Quantum Odyssey

Early rating to spread it across steam while the sale is still active Loving it, it's a brilliant puzzle game. Unlike the actual study of it, it's Intuitive as said, easily translatable to irl terms ect. It's actually kind of amazing. So with that it's a must, especially if you like zach games (although you don't get to code) I'm unsure about the scoring. It may be based on just unlocking all gates, then coming back to x level, but they do say it's a mess and may be changed in the next update. So I wouldn't focus too much on the number at the moment. If you have it on 8x speed and 1 cycle fails before you pause or slow it down, then you lose points and have to restart anyway, kinda bad imo. Game? Confident recommendation

I have no idea wtf I'm doing but seems legit. I'm trying to reconcile GR with quantum mechanics from scratch so I have to learn it first. Starting with this game.

I really applaud what developer is trying to accomplish, but I can't recommend the game. It's very confusing. I have done a PhD in AMO physics, so still remember something about qubits and quantum states. But to solve the puzzle, if I want to put any thoughts in it, I have to strain and imagine what would happen to e. g. a light polarization if I shove a bunch of wave plates into it because it's the most straightforward qubit I can think of. Or if not, I just end up mashing operators together until the correct state comes out. It's neither intuitive nor fun. I get that asking someone to make spin 1/2 rotations intuitive is an impossible task, but my point is that the game is just not fun. My actual quantum mechanics homework was more satisfying and made more sense.

So far I am loving it. I started with curiosity because I was interested in knowing how did this interface even related to quantum computing, but once I got it I ended up hooked. The visuals do a really good job in portraying your algorithm flow and the aids in the UI (tables, matrices) are very much appreciated. It is also really nice that you can choose how much deep do you want to go in the quantum shenanigans, and still enjoy the game. My only criticism is that if you want to dive into the whys and hows of the quantum stuff that is below the gameplay, the encyclopedia feels like an overwhelming rabbit-hole because of the lack of order. The contents are very complete and newbie friendly at the same time yes, but oftentimes I ended up there from a link in one of the sages dialogue to check what something was, and I ended up lost in a web of deeper links without really knowing which ones I was suppoused to look at first. That is the only thing I would love to see here, some kind of topological sort on the contents if you wish to dive deeper. (I found a link in the Discord to a video that was very good at explaining basic quantum stuff and its relation to linear algebra, but I stil…

I can safely say that I now fully understand and relate to why Franz Hopper went crazy while building Lyoko. It wasn't from time-looping the same day over and over for several years... it was just the insanity of programming a quantum supercomputer! ...On the plus side, I was able to successfully intuit a set of gates to solve my own question of "what causes a mixed qubit to be a yin-yang, vs two dots inside each other", so I must be learning [i]something[/i] from this quantum conundr-- no, wait, that's a different game. Anyway, if you're a Zachtronics veteran and even slightly curious about Weird Quantum Stuff, play this. You're gonna get stumped at points, but it'll click sooner or later (and if you really do get stuck, a walkthrough does exist, but try your best to figure it out anyway)...

Despite the slightly mediocre story and graphics quality, this game hits FAR above its weight in actual complexity and depth, as I'm sure many other comments can attest to. I'm hoping it keeps developing as it someday escapes early access - this is an amazing passion project!