Maze Trials

Maze Trials is a very simple game, but I think the idea works because it knows exactly what it wants me to do. I am dropped into a huge procedurally generated maze and given one job, find the exit before the timer runs out. Before each maze starts, I get a few seconds to look at the layout and try to remember where I might need to go. After that I am on my own, running through corridors, taking wrong turns and trying to keep my bearings. There is no combat or story to distract me, so the whole game is about navigation. The maze design is what makes it interesting for me. The layouts are generated each time, and some of them can be extremely large, so I cannot just memorise one fixed map and repeat it. I can place markers while I explore, which is really useful when I reach an important junction or find a dead end. I like this because the markers become part of my way of thinking about the maze. I am not just blindly wandering around. I am trying to build a mental map and leave myself useful clues as I go. The timer adds most of the pressure. I can take my time to work things out, but every wrong turn costs me more seconds and makes the eventual search harder. I like the tension w…

I like it.