Cryptigma

[b]8.5/10[/b] Well-designed puzzles around a surprisingly deep re-spawn mechanic. Implementation is a little rough around the edges and difficulty is all over the place, but what should you expect from a game built entirely by a fourteen-year-old in between school days. It is our responsibility as puzzlers to usher in the next generation by enjoying this game. [b]What is it:[/b] Imagine you are at work block-pushing like any other day when you die (as expected) and three more of you respawn. Or you die (totally part of the job description) and you restart the puzzle from a different location! The thought of manipulating your spawn point to solve a puzzle is enough for my brain to get all giddy about the deviously delicious puzzles in store. This game takes it even deeper. Spawn points that follow a specific order, spawn points that only react to certain conditions, even spawn points that only activate after you can’t die….normally. Yea, this game introduces a new concept of dying. But probably my favorite thing about this game is how well-designed yet “crunchy” the levels are. I can tell the person (ahem, kid) has either played tons of sokoban games or just has a natural gift f…

Surprisingly quite good level design. The game does have some presentation issues. Some quick animations would help sell a lot of the things in the game. I also found some of the metaphors hard to follow, swamp water kills you but regular water doesn't? Might make more sense if the swamp water was magma or fire or something. EDIT: The following is no longer true, as the developer has addressed this complaint and restarts are now undo-able. [strike]The biggest complaint I had with the game as it currently is, is that restarting is not undo-able. The game seems to just unwind the undo stack completely when you press reset, but the correct implementation is to add the initial state of the puzzle as a new state to the end of the undo stack. This is a pretty standard expectation for the genre at this point. It's possible there's some technical reason later on that restarts are not undo-able, but I didn't get far enough to see such a thing, and lost progress a few times because I just wanted to examine the initial state of the puzzle again.[/strike]

The mechanics are intuitive but leave plenty of room for creative play. A rare game that leaves you feeling relaxed and inspired. A must-play for fans of indie games and escapism.

The game is well done and has a bunch of brain wrapping puzzles. I love the tug of war between them teaching you how to solve a level then completely flipping it on you. Feels more like a constant battle of wits between the creator and your will to overcome a level. The levels are well made and keep you in a constant loop of wanting more or throwing in the towel. The a-ha moments keep you going till you get stumped and spend some time on the level.