[b]princess castle quest[/b] might sound like a game for kids, and the visuals certainly hammer the assumption home, but it's actually a clever and often challenging puzzler with a huge amount of variety, both in visuals and mechanics, though they're mostly rooted in sokoban one way or another. it [b]can be played in co-op[/b] as well, locally or via steam remote play.
the game starts with the king kicking you to the curb for partying too hard, so it's time to collect a bunch of gems and [b]buy and decorate your own fully-explorable castle[/b]. on your journey you'll visit [b]7 main locations[/b] from lovely gardens to not so lovely caves, the land of fire and ice, some pyramids, and even space. [b]despite no actual narrative, it feels much more like an adventure[/b] than most puzzle games with a variety of themes.
the aptly-titled adventure mode has [b]250+ puzzles[/b], grouped into a bunch of levels per location, each with their own mechanics. [b]many puzzles are optional[/b], hidden even, but there's a minimap to ease the pain of navigation and [b]fast travel between checkpoints[/b], though there's not one on every screen, unfortunately.
while the main goal is grabbing gems, gold bars can also be found to unlock even more levels from the main menu, and hearts are a hidden but ultimately useless collectible. you can [b]explore levels relatively freely[/b], with each screen offering things to tackle. what's cool is [b]actual puzzle areas within a screen are self-contained[/b] and act as checkpoints and fast travel spots. note that simply visiting a screen won't activate them, you have to enter each puzzle area, which I found unnecassarily cumbersome.
however, thanks to this self-containment, you can undo and reset individual puzzles without screwing up progress elsewhere. love it, especially with [b]puzzle reset letting you keep already collected gems[/b]. it'd be great if counters showed a fix number though, because as it is, you'll start the level with 0/100 gems, for example, and after collecting 10 and quitting, next time it'll show 0/90 instead of 10/100. confusing.
any number of keys can be stored in the inventory, and you can pick up various items one at a time. some are useless, just a bit of fun, others seem useless but are used to access secrets, and there are really handy ones like the flashlight or the sword (you get to keep the latter after finding it), as well as [b]special power-ups[/b] that let you pick up boxes, shoot arrows or fireballs, open portals, etc. all this further emphasizes the adventure aspect, but each slot can only hold one item, which makes for a lot of unnecessary back and forth, especially on one level with numerous gloves to play with.
as for the mechanics, there's a lot of pushing and pulling of crates, barrels, bags, even sheep, so [b]sokoban enthusiasts can rejoice, but many other puzzle types are represented[/b]: laser-redirecting, sliding, portals, switches, pistons, mazes, mazes in the dark, moving multiple characters at the same time, you name it. [b]only a few hidden puzzles have a move limit[/b], and while there's an optional timer display for stats, [b]there are no timed puzzles, but some require quick action and timing[/b].
even though there's no health bar, [b]you can die in various ways[/b], like falling into water or off the level. some lasers are also deadly and there are turrets and even enemies to avoid occasionally. the latter don't always move in real-time and sometimes can be trapped or gotten rid of, and [b]limited undo works even after your demise[/b] (can be turned off if you're a glutton for punishment). not to mention [b]game speed is adjustable[/b], potentially slowing everything down to a crawl. admittedly, moving around like that is a huge pain, but with various speed settings you're bound to find one to help with the current section (or not, as the case was for me sometimes).
[b]the way saving works is borderline unacceptable.[/b]. it happens after grabbing collectibles and solving puzzles, but [b]if you leave a level, puzzles reset[/b]. it would be an absolute dealbreaker, but they still count as solved, collectibles are kept, the minimap is intact, and you can choose a starting location next time, but not every screen has a puzzle to travel to, and even [b]already solved puzzles might have to be completed again to re-gain access to an area[/b]. I'd prefer levels to remain the way I left them, or at least the ability to travel to any already found screen, but as it is, [b]make sure to think ahead before quitting[/b] to minimize frustration.
[b]the presentation is mostly great.[/b] colorful pixel graphics with a lot of attention to detail (e.g. you can [b]pet and feed dogs[/b]), though it might be too cutesy for some. the music is really good too, but I found the [b]mouth-made sound effects and turret sounds beyond annoying[/b]. there aren't many of the former, but since there's a toggle for footsteps, which are not even grating, it would be nice to be able to turn these off separately as well, along with the ticking of the move counter, as rare as it is.
besides basic (should be anyway) functionality like separate volume settings, windowed mode with a resizable window, resolution options, and rebindable controls (also for the controller), lots of other options are available, such as alternate presets for the keyboard, a customizable ui, various languages, and things the average player probably won't bother with, but I'm glad they're there. less glad about [b]constant crashes on the level select screens[/b]. no progress loss, just annoying, similarly to 'x' and 'z' giving mixed messages: they're used interchangably to confirm or cancel things based on which prompt comes up.
the game is a [b]delicious smorgasbord of genres with an abundance of quality of life features[/b] to tailor the experience to your preferences, and it's definitely worth trying, despite the few annoyances mentioned above. the price is more than reasonable as well for the amount and quality of content you get (with more on the way), but [b]there's a demo[/b] to try if you're uncertain, and a [b]level editor[/b] and user-made levels if you still want more.
