[b]persephone[/b] is one of those [i]'clone yourself by dying and use the corpses to hold down switches and whatnot'[/i] kindagames. very much a [b]sokoban-like[/b], targeting the necrophiliac demographic, but you can push multiple boxes at once, which is nice. the rest not so much, issue upon issue, all detailed below.
there's a [b]paper-thin text-free narrative[/b], never a fan of those. something about audrey 2's spiky cousins taking over whatever world the game takes place in, but there are only a few short cutscenes in the whole thing. level select also has symbols instead of numbers, I like that even less, but the symbols show up on the levels, so they would be useful if they were actual numbers. and while it's great that there's no gibberish during dialog in cutscenes (skippable, another plus), the lack of any sound effects there is just lazy.
there are [b]100+ levels in 10 chapters[/b], half concerning persephone, the rest another character, demeter, and there's a bonus pack to unlock by finishing the persephone story another way. plenty of hazards, but it's all [b]turn-based, no move limit, nor timer[/b]. you'll still have to make sure not to get murdered by lasers and whatnot triggering every other turn, for instance, but with the whole clone thing, [b]dying at the right place at the right time is an essential part of solving the puzzles[/b].
there can be a [b]maximum of 3 corpses[/b] on-screen, they slowly fade away as you keep making new ones. weirdly, lasers don't disintegrate them (nor do they stop lasers), like they do wooden boxes with a few hits. spiky balls kill and push you on first contact, then destroy the body next time (they can't push multiple bodies though), crumbly blocks disappear after stepping on them once, slippery blocks are slippery, moving water transports boxes, teleporters teleport, so the usual stuff seen elsewhere ad nauseam.
there are also altars that turn you into a statue upon dying if you consult them before, or the master of fire capable of igniting yourself and wicks and boxes if killed by a laser. one type even lets you resurrect corpses, turning those particular levels into [b]one of my least favorite things, moving multiple characters simultaneously[/b]. the 9th chapter was the worst, with stuff getting moved around every few turns.
if you keep failing a level, a [b]hint button[/b] comes up that shows [b]the whole solution very quickly[/b]. it can be exited anytime, but no pause, so it's [b]pretty useless[/b] for longer levels. there's also a [b]secret level in every chapter[/b], which has to be found on one of the regular levels by leaving via an alternate exit, not the usual teleporter. the goal there is to destroy (or with demeter, restore) the plants. nothing arcadey, just the usual puzzling. solving each with persephone unlocks her 'true' ending and the bonus levels with a fun concept, while demeter's secret levels only unlock a shortcut on the final level. it's not as ridiculous as the last secret level, which I only watched on youtube.
[b]the presentation is really eye-catching[/b] with pleasant music, but [b]the lack of undo is never something to applaud[/b]. it's always optional, don't use it if you don't want to, but [b]excluding it from a game like this is a major dealbreaker[/b]. there are occasional respawn/checkpoints on the levels, but those are for puzzle purposes, not to save actual progress, and [b]some later levels are really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tedious[/b]. holding a key lets you keep moving, but it's easy to overshoot, leading to further frustration without undo.
[b]controls are buggy and inconsistent.[/b] wasd/arrows to move your character and that's it. [b]no hotkeys, nothing is rebindable.[/b] once I managed to restart a level with space (why space?), but another time it took me back to level select, which is normally done with esc, except that doesn't work either, except for a few random occasions, probably unintentionally. nor is there a 90-degree control rotation setting, which is always handy in isometric games like this. some like it when up means up/right, others prefer it to mean up/left. at least [b]it works the way I like it (up/right)[/b].
mouse works too, click the arrows around the character to move, more finicky in my opinion, but one of the few things to appreciate is, said arrows disappear if you don't touch the mouse for a while, so they're not constantly in the way, pointing in a single direction. however, [b]I had the mouse cursor completely disappear a few times[/b]. always in level select, and since arrows only switch between level packs and enter does nothing, I had to quit to get controls back.
interestingly, esc brings up the exit game prompt in level select and enter confirms it, but you [b]can't just return to the main menu, have to go back to the first world and click the arrow there[/b]. sublime ui design... controller is also supported, and in that case buttons have prompts, so [b]what little and badly implemented keyboard controls exist were clearly an afterthought in a pc game[/b].
[b]clicking the house icon immediately leaves the level without confirmation[/b], instead of bringing up a pause menu with settings, as is customary. of course, [b]mid-level progress is not saved[/b], so it can be a cause for frustration. most levels are short, but at the midway point there's a [b]really annoying multi-stage 'boss fight', and quitting anytime means going back to the very beginning[/b]. failing and the restart button only reset to the start of the current section, and after finishing it one way, the final part becomes accessible separately, so surely a proper save between sections would've been possible.
and as if the problems already mentioned weren't enough, there are [b]further issues, but the game got zero post-release support[/b], so this is probably as good as it gets. I provided some feedback around release based on the demo, they did nothing, so didn't bother sending them more now. separate volume sliders are the only things to fiddle with, [b]no windowed mode[/b], alt+enter only produces a non-resizable window, and it has [b]automatic language detection with no way to change it[/b]. granted, there's not much text, but still. the character can also bug out under certain circumstances, like when a box can't be pushed further and you end up inside it instead of not moving yourself either.
it [b]would be a good puzzler[/b] with excellent visuals and there's a [b]decent-sized demo to try[/b] (progress carries over to the full game), but sadly, the developer doesn't care about proper functionality, nor post-release support, so not only is it not worth full price, [b]in its current and most likely final state it's not even recommendable[/b], along with whatever these people release next, until they prove they can do better. I'd say it's a shame, but there are a billion sokoban clones and games that use the cloning mechanic, and many of them work as they should, so nothing of value was lost here.
