The Golem

高難度に特化したパズルゲーム。2020年発売のゲームの中ではダントツで難しかった。 ブロックを押すことしか出来ない典型的な倉庫番操作のみで、並の思考ではたどり着かないエレガントなメカニズムの設計が必要になる。すごい。無理だと思い込んでいるのは自分の脳だけで、設問はいつでもフェア。（一部、最初の1歩目すら不明なレベルもあるが……） ゼリーのパズル や Stephen's Sausage Roll が好きなハードコアパズラー向け。

I was lured in by promises of difficult puzzles. And The Golem delivers on that, but this is some of the most unfun puzzle design I've ever seen. There are no simple puzzles, which might seem like skipping to the "good" part of a puzzle game, but it means there's no room to explore the interesting consequences of the mechanics. Puzzles have way too many steps, which means that if you think you've figured out one step, you can't validate that solution until you've simultaneously figured out 5 other steps. Executing a step is also unnecessarily laborious, meaning you have to execute a long sequence of moves every time you reset. And while the solutions are very particular, they lack insight, and aren't memorable. I like challenging puzzle games, but I don't need to put up with this pain just to prove myself. I quit.

This game deserves more attention!! Having cleared the first two zones, and having played approximately 25 hours at the time of this review, I can confidently recommend this game to fellow puzzle game fanatics. I knew this would be the case early on in the game, but I decided to wait until I at least completed the first two zones, in full, before writing a review. Although I purchased this thinking that I would probably enjoy it, it turns out I’m enjoying it even more than I expected. It doesn’t really look like anything fancy or new, but I liked the fact that others commented on how hard it is, and it seemed like the basic mechanics could get interesting. Although it may look like just another variation on block-pusher puzzles, what makes this game stand out is that the shapes and sizes of the pieces change depending on where you move them, and that is a main part of solving the puzzles. Basically, you are given a starting position with a set number of pieces or varying size and shape to push around. The goal is to successfully make all of the “plus” or “minus” markers disappear in each level. With the green “plus” markers, anytime on of your pieces is adjacent (not counting diagonally) to one of the green spaces, a square is added to the existing piece, right where the green block was. With the red “minus” squares, a square of the shape you are pushing is deleted when a section of the block you are pushing actually touches the red deletion marker. In the first two zones, only the addition and deletion boxes are in each level, and while this continues in subsequent zones, new mechanics are added, such as “falling” pieces, pieces which have momentum in any direction pushed, as well as levels with special zones which can’t be walked over by the golem, but which have can have blocks pushed over and through them. But the main goal remains the same (as far as I can tell, at least): rid the map of all addition and deletion markers by strategically pushing the given blocks around the map; having to consider both the shape and size of the pieces that need to be formed in order to do so. As others have noted, this gets very hard, very quickly. I have often been surprised at how sometimes there will only be two, three, or four blocks (and perhaps as few addition or deletion markers), yet the solution can still be very hard to discover. It's not because it’s convoluted or obscure—it's usually very elegant and beautiful—it's just extremely clever. As a good, pure puzzle game should be (in my opinion), every element in a level has its purpose. There are no unnecessary items to distract you. You could argue that every element in each level is actually a clue, in itself. When playing, you can safely question why each element in the puzzle exists—they all have a purpose in the solution. Most of the levels are not that large, but you will likely spend a good amount of time analyzing your moves. You simply cannot brute force the solutions. You will sometimes need to do a bit of experimentation just to see what something looks like, or just to give you a quick idea of what conclusions you can rule in or rule out, but again, you can’t just “doodle” into the solution, or it would be extremely unlikely, at least. This game is highly recommended for those who like challenging “push (Sokoban)” puzzles. There is nothing incredibly fancy on the surface, but there is some pure puzzle goodness inside. If you enjoyed Fish Fillets 2, Stephen’s Sausage Roll, or other similar games, I’m pretty sure you will enjoy this game as well. And it’s probably just as challenging as those games are. I hope to see some DLC for this game sometime soon, though it may be a while until I even finish the basic game.

