FF Link is a minimalist puzzle game about connecting nodes with links of different colors. The rules are similar to the Japanese paper puzzle [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashiwokakero]Hashi (Bridges)[/url], though here links have different colors and can cross one another. FF Link is a solid puzzle game, certainly for its cheap price, and much better than I expected from its barebones aesthetic. If it provided better tutorialisation and some in-game tools for solving its puzzles, I would've considered it genuinely great.
[h3]Rules[/h3]
The game does a poor job of explaining all its rules, to the point that I got confused multiple times why my ostensible solution wasn't considered correct. So I'll explain the rules here: Your goal is to connect all nodes via links of different colors, by rotating nodes and then drawing links between them. Links are allowed to cross. There must be at least one link of each color, and all links of a color must be connected. Link receptacles can only be connected to white or their own color; white receptacles cannot be connected to one another. Finally, nodes ask for a specific number of link points, and some links are worth multiple points.
[h3]Puzzles[/h3]
Puzzle design ranges from good to great. There are enough constraints that puzzles can be solved partially incrementally. For instance, if there's only one way to draw a green link, then you know that this link must be made. There are five sets of 15 levels each, for 75 levels in total. Each set covers some distinct ideas: like featuring 3 colors at once, or links with strength 2+, or nodes that cannot be rotated.
Level progression within sets is linear, but all sets are unlocked from the start. Nonetheless, if you get stuck in a level, you're still stuck and unable to play the remaining levels in the set (since there are no hints or puzzle walkthroughs), which is a pity. For this reason I wish levels were skippable. When I stopped playing, I had finished 1-15, 2-14, 3-11, 4-13. I couldn't solve 5-1 and so couldn't try later levels from that set.
Puzzle highlight: One puzzle (level [spoiler]2-10[/spoiler]) is a variant of a preceding level, whose solution subverts expectations of how to solve the preceding level. Like a joke in puzzle form.
[h3]Missing Tools[/h3]
I enjoyed solving FF Link's puzzles, and they weren't *that* hard all things considered, so what stopped me from 100%ing the game? In the bigger later levels, I'd eventually reach a point where obvious incremental deductions were no longer possible. At this point I wished to "lock in" my deductions so that I could proceed to less certain deductions. Like by marking or locking nodes or links as "this is definitely correct", or by drawing on-screen (like in [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/709920/Tametsi/]Tametsi[/url] or [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2716690/Liquidum/]Liquidum[/url]). Or in paper puzzles like Hashiwokakero, I would use different pens and pencils, and make notes on paper.
FF Link, like most other small indie puzzle games, lacks such features. As a result, you lack sufficiently powerful tools to solve its puzzles in-game. Without such features, the later levels felt too big with too many degrees of freedom, so I struggled to keep all relevant info in my working memory. At which point I'd try to solve puzzles via trial & error, or by remembering which nodes I was sure about, or I'd take screenshots and draw on them (via [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/400040/ShareX/]ShareX[/url]). This does work, but it feels much less pleasant than having such tools in-game. So this was a missed opportunity.
I like minimalist logic puzzle games, but I strongly believe that if you're asking players to make deductions more than 1-2 steps out, then your game should support such player deductions in-game. Otherwise you force players to solve puzzles somewhere else than in-game, like in their heads or by drawing on screenshots or taking notes. All that is just a worse gameplay experience than being able to make the deductions right there in-game.
[h3]Settings[/h3]
Available in-game options: separate audio volumes for SFX and BGM; resolution; fullscreen; and two color modes (muted vs. vibrant) that might potentially help with some cases of color blindness (?).
[h3]Verdict[/h3]
Recommended if you enjoy abstract puzzle games with solid puzzle design, and don't mind the barebones aesthetic, lack of walkthroughs or hints, and lack of in-game tools to help solve tougher levels.
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