Expense
Robin Zimmer · 2022 · Strategy, Arcade, Puzzle, Turn-Based Strategy, Exploration
PC
8 user reviews88% · 8
This game is free to play. Get it on Steam →
Screenshots
About Expense
Expense is a first-person adventure/escape room game about intuition, strategy and exploration, with simple controls and hand-made animations that surround and immerse the player. Puzzle your way through carefully or try your luck with random chance, but always remember to follow your pendulum.
Controls:
Tab to think / leave console
WASD to move / navigate within console
Space to jump / press console button
Ctrl+0 to reset all progress
In Expense you can expect to:
Controls:
Tab to think / leave console
WASD to move / navigate within console
Space to jump / press console button
Ctrl+0 to reset all progress
In Expense you can expect to:
- Traverse a procedurally generated maze with new challenges behind every door
- Use movement controls to bet on and compete against unique opponents in games of prediction and luck
- Play minigames at in-game consoles to progress towards your final destination, unlocking clues and lore along the way
- Take risks and learn through trial and error, guided only by the voice in your head when you close your eyes and think...
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
✦ AI summary
Players appreciate the strategic thinking and puzzle-solving elements that reward careful planning and reading opponents, but criticize the game's heavy reliance on procedurally generated content that becomes repetitive rather than offering engaging handcrafted levels. The game is also hampered by weak technical execution, poor graphics quality, and an overemphasis on gambling-style minigames and random chance that frustrate rather than engage players.
So far a fun and interesting game. Whether you are risk averse or not, remember to think before you play and consider your opponent. Follow the pendulum.5 found this helpful
2 found this helpful
"Expense" is an unusual first person "Escape room" (but not really) adventure game that swaps content for endless samey procgen (a key cause of failure here) and uses random chance and gambling elements (three card monte style minigames) as part of the game... carefully controlling your money is part of the puzzle solving effort. Weak technical implementation and a frankly uncompelling game concept, combined with the tiresome use of procgen instead of real content were what killed this. The graphics aren't great, low poly, somewhat untextured primitives. That's understandably a turn off for a lot of gamers, and it's a big contributor to the failure of the game to attract gamers despite having no up-front cost. Gaming is a primarily visual medium, and if developers want to succeed, they must understand that it's not an area for compromise. You deserve better than compromises. Let's talk about price and the value this represents for us gamers. There's no initial download price, but the developer was charging $3 USD for this. Price barriers, especially on low quality products, can be a direct cause of failure. It seems like a nice gesture for the game to have no up-front cos…
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