[b]wizard's way out[/b] is a relatively short but not all that easy sokoban, with only [b]32 levels[/b] unlocked in a linear fashion and a bit of narrative. it starts with our hero falling into a well, then encountering an ominous presence that wants to join him on the surface. what can possibly go wrong?
since you're a magical creature, pulling stuff is just as easily achieved as pushing, both work from a distance and you're blessed with [b]unlimited undo[/b]. hints are also available and a level reset button eventually got patched in. I'd ask how they missed that but I'm not surprised by anything anymore when it comes to games, including the dev's original and insane suggestion of holding undo until you're back at the start. very elegant. level names and numbers are shown everywhere (again, after a patch) but sadly there's [b]no puzzle skip option[/b]. I appreciate its presence these days, don't necessarily want to solve everything, just see what's on offer, even if I can't figure out level 17 or whatever. and it's more convenient than editing the save file.
monsters are always asleep and can be dealt with by smashing objects or their buddies in their face or dumping them into the abyss. some float, others can't be moved or only one tile at a time, etc. there's a [b]mandatory move limit[/b] before they fully wake up, then the level fails, but undo works there as well. weirdly enough and despite it being the entire premise of the game, [b]reaching the level exit is not the goal, just get rid of everybody[/b]. doors are monsters too and keys have to be tossed around, can't pick them up. other than these, there's a single new mechanic introduced near the end, an arrow redirecting stuff.
technically, the game is [b]completely playable with keyboard, mouse or controller[/b], but in reality [b]keyboard (and I assume gamepad) controls are abysmal[/b]. the mouse is much better, though if you want to mix it up for convenience, prompts will be an ever-changing mess until you learn what's what, then they'll just be in the way (a toggle got patched in). wasd/arrows move the cursor (only wasd is mentioned), 'e' or left click to activate and push, 'q' or right click to pull. backspace is undo (can be held for more), tab for hints (always a bad idea, alt+tab switches tasks, shift+tab is the steam overlay). since it doesn't do anything, [b]the mouse wheel should work as undo[/b] as well.
[b]nothing is rebindable[/b], of course, and there's [b]no direct control of the character[/b] and only one tile can be traversed at a time, indicated by the [b]constantly moving arrows getting on your nerves[/b] (well, mine for sure), so [b]moving 5 tiles to the right means 5 clicks or 10(!) keypresses[/b] (cursor right, move, right, move, etc.). you can click any unlocked level on level select, except the way it's laid out, there are only a few on one screen and mouse wheel or the mouse itself doesn't work here either to pan the map. at least the amount of tedium is consistent across the board. oh, and [b]there are 2 in-game cursors, but after a patch the one for keyboard isn't always visible at least[/b]. the whole thing is handled better than before but still a new low in gamedev, can't remember seeing this anywhere before.
the presentation is nice, except if your gpu (or in my case, outdated drivers I can't do anything about on the paperweight I'm using) doesn't support vulkan stuff, you'll only be able to play in opengl mode. wouldn't be a problem, especially for a 2d game, and very kind of godot (my least favorite engine after rpgmaker) to offer the option, but [b]devs should make sure both versions work as they should[/b]. in this case, black letters became white for some reason, really hard to read on a bright background, and there were other visual issues as well, which got fixed eventually, so it's all good now.
[b]settings are decent and available anytime.[/b] separate volumes, windowed mode, text display options (including instant), the annoying film grain effect and screen shake can also be removed (the former not completely), but imagine not wasting resources on adding these in the first place and working on more important and necessary functionality. also, [b]unskippable credits[/b]. can be sped up, same thing, right? sure, just like holding undo for 5 minutes is the same as pressing the reset button. and it [b]doesn't always remember windowed/full screen status between sessions[/b], seemingly picks one at random, though that's just one of godot's many built-in defects, along with [b]crashing every ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ time I quit[/b]. the two might even be related, though settings shouldn't get saved on exit but when they're changed.
I didn't finish it, not a fan of sokoban, much less with a move limit, so unlocking all the levels by editing the save and solving about half was enough. [b]it's a good enough puzzler, as long as you're using a mouse, but imagine it in a half-decent engine without perplexing design decisions.[/b] I'll keep editing the review if they decide to fix things up some more (was questionable when I posted the review, been waiting weeks for some very basic stuff), now it's in a better place and more easily [b]recommendable on sale[/b].
btw, there's a [b]free 13-level predecessor[/b], used to be on itch but can still be found on not-flash-anymore sites, works for demo purposes. and guess what? level select is a single screen there, whereas here it takes 5 clicks just to get from level 1 to 10 on the map and 12(!) to go from the first level to the last (I'm the master of wasting time, tested it myself).