The Golem is an extremely challenging Sokoban-like puzzle game. It does not introduce any flashy gimmic (no portals, no recursion, no time travel, …) with most of its complexity coming from its core mechanic of pushing objects that change shape when touching + or - blocks. The artstyle and sound design are quite basic, a bit sterile even. If a charming audio-visual experience is important to you, or if you are looking for something relaxing, you may want to give this one a pass. What you would be missing, however, is impeccable puzzle design. Even though I consider myself a veteran puzzle gamer, I found none of the puzzles easy. Most are quite hard. Some extremely so. Miraculously, the difficulty does not primarily lie in finding intricate sequences of finicky block manipulations. Instead, most puzzles have an elegant solution that requires a unique high-level insight. Whenever you are stuck, and you often will be, you may rest assured that the solution does not involve any unexpected mechanics, that it resonates with the level title and subtitle, and that every aspect of the level has its role to play. This allows thinking about a given puzzle in ways that are much more satisfying than tedious trial-and-error you might otherwise be tempted to go through. I needed a hint for the very last puzzle and am rather proud that it was the only one. I tip my hat to anyone who solves everything on their own.

I love this game. It's an ACTUAL exploration of the possibilities of Sokoban, without worrying about the burden of players finding the game too difficult. "Can't beat level 3? Skill issue, we're not jeopardising any of the ideas we want to flesh out in this level, no matter how complex". This feels like the definitive Sokoban game, at least for me, since every mechanic in the game doesn't deviate from the idea of pushing blocks whatsoever. I haven't fully beaten the game yet, and some puzzle's solutions take quite a while to execute, but this is an excellent game and I recommend it to anyone looking for a simple expert puzzle game

Not had a lot of experience with sokoban type puzzles and The Golem was not a very engaging introduction to them sadly. Maybe this is intended for those already well familiar with the premise of sokoban but it doesn't ease you into it. I got stuck pretty quickly despite only having 2 pieces to move around on the 2nd or 3rd puzzle. Could be skill issue on my part but it doesn't feel very intuitive. The game also lacks a lot of polish. Puzzles are presented with zero set dressing, the titular golem is given zero fanfare or personality, pieces move on a grid but you don't. It's minor gripes but it leaves the game without much charisma and since the puzzles don't feel very accessible either the whole experience feels cold. From what I've read of other reviews there are a large number of steps to each puzzle solution which would explain why I felt tedium even with the few puzzles I did solve. Disappointed to be disappointed.

I'm constantly in awe of the puzzle design in this game. It's built around ostensibly simple mechanics (oh look, ice physics and gravity!) but takes them to a level of creativity I don't think I've ever seen before. Almost every solution leaves me in awe. I can totally understand the difficulty being off-putting but it's a shame because this deserves so much more attention. It's just about everything I want in a puzzle game.

