A Directionless Cycle

[b]9/10[/b] A sokoban style game with a lot of secrets. [b]What is it:[/b] A short multiagent/pathfinding/sokoban game. No, wait, it’s a metroidbrainia with challenging levels hidden in plain sight. No, wait, it’s a very hard puzzle game full of hidden stuff, secret messages, cryptic clues, surprising mechanics, and very clever levels. While the demo piqued my interest with its challenging-but-not-impossible levels, I didn’t expect this to become one of my favorite games of the year. It starts as a simple Sokoban-pathfinding-multiagent puzzle game, and each of its few levels has a unique feel to it. I thought I was close to finishing it, only for it to briefly mention that there may be more to discover. And yes, while I assumed it would be a 5-hour game given that I just had a couple more levels to solve, I spent 15 more hours scouring the game for secrets. It’s got a bit of Metroidvania/Metroidbrainia in it, with those “few” 34 levels hiding a lot more in them than you can see at first. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3514845387 The base gameplay consists of you moving all the pieces that have an arrow matching the direction you pushed. As you progress,…

I don’t usually review games til I finish them, but I wanted to give a thumbs up now since it’ll be a while before I beat this. I love the retro art style, and the concept of being inside a degrading game is intriguing. The puzzles get complex pretty quickly, but each room has a mini ‘hint level’ that lets you discover a mechanic on your own without giving anything away directly. You also have unlimited undos which I’m a big fan of. I’m still figuring things out myself, but it’s safe to say there’s a more going on here than **just** a sokoban game. So far no gameplay bugs and it runs perfectly well on the steam deck.

Not normally a fan of sliding puzzles, but this game is just bursting with fun, innovation, and challenge. I thought I was nearing the end, only to find extra layers hiding in plain sight. Stick it through with this one. You'll start feasting.

editing my review because i decided to actually play through the game pretty fun sokoban experience, even though most of it was me forcing my brain to work overtime even on simpler puzzles (brain hurt). was lucky enough to get some certified dev hints for some of the harder levels and secrets lmao thanks lumi half sun games game definitely gets better from 2nd area and even more after 3rd area with cool endgame features like forbidden magic that makes some levels even more complicated than they should be (looking at you hitchup) also the main menu screen after finishing the game slaps [spoiler] meem [/spoiler]

ouugh i suck at this game but it's executed so well if you like difficult sokoban, metapuzzles, mystery, and/or system erasure games you should pick this game up it has a lot more to it than you think

This game is hard, it hurts my brain Fun though, would recommend