Full Bore

I bought Full Bore as an experimental purchase in 2015, one which turned out well. I had only seen a few confused YouTube videos of the game, which gave me some trepidation, but when I played the game myself it made sense to me. One might say this is a metroidvania puzzle game, and that's not entirely inaccurate. The map is certainly nonlinear. That said, one does not receive extra powers - all puzzles are immediately solvable, provided one notices everything that's on the screen: batteries, laser blocks, pushable or destructible blocks, etc. And provided one enters from the correct entrance: most levels have multiple entrances, which are frequently hidden. Because this is a metroidvania-ish game, it's important and helpful that there are efficient ways to backtrack, namely teleporters. More generally, most levels are quite easy to traverse, and one need only solve puzzles to collect gems. That said, one thing I really disliked was that many puzzles are based on the fact that levels fully respawn - the destruction you cause doesn't persist. I understand the game wouldn't work otherwise, but that's just doubly immersion-breaking: in a game based on destroying blocks, these same bl…

This game was from 2014? It seems like it's managed to avoid much attention. That's a pity. At its best, Full Bore is the mining-themed puzzle game that Steamworld Dig toyed around with being but never became. It's frequently satisfying with nice "Aha" moments, and sometimes disappointing with "oh wait, was that it?" moments. Occasional puzzles demand precise timing, and alas those puzzles are the game at its worst; Full Bore has a good control scheme for a square-grid block-pushing puzzle game and a lousy control scheme for a precision platformer. Other sections of the game are a race against the clock and these are also somewhat annoying for the same reason. These bits would put the belief in my mind that I haven't got the correct solution to a puzzle when I do but can't consistently execute it, or conversely that my approach is wrong because there isn't enough time to pull it off even though it is the intended answer. Maybe the devs considered implementing a turn-based mode and couldn't make it work. Maybe I'm old and have the reaction times of a senile tortoise (okay, fair play, there's no "maybe" for that one). In either case I wish the timings were ever so slightly more rel…

full hearted puzzle platformer

Full Bore caught me completely off guard — I picked it up in a bundle expecting a forgettable little digging game and ended up sinking 20+ hours into one of the most cleverly designed puzzle games I've played in years. The block manipulation mechanics seem simple at first, but the variety and elegance of the puzzles is genuinely impressive, and that satisfying 'aha' moment when you finally crack a tough one never gets old. The open world exploration has a real Fez-like quality to it, with a surprisingly compelling lore hidden in terminals and texts scattered throughout the underground world. Fair warning: the controls take some getting used to, and a couple of timed sections feel out of place in an otherwise thoughtful, unhurried game — but the rewind mechanic saves you from most frustration. If you enjoy puzzle games and don't mind doing a bit of wandering, this is absolutely worth your time.

Nicely made puzzle. It can look not so neat, but this factor must not stop puzzle-lovers.

When I last played the game, it was back when I wasn't yet writing reviews, so I'm making up for that now. I enjoyed how the game sets things up, the world-building and design, and the sheer number of mysteries that were hinted at from the very start. I was not very good at persisting through the puzzles at the time, but now that I've played through Void Stranger, I expect I'll be returning to this game some point in the near future to try and puzzle out this game in similar ways.