme.

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The enigmatic and imaginative life experiences and relationships of the Vanderboom family and their characters are illuminated by Rusty Lake Studio’s games. Take Underground Blossom as an example. The game elaborates on the life story of Laura Vanderboom, the last descendant of the Vanderboom family.

As players progress through the Rusty Lake Universe’s games, they are guaranteed a consistent gaming experience because of their shared narrative, theme, graphics, music, and genre styles.

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Where to Download Underground Blossom?

The game is available on Steam, Apple Store, and Google Play Store.

Computer device users can download the game from Steam with a price of $4.99. iOS Mobile device and iPad users can install the game from Apple Store, with a price of $2.99. Android users can purchase the game at Google Play Store at $2.99 as well.

Players can gain access to the game through Rusty Lake official website, too. The page will guide you to all the three platforms that have Underground Blossom available for purchase and download.

Opting for Android or iOS version is a good choice for obtaining the game at a lower price. In terms of the control system, tapping is an easier way to play through the game without putting too much stress on the wrist by clicking and dragging.

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What Is the Background Story for the Game?

The game starts at the point when Rose Vanderboom takes Laura Vanderboom, her daughter, to the subway station, and leaves her with Harvey. To understand the story of Underground Blossom, players need to play through Rusty Lake: Roots to delve into the background story of Rose and Laura.

William Vanderboom’s Reincarnation

In 1859, William Vanderboom was an alchemist. He created and consumed the Elixir of Life and Death. However, William dies after consuming the elixir because it has a 50% chance of causing death and a 50% chance of causing perpetual life. In order to revive his corrupted spirit, he uses the Ouija board to communicate with Rose and asks the family for three timepieces and 10 sacrifices.

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Rose reincarnates William as Laura Vanderboom alongside Frank and Leonard. When Laura is still a youngster, Rose takes her to the city and then leaves her.

Rose, the Child of Sins

Another figure worth mentioning is Rose Vanderboom, Laura’s mother. Unlike Frank and Leonard, Rose is not naturally born. To explain further, Rose’s father, Albert Vanderboom, falls in love with Ida, his sister-in-law. His twisted personality leads to his murdering of Ida and Samuel, his brother. He combines his semen with Ida’s egg to give birth to Rose Vanderboom. This detail can also be found in Underground Blossom from the newspaper held by the man at Child Lane Station and Albert’s repeated appearance as the man with a deer mask.

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Laura’s End

Cube Escape: Seasons and Cube Escape: Paradox fill in the blank of Laura’s death, which is indicated in Underground Blossom.

Cube Escape: Seasons delves into Laura’s mindset in the last several years of her life. Laura lives with her feathered friend Harvey in a cozy home, but her mental status is deteriorating until her suicide in the fall of 1971.

Contrarily, Cube Escape: Paradox investigates Laura’s case from a third-person perspective. Dale Vandermeer will further explore Laura’s death. Judging from the news, the public is yet to determine whether Laura was murdered or committed suicide.

With all that being said, Laura bears the hope of changing the past in Cube Escape: Seasons, but fails to do so. Her rest and blossom are only fulfilled in the ending of Underground Blossom.

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What Happens in Underground Blossom? [Spoiler Alert!]

Underground Blossom covers the story of Laura’s lifetime, from when she is a baby to after her death. Every subway station represents a stage of Laura’s life, and there are seven stations in total, not including the other three stations in the achievements. Therefore, to completely unwrap the story of Underground Blossom, we need to trace the subway, stop by stop.

Childhood: Crib Station and Child Lane

Crib Station and Child Lane are the first two stops of the subway, where Rose Vanderboom is still taking care of Laura until she departs with Harvey at the end of Child Lane.

Despite Rose’s love for Laura, she has to leave. The reasons for her leaving are dubious in the game. It could be because of the deer-masked ghost (possibly Albert Vanderboom’s ghost). This character appears more than once in pictures related to Rose. Laura captures his look with her camera. Later, the image of him appears again in the memory tape of “Best Kept Memory”. In short, Rose is forced to part ways with Laura.

Later, Rose leaves the timepiece to protect Laura and asks Harvey to take care of her. How do we know it is Harvey whom Rose speaks to? In short, the pictures taken by Laura suggest this fact. Another evidence is the statue of the owl in the station. Later on, in the secret station of Rusty Lake Hotel, the owl wrote a letter to Harvey about his job completion with Laura.

