[b]dawn of a soul[/b] is a neat number/line-drawing game. pick a starting point and select the necessary digits in the correct order to get the sum on the bottom and ultimately collect all the soul shards to get your soul back.
there are [b]64 puzzles[/b]. the first pack of 14 levels teaches the basics, only after that does level select open up with additional packs and more mechanics. some packs only unlock with enough obtained shards and after the prerequisite pack is finished, with the final one only when all previous levels are perfected. I always find this unfortunate, solving every level and perfecting about half should be enough to at least unlock everything. [b]no level numbers anywhere[/b] is always annoying too, especially in a game all about numbers, come on.
levels consist of a bunch of connected and numbered nodes. they come in all sorts of colors and you can only switch from one to another after collecting 6 fragments (from a sum of 6, not necessarily 6 nodes) to charge the color-changing thingy. switching also ups the multiplier, so selecting 6 red 1s, then a yellow 1 becomes 14 (7x2).
mouse-only controls, no need for the keyboard, esc still brings up the menu. it's convenient that only the first number has to be clicked, then just move the cursor over the rest and finish with another left click (a premature second click obviously fails the level, confirming a lower value than necessary). going back on your selection is possible, as is [b]undo[/b] with a right click, resets the whole line. [b]a hint button is available sometimes[/b], highlighting a not necessarily perfect starting point. shame it's not part of every level, you still have to figure out where to go from there anyway.
after learning the ropes, the game ceases to be a single-line puzzler, as [b]levels won't always consist of an all-connected grid and you'll have a limited amount of moves (up to 4) to do the math[/b]. already completed turns can still be undone and higher goals also become a thing. reaching the lower one is good enough to continue but you'll want all the shards to properly finish the game. imperfect levels are marked on level select.
further mechanics are gray triangles, useless until a color gets passed onto them by removing a connected node. as a selection is made, affected gray nodes get highlighted. and diamond shards are like jokers or bridges, and as such, can't be in a starting position.
good enough pixel graphics and atmospheric audio. the unity launcher provides resolution options and windowed mode, not ideal but a common occurence in 2017 when the game came out and it's still better than nothing. inside the game you can turn music and sound on/off and change the language as part of the introductory dialog. neat idea and again, much better than automatically starting the game without a chance to adjust anything, as is also common. settings can be brought up anytime but they're still the same dialog stuff, not something less finicky. [b]an animated lines toggle would've been good too.[/b] it's confusing enough to see what's connected to what sometimes and lines that won't stop moving certainly don't help.
[b]it's a really cool game at a really good price[/b], though obviously separate volumes, level numbers and proper in-game settings would've been nice. some perfect and even good enough solutions were too mathy or otherwise elusive or tedious to figure out on my own, but highly recommended stuff regardless, [b]has a demo[/b] too.
