PANIK

Simple yet complex. Despite its minimalist aesthetic, this game will give you more than a few headaches. If you like puzzle games, I recommend it 100%.

[b]8/10[/b] Help a bunch of anxious Gen Z’ers find their path. But you gotta make sure they don’t lose it. [b]What is it:[/b] Imagine this. You get to work and all your coworkers are shaking in their boots, unable to move and do the most basic things to get the job done. What will you do? How will you get your colleagues to fulfill their most basic job description? Well, put on your crown and start standing on business! Panik is unique in that the premise is almost as interesting as the puzzles themselves. I need to create an entirely new section in this review to give the game the proper service here… [b]How cool is the premise:[/b] Very. You have nervous little people with all these fun abilities but they are useless until they are standing next to or connected to a king. Without getting too political, it's an uncanny reflection of the modern day workplace where people refuse to do anything except the bare minimum unless the boss comes in. [b]Back to “What is it”[/b] There are 14 different people known as “Panikers”, each with their own ability, that you must use in a coordinated effort to occupy each goal tile. Imagine the concept of the Lost Vikings or Trine, but multiplied by 4. We have panikers that can fly, teleport, multiply, and even destroy the level space. Yet they all need to be connected to a king to move (well, all but one). This is the core gameplay loop. How to move the king around to activate each paniker’s specialty and satisfy each level’s solution state. Oh, did I forget to mention that each paniker, including the king, has a limited number of moves? Things can get pretty complicated. [b]How hard is it:[/b] Medium, ★★★☆☆. [b]How long is it:[/b] Around 210 levels that took me less than 20 hours to complete. There are 8 sections with about 20 levels in each. Each section introduces 2 new panikers with a tutorial level for each. After this you have access to 5 of the remaining 13 levels that you can solve in any order you want. As you solve 1 level an additional level opens up. Once you solve a certain number of levels in one section, access is granted to the next section. I never felt progress locked, in part to the game design and in part because none of the levels were too difficult. [b]Level design:[/b] Some real gems. The unique characteristic of each paniker allowed for equally unique types of puzzles. Although the usage of the king and goal remained the same for every level, I felt like I was playing in an evershifting puzzle space due to each paniker specialty. If push came to shove and I had to assign a genre, it would be “pathfinding”, however some solutions are more about how the panikers play tag with each other while others are simply about destroying the space until only goal tiles are left. It may look like path-finding but often feels like its own unique thing. [b]Quality:[/b] Has most of what you'd expect. Undo (although not after a restart), auto-saving, MOUSE CONTROL ONLY. You can use the keyboard to navigate the level select, but the game is designed for mouse, so no point. All your basic settings. Windowed and tons of resolutions, English, Spanish and a dialect I've never heard of (betraying the games roots), All the sliders your ears need, Cloud saves, in house achievements, but no profiles. Super fast and responsive. Plays like butter, but maybe laced with that green stuff which is why everyone is so on edge. [b]Worth the price:[/b] Yes. [b]Most positive aspect for me:[/b] The sheer variety of gimmicks, which lead to unique puzzles throughout the game, yet never feels too confusing. That monarch really has his people under control. [b]Most negative aspect for me:[/b] SURPRISE, not difficult enough. The last section combines all the panikers and I was looking forward to seeing what the dev cooked up with access to all the unique characteristics in one puzzle. Awesome stuff, don’t get me wrong. But.I.Wanted.More. [b]What would make it better:[/b] Just harder stuff. That's it. Oh, some of the tutorial levels weren’t very clear in showing me the specialty of the paniker. It wasn’t until I had to solve harder puzzles that I had to really lock in and see what was going on. I won’t say which paniker because I am curious if it was just my dumb. [b]Also consider:[/b] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/583270/Cosmic_Express/?curator_clanid=25928931]Cosmic Express[/url], it’s the most salient pathfinding game. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/3352310/Spooky_Express/?curator_clanid=25928931]Spooky Express[/url], Hmmm, I will let you figure out why. [quote]For more puzzle game reviews, news and everything puzzle-related, follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/25928931-Puzzle-Lovers/]Puzzle Lovers[/url] and check out our [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/puzzlelovers]Steam group[/url].[/quote]