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Adult Life: School Street and Bird Bridge Station

School Street and Bird Bridge Station tell the tale of the teenage and adult Laura. The life of this phase is not without worries and troubles, but because of Bob, her future looks hopeful.

Bob enters Laura’s storyline on the subway, which is on its way to School Street, although he does not introduce himself to Laura until at the Bird Bridge Station. This character becomes Laura’s almost one and only companion in the game series, if we do not count Harvey, the bird. Accordingly, his presence brings hope and support to Laura’s life. As shown by the red robin flying to Laura, together with Bob ushers her life to a stage of rebirth, hopes, and good luck.

However, an ominous accident also happens at the Bird Bridge Station. The timepiece that protects Laura’s future is robbed. This event chiefly symbolizes Laura’s loss of connection to her mother and her past with Rusty Lake. The sense of loss is deeply rooted in Laura’s depression. As a result, she has to restore her connection to the past to have a future.

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Lost and Found: Sorrow Cross and Soul Street

In sum, Sorrow Cross and Soul Street witness Laura’s death and the retrieval of the timepiece.

Firstly, Bob leaves Laura at the Sorrow Cross, and things have taken a drastic turn. Compared to the hopeful tone at Bird Bridge Station, Sorrow Cross is depressive and inauspicious. As if determined by destiny, Laura tells Bob that they have to follow their own ways, almost the exact same words uttered by Rose when she leaves.

Moreover, Laura commits suicide and her soul continues to the next station, Soul Street. The lost timepiece is finally retrieved at Soul Street after torturing the thief, and Laura’s soul (the shadow) can find her way to The Lake.

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Finally, I Can See the Blossom: The Lake

After retrieving the timepiece, Laura’s soul recovers the connection with her past, including Rose and the lake in the afterlife.

The Lake, the final station, witnesses the redemption of Laura’s soul and her reconnection with her past and Rusty Lake. She has achieved her relief and ascension at the end, although peace is not found when she is alive.

The only companion left for her, Harvey, can also embark on a new journey. The story trajectory echoes Cube Escape: Seasons. In Seasons, Laura’s soul also goes back in time to give Harvey freedom and a better future.

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Is Underground Blossom Worth Playing?

Underground Blossom, as a standalone game, is an indispensable and must-play piece of the Rusty Lake Universe. There are many reasons for listing this game as a substantial part of the Rusty Lake stories and game series.

First, storywise, it fills the blank of Laura’s life story and fully explains her tragic death. While other games such as Cube Escape: Paradox, Rusty Lake: Roots, Cube Escape: Seasons, touch upon the peripheral reasons for Laura’s death, Underground Blossom narrates the complete story of Laura’s life and her life’s ups and downs.

Secondly, the structure design. It is definitely refreshing to see the openness and progression in the room-escape game genre. The linear progressing structure of the subway not only echoes the chronological progress of Laura’s life, but also deepens the theme with accidental happenings. The train station is a place where anything could happen. It promises nothing but uncertainty, like encountering Bob and the loss of the timepiece.

Thirdly, the achievement system. Underground Blossom has many more achievements to find in the game, compared with Cube Escape Collection and earlier games developed by Rusty Lake. The game also allows players to look for secret achievements without replaying the whole game, which is a great drive for players to peruse the details of each station after reaching the end. New achievements also lead players to another three stations, like an extension of the main game.

These are only a few reasons making the game a must-play on the list. There are so many more merits of the game awaiting the players to explore. The game is, overall, an immersive experience of Laura’s life with music and graphics intertwined with sorrow and hopes.

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Tables of Achievements Collection

Underground Blossom has 35 achievements in total. Each station has four achievements, and there are another seven achievements which are harder to find and do not belong to any station.

Playing through the whole game will unlock two achievements at each station, that is, a total of 14 achievements.

This table explains how to unlock the rest of 21 achievements.

