Sisyphus Is a Bug

Sisyphus Is a Bug is a short metroidbrainia which challenges the player, a dung beetle, to climb Mount Olympus within a day (which is essentially a 60-second time loop). You start with a very minimal moveset that seems blatantly unsuited to this task, but as you reach new areas, you gain knowledge about your abilities which you can bring into subsequent loops. (This is similar to [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2951770/Leap_Year/]Leap Year[/url].) By the end you can breeze through areas that would've seemed impossible before. There are two maps, one where you must climb Mount Olympus within 60 seconds, and a second, larger one where you must escape from the Underworld by collecting 3 keys within 90 seconds and then bringing them to the start. The entire first level is available as a demo, though the game unfortunately doesn't automatically transfer demo progress over to the full game. UI and controls: the game can be set to fullscreen, but there are no resolution options. The game is controlled via keyboard and mouse, and controls are rebindable. Controller support is listed, but I was unable to try it; I also don't know whether the game works on Steam Deck. Difficulty: Due to the time pressure, you need to solve challenges reasonably quickly, but the challenge is not remotely on the level of a dedicated hardcore platformer like Celeste. In addition, during the most complicated button combinations both player movement and the timer are paused, which makes such challenges a lot more doable than they would otherwise be. And finally, there are accessibility options which allow you to slow down or disable the timer entirely. While disabling the timer permanently is not advised, I liked having the option to pause the timer whenever I failed a particular challenge multiple times in a row. Playtime and replayability: this is a short game, let's say 2 hours, plus a bit more for achievements and hard mode (which removes some moves in the Olympus level, and adds an extra challenge to the Hades level). There's also a leaderboard for speedrunners. Criticism: this is a Godot Engine game, so it lacks a lot of the polish you'd expect from a platformer like Celeste. And in particular, the basic jump without the dung ball cannot be adjusted mid-air, which just feels bad to control; fortunately this move barely comes up. A more damning issue is that the screenshots and trailer on the Steam Store page spoil most of the mechanics and controls, which is pretty unforgivable for a metroidbrainia game... so I advise not to check those screenshots again now that I've mentioned this. Ultimately I found this a solid short game. Recommended, particularly if you like games like Leap Year. [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]

虫のシーシュポスがフンを転がす知識アンロック・パズルプラットフォーマー。 GMTK Game Jam 2025のために開発されたitch.io版に新キャンペーンを追加したものがこのSteam版である。 クリアまで少し詰まって4時間ほど。 本編「Reach Olympus」は探索によって習得できるアクションを駆使しながら、制限時間内に山頂に辿り着くのが目的となる。 アクションの使い方は背景に図示されており、知識を学ばせる方法としては直接的であまり美しくはない。 しかし、フンを使った意外性のあるアクション、[spoiler]複数のアクションが収束して一つの強力なテクを作りだす[/spoiler]ラストは短いプレイ時間の中で強い印象を残し、満足感のある体験となった。 新キャンペーン「Escape Hades」は基本的には本編と同じルールで、広めのステージから鍵を3つ集めて扉を開けるというルート構築の楽しさがより感じられるものとなった。 本編で習得済みのアクションを最初から使っていくことになるが、アクションの意外な使い方が明かされることによる驚きがあり、本編の体験をしっかりと拡張できている。 ただ、以下に挙げた点が混乱やストレスにつながることもあったのは気になるところ。 ・説明するほどでもない知識、重複した知識がある ・[strike][spoiler]空中で壁にぶつかったときにローレルが回復する[/spoiler]仕様がわかりにくい[/strike] ←クリアに必要な仕様ではなかったため訂正

The final piece of knowledge in olympus is probably the best 'metroidbrania' moment I've ever experienced.

Good short game, I'd give it an 8/10, recommended if you like short (1-2h) puzzle platformers with knowledge-gating / mechanics discovery. I would say it's definitely worth the price for about 2 hours of gameplay. It was fun, near the end of the second campaign/level, to chart out my path and optimize my movement tech until I can find a way to get where I want very quickly. It felt like speedrunning without the boring grind, and was the peak of the experience (along with the mechanical reveals); and I think the game's length is right, it doesn't overstay its welcome, it ends when it should. The quality of the game assets, writing, design, etc, is a little low -- it definitely looks like what it is, which is a game jam project that got polished up and made into a steam release within a few months. I made a list of some bad aspects of the game, but this criticism is mostly targeted towards the developers, I hope they'll improve these issues to make the game even better for future players: [olist] [*] The audio gets a little annoying near the end (cuts and resumes very frequently with no way to stop this behavior), so 25% of the way through I just muted the game and played my own music, which was fine (audio is unnecessary for the game). [*] The level design is a little bit lacking, not as elegant as it could have been. Feels perfect for a demo or a game jam, but for a full game I would have expected some redesign to reward late-game knowledge even more (e.g. better reward Hades knowledge in an Olympus run). [*] I'm surprised that there isn't an achievement for 100%ing the second campaign, considering how obvious it is as an attempted challenge. [*] The signs and hints that try to teach you the secret game mechanics are, on occasion, a little too rough and confusing; while at other places they're a bit too on-the-nose (and can lead to unintended sequence breaks; it happened to me in campaign/level 2) [*] The movement tech is great, but near the end there were a couple of mechanics that I wish got tightened up a little: [spoiler]Getting fired up when falling seems to happen at a particular arbitrary height and there's no easy way to tell whether or not you can get it done, the timing for throw+jump+catch->fire can be so tight that you may need multiple tries to right-click moments before hitting the ground. Also, if you accidentally start riding a firedung, you're entirely incapable of manually stopping (this can get annoying).[/spoiler] Overall I'd give this an 8/10, definitely recommended, as all the issues above are minor and fixable by the devs if they care about them.

Se Öoo é uma aula do professor que segura na sua mão e te faz sentir um gênio, Sísifo rolando bosta é o recreio no parquinho, onde você brinca com liberdade enquanto lida com a ansiedade do sinal que vai tocar a qualquer momento e acabar com tudo. Um conjunto finito de movimentos que interagem e se encaixam com exatidão nas quinas do Olimpo e do submundo. Tenho pouco interesse e ainda menos experiência fazendo speedruns, mas me peguei tentando várias outras rotas mesmo depois de já ter terminado o jogo, na esperança de enxugar alguns segundos e subir no placar.

We must imagine Sisyphus sqeaking happily I love this game!! The inclusion of being able to slow down the timer to explore the area at your own pace is such a good accessibility feature <3

This game is a joy and well worth the price, the unveiling of the intricasies of the movement system are sublime and trying to speedrun after you're figured them out is extremely fun,

Para quem curte speedrun, é uma excelente pedida. A arte é linda, as mecânicas são fluidas e bem pensadas, e dá aquela vontade imediata de jogar “só mais uma vez” pra melhorar o tempo. Adorei a experiência.

yeah, i think i'm imagining him happy

One of the most immediately enjoyable games I've ever played. The sense of learning both through in-universe guides and exploration of mechanics was an absolute joy to experience. A short, fast, and sweet game that awakened a speedrunner's soul within me that I didn't even know I had.