Minimal Crypt

Played on Steam Deck. I appreciate the color blind mode! The puzzles are alright, though it does seem more like a framework for community-generated content, because many of the 64 levels are just explanations of the mechanics, and the final level says "thanks for playing and good luck!" which sounds more like the end of a tutorial. This community framework would be fine except there is no in-game search, and you have to get levels as copy/paste codes from.... somewhere??? The low amount of ramping difficulty puzzles felt very rushed and if there were maybe twice as many with some more natural solutions instead of hard to see sequences it would have felt better but leaning on the crutch of user content without giving a suitable environment makes me regret my time with Minimal Crypt.

Je joue sur Linux. Version Linux : excellente. [h1]Le jeu[/h1] Un casse-tête minimaliste. Il s'agit de déplacer notre (ou nos) pion vers une case destination. La mécanique principale du jeu consiste en des barrières de couleurs qu'on ne peut franchir que si notre pion a une couche de la même couleur. On peut avoir 3 couches de couleurs en plus de la couleur de base du pion. Les couches sont gérées de façons lifo, la dernière appliquée est la première retirée. Il y a septs packs de niveaux, qui ajoutent des mécaniques supplémentaires à chaque fois (plusieurs pions, cases fragiles, téléportation, ...). Si la difficulté est incrémentale, j'ai trouvé la courbe de difficulté mal dosée : tout est relativement facile, et d'un seul coup ça devient nettement plus dur. J'ai jeté l'éponge au cours du 5ème pack, le jeu devenait vraiment trop frustrant, le nombre d'étapes nécessaires à terminer les niveaux devenant bien trop élevé. Le jeu dispose d'un éditeur de niveaux plutôt bien fait, et permet de les exporter/importer sous forme de chaîne de caractères. [h1]Rejouabilité, achievements[/h1] Pas de difficulté pour les achievements, si on exclue le fait que le jeu lui même est difficile :). Les achievements sur les niveaux communautaires sont un peu forcés, mais pas difficiles à obtenir en important des niveaux bidons à partir d'un guide, en plus de quelques niveaux sympas trouvables sur les forums. [h1]En bref[/h1] Les niveaux deviennent trop complexes trop vite pour réellement assimiler les mécaniques de jeu. Je l'ai trouvé bien trop frustrant. [h1]GNU/Linux[/h1] Je n'ai rencontré aucun problème avec la version native. OS: Arch Linux, KDE Plasma 6, Wayland. Hardware : 5950x, AMD RX 6900XT, 64GB ram. Screens : Dualscreen, 1x 4K & 1x 1920x1200.

Excellent puzzle game. Des regles simples, mais qui fonctionnent tres bien. Belle reussite, je le recommande a tous les amateurs du genre.

Minimal Crypt is not as easy as it looks! I've been slowly reviewing it a few levels at a time - I love a challenge and each new mechanic is introduced in a friendly manner but some of these took my sluggish brain a while to work out! Level editor is super easy to use! Minimal Crypt's graphics are minimalist but very clean. The puzzles are complex, with multiple layers of logic required to solve. 60+ levels, good variety of mechanics, and a friendly level editor! For more niche curation, follow me at: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27440015-CSH-Picone/

A really good game. Minimal interface but complex puzzles with a great soundtrack to spend good time playing this game.

[b]TLDR[/b] Interesting abstract grid-based puzzle game, not too challenging, has a level editor but few user-defined levels [14/20⭐, 5h🏅(?h sidegames), 3/5💡] [b]Context[/b] Minimal Crypts is an abstract grid-based puzzle game, where the controllable character must be coloured to pass certain obstacles, with additional mechanics introduced in later levels. [b]Writing[/b] There is no plot, just abstract puzzles to solve. [b]Aesthetics[/b] The design is minimalist and elegant, as usual for modern games of this kind. The soundtrack is pretty decent and low-key, although it can get tiresome in longer play sessions. [b]Gameplay[/b] The main mechanic of Minimal Crypt is that you can colour your character (and, later, obstacles in sokoban-style) with various layers, which are needed to pass through certain tiles. The main twist, in my perspective, is that you can “reset” the map to the initial state while preserving some of those layers. This makes for some pretty challenging puzzles, but nothing overwhelming (although from a few user-designed levels, it’s clear it has the potential to be pretty complex). Although if I’m being honest, level design is a bit rough at times. There are deadends in levels but you can always undo or restart the level without any penalty. [b]Value[/b] The main game took me about 5h to complete, which has about 60 levels. There is a single progress slot. You can revisit all previous levels from the main menu. However, with the user-designed levels, the potential value is unlimited. Unfortunately, by the time of the review there aren’t that many levels available. In fact, there are not even the 50 needed to get the last achievement (unless you just use some dummy levels available). I may revisit the review if puzzle packs are eventually released. Either way, the price tag seems reasonable. [quote][i]For more puzzle-game reviews and curated lists check out the [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/43326007-The-Clueless-Adventurer-Puzzle-Trove/]Puzzle Trove[/url].[/i][/quote]

Deceivingly complicated design. It will test your logical mind and make you think unusually. Well worth it!

Minimalistic indeed, yet complex enough to give you headaches, well designed, innovative, surprisingly varied and makes me struggle much more than I am willing to admit. It's definetely worth its price and you'll be able to enjoy it for days with the community levels.

Jeu intéressant, qui prend des concepts clairs et simples et en fait des niveaux complexes ! Le tout est découpé en plusieurs sections, aux ambiances différentes, qui ajoutent peu à peu de nouvelles contraintes. L’éditeur de niveaux permet aussi de s'amuser pas mal !

A cool and simplistic puzzle game to play whenever you want to get your brain working. The UX/UI is sleek and the mechanics and puzzle design well thought. I have been a long time playtester, hence the small final hour count.