Mutasmagoria

Welcome to the zoo! You'll be playing as Annette Cylon, a sketalian girl who just graduated with majors in both Zoo and Wildlife Medicine. In school, Annette's grades were outstanding, and she was highly dedicated to her studies, but she's been struggling with a constant battle with her own melancholy and aimlessness, leaving her jobless. Luckily, opportunity struck when her uncle on her mother's side, Seth Petrooth, offered her a job in his zoo. Buckloot Island Zoo is a strange place, almost resort-like and remotely located in the middle of an archipelago. Some busywork seemed like just the thing to distract Annette from her own ghosts, so she accepted the job and climbed aboard the train to Buckloot Island. What she didn't expect was the other train hurtling her way, full of misfortune and disaster.

In Mutasmagoria, you'll find:

• Strong world-building: The universe of Mutasmagoria is based on a unique speculative evolutionary direction. In this world, all vertebrates evolved from a hexapedal fish-like ancestor, resulting in two entirely different sapient 'human' species. Throughout the game, you'll explore the nature and culture of both these sides of this new kind of 'humanity,' alien and familiar all at once.

• Expansive Mind Library: Annette has a figurative library in her head that you can access anytime to help dig into information about this new, strange world. Just like a real-life library, you'll have access to all the information from the start, but you aren't expected to acquire all the information at once. This means that for puzzles, you set the pace at which you gather clues rather than being gated by the game.

• Puzzles built into the world: Puzzles in the game are built around curing the alien-like animals in the zoo with the resources available to you. Because of Annette's studies in biology, information about the animals is easily accessible, but diagnosing, creating medicines, and stopping unseen viruses that could create a future catastrophe? That requires critical thinking that goes beyond reading the mind library. Every clue and solution revolves around the game's biologically unique world and natural mechanisms.

• Time is ticking: In the game's main mode, taking actions in the zoo will use up time. Some tasks must be completed each day, and if you don't finish them all, there are consequences (usually bad ones). The choices you make and the tasks you complete - or don't - culminate in multiple possible conclusions to the story. And not all puzzles are created equal - some are more important to your success than others! 100%ing the game's scenario and completing every single puzzle is borderline impossible; you'll need to make smart choices about what's vital for the zoo and what can go undone. For those who prefer a less stressful mode of play, difficulty modifications are available that let you play without a timer at all.