Full Bore

I bought Full Bore as an experimental purchase in 2015, one which turned out well. I had only seen a few confused YouTube videos of the game, which gave me some trepidation, but when I played the game myself it made sense to me. One might say this is a metroidvania puzzle game, and that's not entirely inaccurate. The map is certainly nonlinear. That said, one does not receive extra powers - all puzzles are immediately solvable, provided one notices everything that's on the screen: batteries, laser blocks, pushable or destructible blocks, etc. And provided one enters from the correct entrance: most levels have multiple entrances, which are frequently hidden. Because this is a metroidvania-ish game, it's important and helpful that there are efficient ways to backtrack, namely teleporters. More generally, most levels are quite easy to traverse, and one need only solve puzzles to collect gems. That said, one thing I really disliked was that many puzzles are based on the fact that levels fully respawn - the destruction you cause doesn't persist. I understand the game wouldn't work otherwise, but that's just doubly immersion-breaking: in a game based on destroying blocks, these same blocks shouldn't magically reappear, and even if they must, you still shouldn't have to depend on that to solve puzzles... All that said, this was a very solid puzzle game, and I liked it a lot. There were some frustrating puzzles, however, for which I recommend using a walkthrough. PS, a few tips (with spoilers!): Until you've found all entrances on a level, dig up every block you can find. Also, the map is very useful. One finds it early on in the game. Until then, don't be confused why the map key doesn't work (as happened to me). Finally, levels marked with a ? on the map contain world-spanning puzzles, for which I used a YouTube walkthrough.

Actually surprisingly fun, cute and well put together. I don't know what I expected, but it exceeded my (rather low!) expectations! Worth picking up if you like platformers and block puzzles and boars!

Wait, I haven't reviewed this game already? This is a seriously underrated game. If you're the kind of person who's wary of games with low review counts, don't be put off, this game has top quality puzzles. I actually think it's a fantastic puzzle game and need to start playing it again.

i CANNOT express enough how much i adore this game. it may not leave a great first impression, and it may take a while to really click, but once i got into it, i ended up loving this game. i'm not the kind of person who usually enjoys challenging puzzle games, but this game's mechanics and puzzle design kept me hooked through the whole game. the visuals are charming, the music is REALLY good, and while the story certainly isn't the best or most unique, it meshed well with the gameplay, always adding to my enjoyment of the game. if you enjoy puzzle games at all, especially if you're looking for a challenge, i literally can't recommend this game enough. play it now!

The game is unplayable on non-US keyboards due to many controls not being rebindable.

Underrated puzzle game! Most similar to the Steamworld Dig games, except it focuses more on puzzles over platforming.

Nice puzzler for in between. The boar animations are cute.

This game....is actually really good. It's a 2014 indie game with less than 200 reviews on Steam, so I wasn't exactly going into it with high hopes, especially I got it from some bundle I got nearly a decade ago and forgot about. But everything works really well! Full Bore is an open-world 2D puzzle game with mechanics that revolve around digging through different kinds of blocks. The gameplay can definitely get a little repetitive, but the puzzles are challenging without being frustrating, the writing is cute, the story is surprisingly engaging, and the OST is a huge banger. The biggest problem is how easy it is to get lost in the huge world, as well as the foreseeable burnout of the similar puzzle structure. That being said, this is absolutely a hidden gem game.

It's one of those games that reminds us of the good old days of gaming. A very underrated puzzle platformer with great atmosphere, great music, lots of exploration and puzzles. Finding everything is a real challenge. It's not short so it's well worth even the full price. As for the cons, it runs at a fixed and small resolution so everything looks huge on large monitors. Check this guide for a fix https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1306148222

One of a rare breed of "puzzle metroidvanias" which let you explore a world of puzzles and instead of gaining new abilities you learn new things about how to use the abilities you have. I'm a sucker for these when they're well done, and this one is. If you liked Toki Tori 2+, Outer Wilds, The Witness... check this one out. My only quibble is that there are a few spots with real-time elements [spoiler]including the last area for one of the endings[/spoiler] so if you want a "pure" puzzle experience, it isn't 100% that.