You Don't Have Time

Lot's of positive reviews here. I'm wondering why... Did I enjoy this game? Not really, no. I like puzzle games. I enjoyed Portal, Qube (1 more than 2), The Room (1-3 + Android), The Thalos Principle, etc. I also enjoy adventures and some of them also have nice puzzles. Why didn't I like this game then? Probably because most of the puzzles are not comprehensible. For example: Why would you place nearly invisible Buttons on the walls in the first place? Usually what good puzzle games do is they teach you a mechanic through easy examples. Then puzzles get progressively harder, combine different mechanics and maybe eventually require you to think outside of the box. Meanwhile they are sort of intuitive. Mechanics and puzzles here are not. It seems like the developer thought how can I make things more difficult or how can I hide the solution. Then he/they went for things that are not intuitive at all. That's why this game is frustrating - and not in a good way. Often when you solve a puzzle it's not that you are proud and feel good about yourself for coming up with the solution (like in other games), rather than be more and more annoyed that they really went this bad puzzle design. So can I recommend this game? Hmm let's see - if there's a sale and you're really really bored: yes. Maybe if you've played all the other puzzle games: also yes. Otherwise: nope. Sorry.

I originally wrote a negative review due to a timed puzzle that was impossible for me to get past. The developers responded and have reworked the puzzle so that it can now be completed by a player (like me) with less than perfect timing and coordination. Kudos to White Puppet Studio for improving the game and responding to feedback. I am back to playing, having gotten past the reworked puzzle. Based on the changes, I am updating my review to 'recommend' for those who enjoy a pure puzzler that will have you scratching your head quite regularly!

I finished the game: This is a pretty remarkable first person puzzle game. There's a mix of Simon color puzzles, switches with hidden codes and buttons. The dev put some effort into this game. It's a solid 9/10 for the puzzle lovers. It's hard to compare it to others in the genre as I've played them all, this one stands alone. Tips: Write down codes in the real world, there's nothing wrong with that. Cons: Room 8, it's the only puzzle that feels out of place as it's a precision puzzle of hitting a small button with your cursor in limited time. There's not much of a reason for it based on the rest of the game. When you start the game, MAKE SURE to remap the keyboard to WASD keys if that's your normal keyboard preference, it doesn't start that way. Now, make part 2, good job!

Герметичная головоломка (квеструм), которая периодически ставит в тупик. Рекомендована к прохождению. Мнение: + языконезависимая (английские субтитры есть и в них проскальзывают подсказки, но в основном просто болтовня); + чистая головоломка, без лишних рюшечек; + подсказок почти нет, только ты и решение; + реиграбельность (часть задач имеют случайные значения, просто повторить свои действия не получиться; автор на форуме написал, что 90% кодов автоматически генерируются при новой игре); - иногда логика автора не понятна (честно, как минимум 2 из 24 комнат я завершил, но не до конца понял как; просто в какой-то момент понимаешь, что дверь открылась); - для герметичной головоломки слишком много беготни; - шрифты под очень острыми углами в некоторых местах плохо читаются; - некоторые кнопки нажимаются только вблизи, некоторые в пределах поля видимости и на этом завязано прохождение; - пиксельхантинг, редкий но есть. Минусы очень субъективны, не так существенны и скорее повод поворчать =) Чистого прохождения примерно на 2-3 часа. В игре есть достижение - прохождение за 1 час, но это явно не для средних умов как у меня =)) Может при повторном забеге смогу его забрать. Спойлер: иногда путь к решению лежит за рамками комнаты.

Firstly I will say that I DO recommend playing through the first 12 or so rooms. After that, it seems like the developer ran out of ideas so the puzzles become more and more incomprehensible, the solutions more convoluted to the point that you end up having to go BACK to previous rooms to find hidden buttons to get codes for OTHER previous room's buttons to somehow open the door to the current room with no actual explanation of why? Then, you get the typical simon-says colour puzzle that you have been doing with so-far clever clues and now your actual correct method of solving it (by the dev's youtube video) is to brute force the puzzle through trial and error? I enjoyed the first half, but the second floor is not at all enjoyable. I honestly had to look up the dev's youtube videos for some of this and even then the answer just doesn't actually make any sense. Puzzle games should always leave you with a niggling feeling that you are missing something when you can't solve a puzzle. That one clue you have but can't work out how it fits. Here, you are left with literally nothing and the answer is to do something completely irrational.

머리보단 감이 좋아야하는 퍼즐게임 시간의 소중함을 느끼게 해준다

I love puzzle games, so I bought this despite poor reviews - don't bother. Making games is hard, undoubtedly more so for puzzle games. It's hard to skate the boundary between too easy and too hard - too obvious and too obscure. The game isn't awful, and I appreciate the creator for trying, but it's too rough to recommend. Many puzzles are too obtuse - requiring you to view a random monitor through a narrow window of view, or travel back to some way previous room for a code, or interpret a random series of numbers through random logic, or literally brute force a combination. Many puzzles are just tedious - the mentioned brute forcing, plus many instances of walking all the way across the map to flip a prior switch multiple times. Some puzzles are just rude. I understand it must be tough to differentiate your game, and to not use the same puzzles dozens of other games have, but rubbing your face along walls, trying to spot an imperceptible shape in the wall is not fun or creative or engaging. Not to speak of the incompatibility for the color-blind, the game is overly challenging even for people with normal vision. Lastly is the tacked on "story" or "theme," though it's too shallow to fit either purpose. The concept of time comes into play on maybe two occasions. The overseer character is annoying, disruptive, and is written as though it has some great reveal. If it was intended to have some greater meaning or symbolism, it came though terribly. Games, puzzle games especially, do not need some incredible flair or deep meaning. They are among the genres that are largely played for their intrinsic value; that is to say, I play puzzle games for the puzzles. A bare bones game with good puzzles can be far more enjoyable than a lackluster game with narrative or allegory. Worst of all, the final message of the game just feels like a slap in the face after spending over an hour slogging through it. tl;dr It could be worse. I see some potential. But this game at base price, as cheap as it is, is not worth it.

This game is pretty cool. I sometimes suck at puzzle games and after my video went out, the dev contacted me to let me know he had fixed some of the issues I highlighted. I can recommend the game on the sole basis of that. The gameplay is fun, the puzzles are difficult, I like it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3PxKdMJ1go

Juego bastante complicado, empieza fácil pero enseguida se complica. La verdad es que es entretenido si quieres darle caña a la cabeza. Pone que tiene compatibilidad parcial con mando, perro la verdad no se porqué, lo he jugado con mando xbox one y no he necesitado nada a mayores.

As game progresses, it gets less and less fun, and more and more arbitrary. The worst thing wasn't checking the solutions online to open the door - it was trying to figure out the logic by interacting with everything at random, door opening, and then having to check out solution online to figure out wtf just happened.