[h1] Élégance d'ingénierie vidéoludique [/h1] Au cours des dernières années, j’ai exploré une multitude de jeux de puzzle sur Steam (des bons, des moins bons, des excellents, et tout ce qui se trouve entre les deux). Certains titres brillants jouissent déjà d’une solide réputation parmi les amateurs du genre. Mais parfois, et c’est là que j’interviens, surgissent des perles rares, grandement dignes d'intérêt, qui demeurent pourtant dans l’ombre. J’ai d’ailleurs pris le temps de rédiger des évaluations pour quelques-uns de ces trésors méconnus, comme [i] Bean and Nothingness [/i], [i] Magicube [/i] ou encore [i] Yugo Puzzle [/i]. Et aujourd’hui, alors que le mois de juin 2025 touche à sa fin, je tiens à évoquer [i] The Golem [/i], un jeu qui, malgré ses qualités indéniables, ne compte que 45 évaluations sur Steam; un indice éloquent de sa discrétion commerciale. [h3] Présentation [/h3] [i] The Golem [/i] est un sokoban revisité aromatisé à la sauce Tetris. Il s'agit d'un casse-tête à la fois classique et audacieux, qui s’impose sans conteste parmi les meilleurs jeux de puzzle auxquels j’ai joué ces dernières années. Je dirais même qu'il figure dans mon top 20 personnel des dernières années. Je ne rédige pas d’évaluations pour tous les jeux que j’apprécie, mais ici, l’écart flagrant entre la qualité du jeu et sa notoriété m’incite à prendre la plume pour corriger cette injustice. [h3] Structure du jeu [/h3] Ce jeu est une véritable merveille d’ingénierie ludique. Il se déploie en six chapitres, chacun introduisant de nouvelles mécaniques. Ce qui frappe, c’est la manière dont les éléments s’entrelacent : un tableau du chapitre 4 peut très bien intégrer des concepts introduits dans les chapitres précédents, créant ainsi une progression organique et stimulante. Le principe est simple en apparence : déplacer des tétriminos (on dit aussi "tétromino" ou "tétramino") pour activer tous les symboles au sol. Un “+” allonge la pièce à l’endroit du contact, un “–” en supprime une partie, un “X” bloque le passage du protagoniste. Certains tétriminos possèdent un "Momentum" (nom d'un des chapitres) : ces pièces, une fois poussées, poursuivent leur course jusqu’à heurter un mur. Cette mécanique servira d'ailleurs d'outil à la résolution de certains tableaux. D’autres subtilités viennent enrichir le gameplay, mais je préfère vous laisser le plaisir de les découvrir par vous-mêmes. [h3] Un défi de taille [/h3] [i] The Golem [/i] est un jeu exigeant et j’insiste sur ce point. Si vous êtes doués, chaque tableau vous prendra probablement en moyenne une trentaine de minutes, parfois bien plus. Pour les plus lents (comme moi), ne soyez pas surpris de passer une bonne heure sur chaque tableau. Tous les tableaux n'ont pas le même niveau de difficulté et chacun complètera certains types de tableaux plus rapidement que d'autres, mais il n'y a pas vraiment de tableaux "gratuits" ou "faciles" (pas de remplissage autrement dit). Pour les joueurs patients, c’est un défi gratifiant ; pour les autres, un test de persévérance. Ce qui impressionne dans ce jeu, c’est la rigueur du design. Chaque élément semble avoir été pensé avec une précision chirurgicale. Rien n’est superflu, tout a une fonction. On sent que chaque tableau a été conçu avec un soin méticuleux, comme une énigme taillée sur mesure. [h3] Conclusion [/h3] Malgré sa difficulté globale, le jeu nous propose parfois certains tableaux légèrement moins exigeants, mais toujours brillants. Chaque nouveau chapitre comprend des niveaux plus accessibles que d'autres, comme si la courbe de difficulté était réinitialisée, avant de grimper à nouveau vers des sommets plus ardus. Donc je crois que, théoriquement, il peut y avoir des tableaux aussi difficiles dans le chapitre 1 que dans le chapitre 6 (cette affirmation est subjective bien entendu). Mais un élément viendra nuancer l'énoncé précédent ; comme le chapitre 6 par exemple, pour ne nommer que lui au hasard, comprendra plus de mécaniques différentes que le chapitre 1, on pourrait juger qu'il sera plus ardu à compléter que les premiers tableaux. Donc oui, probablement que plus on avance dans le jeu, plus c'est difficile en général, même si en réalité, je me rappelle avoir plus longtemps buté sur des tableaux des chapitres 1 ou 2 que sur certains tableaux des chapitres 5 par exemple. À ce sujet, vous devrez toujours avoir complété un certains nombre de puzzles pour débloquer le chapitre suivant. Le tout est indiqué clairement dans ce que j'appelle le salon d'accueil (là où vous choisissez le chapitre que vous voulez lancer). En ce sens, la progression est assez classique. J'émets l'hypothèse que vous en aurez pour, au bas mot, quarante heures de plaisir cérébral sur cette petite merveille. Si on veut pinailler sur les points négatifs, on pourrait dire que la musique est bien, mais répétitive et que la conception sonore est de base, mais ça serait vraiment juste pour me forcer à trouver une critique. Je l’ajoute donc, sans hésiter, à ma liste des jeux de puzzle extraordinaires qui mériteraient d’être bien plus connus. [-------[]--]Originalité [[]---------]Histoire [---[]------]Graphiques [----[]-----]Effets sonores et musique [---------[]]Valeur pour votre argent [---------[]]Qualité des puzzles [--------[]-]Niveau de difficulté

Este juego es muy recomendable para quienes les gusta desafiar los rompecabezas de "empujar" ("sokoban"). No hay nada increíblemente elegante en la superficie, cada elemento está por algún motivo y no hay nada de más, y al mismo tiempo, está cuidada la estética. No van a encontrar niveles realmente fáciles.