Rats in a Cage

Cute context for a kind of logic-gate puzzle -- (like the fox/chicken/grain crossing the river sort) -- with extra mechanics being introduced at a nice pace and some amusing mini-games. Perfect challenge level as the solutions aren't immediately obvious, but your various failures offer sufficient clues as to what to do differently. It's a fun couple of hours and the corporate cynic/snark is humorous.

I bought this game during Czech & Slovak Games Week to support our local developers and I was pleasantly surprised. This game is nice little puzzler reminiscent of games like Baba Is You. On top of the puzzles the game features nice little backstory about climbing a corporate ladder with bunch of ironic retro mini-games. For hardcore puzzlers I believe the story can be skipped, although I did not use that feature. I thought the game was at it's best whenever new mechanic was introduced and wish there were even more mechanics thematic to corporate life and backstabbing. Overall I had good time playing this game.

"Rats in a Cage might very well be in the very center of the Goldilocks space for puzzle games" (quote by me) Fun Sokoban-like game. Definitely worth a try. But when does a Sokoban-like game stops being Sokoban-like and becomes a genre of its own? This game imo certainly pushes the boundries. In Sokoban you manipulate the environment by pushing boxes (movable pieces of wall) in a maze (unmovable peces of wall) to predetermined locations. In Rats in a cage you push deadlines (boxes) in a maze, but to any location you deem necessary. You are also not the only agent to manipulate the environment. Several co-workers, all aptly named otto and driven by their desire for coffee, block your way to reaching the levers you need to pull and buttons that need to be pushed to comlete the level (and ultimately climb the corporate ladder). Often the road to victory is blocked by a "Boss" that will disappear when you visited certain predetermined locations in the maze (work). But to help you navigate around these obstacles in your quest to reach the exit there exist emails, to simultaneously block off and open up different parts of the maze, and rumors, which function as acquirable and disposable coffee, to manipulate the Otto's to desirable locations. These mechanics are introduced in a praiseworthy pace. Not too slow and not overwhelming. Just right. When you completed a certain amount of puzzles you are tasked with a minigame that is unrelated to the meat and bones (puzzles) of the game, but somehow makes perfect sense in the story of the game. Again this happens at a near perfect pace. Not too often to make the minigames feel obtrusive and not to rare to make them feel tacked on. Just right. (A point of criticism. At one instance I do think the game took the mini game too far. I had to alter the game from outside of the game to be able to proceed. Fortunately, in retrospect, this was not hard to do. And when the silly primate that I am posted about this for him insurmountable obstacle on the steam forums, I was helped promptly and suffinct by a friendly developer) The length of puzzle games is also a tough act to balance. Too long and the puzzles become repetitive, too short and the puzzles become too hard. Again, I think this game did it just right. Compared to other puzzle games this does make the game on the short size. This is more of a criticism on other games than on Rats in a Cage. Other puzzle games would be more enjoyable if they were served in more manageable chunks. But it does lead up to to the price of the game. Is it fair? Well, it depends. It's current prize (9,75 euro) is a bit high for people with a lot of time but very little income. On the other hand, for people with little time for/experience in puzzle games and a modicum of money to spend I think it is a great bargain. Which on average, once again, makes the price probably just right. (for all the financially less robust people, fortunately the game is on sale from time to time. I urge you to grab it at such an occasion.) All in all I think Rats in a Cage is pretty much in the center of the Goldilocks space for Puzzle games right now. Not too hard, not too easy. Not too new (revolutionary new mechanics), not too stale. Not too short, not too long. Not too monotomous, not too diffuse (although some parts of the game (eg. achievements on steam) do push it) Not too punishing (although an undo button would be a quality of life improvement), but definitely not too cruel on corporate life! I wholeheartedly recommend this game for anyone who'd like to give a puzzle game that is not only about corporate life but also about just right a try!

I tested this game for a friend. It's a solid puzzle game with a snarky humor about corporate lifestyle. A lot of work was put into it and I wish the Superdeep Borehole the best

What a cool fun puzzle game. [b]The humor takes it to the next level![/b] Levels are perfectly sorted by difficulty. I laughed a lot, jokes are exactly my type humor (south park style kinda) It's not frustrating, just challenging. Exactly how i would say puzzle game like this should be. Graphics are perfect. Everything looks nice and make sense. The best puzzle indie game of the year so far for me.

The perfect game for your rat girl summer.

I do love puzzle games, I do work in corporate - best combo!

Fresh, relatable and sadly funny. Puzzles uses corpo mechanics, maybe will be usefull :) At least it help to look at my job without being so serious

This is a cute game with plenty of interesting, head-scratching puzzles. Don't expect a ton of polish when it comes to UI or graphics. The puzzles require a really interesting way of thinking in order to solve. The goal is to manipulate the movements of several NPCs, which can be lured lured by coffee and other traps, in order to move them out of your way, or onto weighted buttons. The NPC's start moving as soon as they have an available path to coffee; this means you need to think carefully about how your movements and actions affect the connectivity of the level. The game evolves in continuous time, instead of being turn based, so there are some puzzles which require carefully timed inputs or quickly performing inputs. Rats in a Cage is good in that there is usually only one such place per puzzle, and these inputs are usually easy to perform. For the hardest puzzles in the game, I just had to reset a couple times in order succeed.

My colleague couldn't stop talking about it so I was forced to try it just to shut him up already. But he was right. It really is an extraordinary game! PROS - Simple to play, challenging to beat - Things I've never seen in any other game! - Funny moments! - Mechanics that are there just for fun and not for gameplay CONS - I got stuck several times, but maybe I should just git gud - Excessive use of strong language - Some solutions felt chaotic - Not on GOG