Publisher: Annapurna
Developer: Simogo
Year: 2024
Platform: Windows, Switch, PS4, PS5
Rating: 7
More so than any game I’ve ever played, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (by Swedish developer Simogo) weaves hardcore puzzles with an abstract story. I’m not entirely sure that combination works for me, as one side of my brain was constantly spinning from the difficulty, while the other side was spinning trying to understand what was happening. But I enjoyed both enough to recommend this to puzzle lovers.
Continue reading Lorelei and the Laser Eyes →
Publisher: Devolver
Developer: Croteam
Year: 2014
Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android
Rating: 6
Can an android become sentient? Bet you’ve never experienced that kind of story before. But in case you have, The Talos Principle does a decent job of engaging in this discussion while sending you through about a hundred or so environmental puzzles. Clearly inspired by the Portal series, The Talos Principle is significantly more difficult and significantly more serious. And while I found it to be repetitive at times and the story not as engrossing as I was hoping for, I still had a blast working my way through it.
Continue reading The Talos Principle →
Author: Linus Åkesson
Year: 2020
Development System: Dialog
Cruelty Rating: Merciful
Length Of Play: 3-4 hours
My Rating: 8
Awards: 1st Place: 26th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition;
Best Puzzles, Best Individual Puzzles, Best Implementation, Best Use of Innovation: 2020 XYZZY Awards
What initially appears to be a charming slice-of-life about a six year-old girl helping her dad get ready for a dinner party turns into a old-school puzzlefest with an extraordinary mechanic that I’m embarrassed to admit I needed the in-game hints to even discover. Discovering the mechanic is part of the fun so I won’t spoil it here. I’ll just say it involves changing things in your environment with some magical thinking.
Continue reading The Impossible Bottle →
Munching Numbers, Letters, Ensigns, etc.
Death By Troggles 