CIPHER ZERO

While this game is aesthetically pleasing it feels very mechanical, fiddly, and unintuitive in a way other rule discovery games like the witness or taiji do not. after the initial sets of puzzles to learn a mechanic, which fall in line with the more intuitive approach of these other games, it quickly becomes something more about slowly working your way through a complicated process of elimination to get to solves; similar to a 'newspaper puzzle' like nonograms, queens, or minesweeper. It misses the elegance of something like a puzzle in the witness, where it's more about hitching on some specific eccentricity of the puzzle and solving that (resulting in a fun 'aha' moment when you figure out the trick) rather than a more slow, technical solve. The puzzles in this game don't follow the same philosophy, and I found myself relying on trial and error fairly quickly because they simply aren't immediate or readable enough to be a satisfying solve I feel clever for arriving at; feeling more like slow and meditative busywork. I can see this being an approach to puzzles some people enjoy, and that makes me wish I could leave a mixed review rather than a negative, though I'd like to warn peo…

Everything up to the last area is a pretty smooth puzzle game that for a minute is just a poor-man's Hexcells. The last area was grueling.

Slick, stylish puzzle game with beautiful art. The puzzles are fun and do a good job of letting you discover the rules as you go without being too easy or too hard. (Well, one particular gliph just did not click in my brain, but I don't think that's due to any fault of the developer.) Also, very nice music, and very nice use of the rumble if you play on controller.

Absolutely LOVE games where you have to figure out the rules as you go. This is one of the best so far.

In my quest for rule discovery games, I stumbled upon CIPHER ZERO tucked away in a bundle of 5 other puzzles, and I can certifiably say that this game is my favorite hidden gem to date. The minimalism does wonders for every aspect of the work: the soundtrack goes well with the area design (which uses simple geometric shapes to create some truly detailed environments), as well as with the puzzles themselves (which provide just enough clues for you to understand all the gimmicks, even if through trial and error sometimes). Truly, my only complaint is with the fact that it all often feels TOO minimal. Certain puzzle elements will have you tilting your head like a confused dog just to understand what is asked of you, and (especially in the final area of the game) it often gets even MORE complicated by combining 2-5 different mechanics at once. That is the only reason to take off any points from an otherwise unforgettable experience, worthy of a 9/10. Play it if you get the chance!

ok the puzzles are genuinely good but why is every screen transition gated by these sloooow animations