Table of Achievement Collection

Are You Proud of Yourself?	Repeatedly click on baby Laura till she cries.
Bronze Cube	1. Fill the bucket with the water at Soul Street. 2. Pour the water down the sewage at Bird Bridge Station to get the fish net. 3. Use the net on the left part of the puddle at Soul Street to catch a fish. 4. Use the crowbar to open up the fish to get the key. 5. Go to Crib Station open the ticket window and get the Bronze Cube.
Bothersome	Repeatedly drag the Photo Service plague at Child Lane.
Marble Cube	1. Open the back of the iron box at Sorrow Cross with the crowbar. 2. Go to Child Lane and put in the clue.
Not Cool Johnny	Repeatedly click on Johnny, the guy with the egg broken on his head, at School Street.
Ice Cube	1. Fill the bucket with water at Soul Street. 2. Pour the water into the sewage at Crib Station to get the clue. 3. Type in the clue at the ticket machine at School Street.
Music to Die for	Keep clicking on the middle key of the trumpet at Bird Bridge Station.
Stone Cube	1. Get the coin from the man at The Lake after watching the ending credits. 2. Buy a nutbar at Sorrow Cross with the coin. 3. Put the nutbar on the student who is allergic to peanuts. 4. Type in the notes at the trumpet.
Creepy Vermin	Keep clicking on the shadow on the ground at Sorrow Cross.
Bone Cube	1. Use the crowbar to open the mouse hole at Bird Bridge Station. 2. Buy a donut from the food stall with the cash. 3. Give the donut to Bob. 4. Change the time at Sorrow Cross to 12:00. 5. Find the old lady at the gate.
Nice Technique	Hold and drag the nipple clips for several rounds at Soul Street.
Copper Cube	1. Paint the owl’s eyes with the brush. 2. Get the key to the locker. 3. Go to Soul Street and open the 9th locker.
The Future in the Past, the Past in the Future	Click on the shadow of the butterflies three times at The Lake.
Wooden Cube	Use the crowbar to dig out the soil on the left side of the tree at The Lake.
One Shrimp, Please	1. Put all the cubes in the case next to the man at The Lake. 2. Take the shrimp given by the man.
Back to Work	1. Go to Crib Station and give the shrimp to the 2nd Ticket Window. 2. Change the clock to 2:25 and get onto the train to the secret station, The Hotel Rusty Lake. 3. Click on the owl.
He Is Back	1. Check the opened suitcase. 2. Find the Best Kept Memory phone card: 74222 3. Call the phone number at Child Lane. 4. Adjust the clock to 8:35. 5. Take the train and reach the 2nd secret station, Best Kept Memory. 6. Type in the password to the gate: 8357992442 7. Keep clicking on the computer and the lamp.
Behind the Mask	1. Close the green safe box at Soul Street. 2. Retype the password as 5372 and take the mask. 3. Put the mask on Rose at Crib Station.
Ascension	1. Rearrange the cube in the case at The Lake. (*Check the end of the table for the arrangement.) 2. Keep changing the page at The Lake till you see a white cube. 3. Click on the shadow next to the cube. 4. Click on the door and then on the crow.
Your Memories Are Safe with Us	1. Reach the Best Memory Kept station. 2. Put in 23 next to the red button. 3. Take out the tape “Vendome_Ba”. 4. Play the tape at the TV.
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FAQs

Is Underground Blossom horror?

The good news is that Underground Blossom does not feature any horror elements. Compared to other games of Rusty Lake Universe, this game is dominated by the sorrowful and redemptive tone. With the focus on the inner struggle and redemption of Laura Vanderboom, the game alleviates the terror and gore of her tragic death.

How long does it take to beat Underground Blossom?

It takes around 2 to 3 hours to beat the game, but much longer to collect all the achievements. After beating the game, the achievements will unlock another three stations. If counting in all the stations, it may take 5 hours and maybe longer to beat the game completely.

Is Underground Blossom out?

Underground Blossom was released on September 27th, 2023. The game is available on Steam, Apple Store, and Google Play Store. Players can access the links from Rusty Lake official website as well.

Conclusion

Underground Blossom certainly stands out as a unique piece in the Rusty Lake Universe. Different from other games in the series, the game is stripped of the horror and thriller elements and presents a story mixing with sorrow, loss, and redemption. While the tone of the story is shrouded with sorrow and depressive feelings, the core is about love, companionship, and revival.

As to the gameplay, the overall linear structure of the subway is something refreshing for players to try in a room-escape genre game. Moreover, the achievements and the design of the secret stations render the game more interesting with many easter eggs for players to collect. All in all, players will not be disappointed after investing 3 to 4 hours into the game.