THE MULLER-POWELL PRINCIPLE
Three Dots Games · 2023 · Exploration, Puzzle, Action-Adventure, First-Person, Horror
PC
Mostly Positive72% · 343
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Screenshots
About THE MULLER-POWELL PRINCIPLE
It is a sci-fi story that takes place in the near future. You are Harry Herman, an employee of Delta Laboratories who researches interdimensional traveling. You had been participating in a project that was supposed to benefit all humanity, but something went wrong. Through the gameplay, you will solve various physics-based puzzles using an energy-manipulating weapon, travel across space and time to explore surrealistic universes and find out the dark truth about this project and your connection to it.
Solve various puzzles and trick enemies using physics interactions and your special tool - the Portable Energy Manipulator. PHYSICS PUZZLES & INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENT
Many objects in the game can be picked up, brought somewhere, or manipulated in other ways. Whether it's a computer terminal, a box you can carry, or a simple mug on a table. Explore various interactive environments to find clues and return to the riddle with a solution, which in some cases may be several. Nothing was made for you to solve, there's no cube dispenser or an obvious exit door at the end. It's all for you to figure out.
PORTABLE ENERGY MANIPULATOR
The device you carry throughout the game can absorb different energy types from the environment and use them to perform various tasks.
Absorbing energy from a particular source will give the gun its’ properties. The heat energy from fire and radiators will melt glass, security cameras can be blinded by a beam of light, and for powering generators, you can take hazardous radiation from toxic puddles scattered across Delta Labs facilities. And of course, you will make an encounter with the quantum entanglement energy - the mysterious power capable of opening rifts between worlds.
Apart from solving environmental puzzles, your device can also be used against various creatures you'll meet in parallel dimensions. Most of the time you can't defeat your enemies; instead, you can use the Manipulator to outsmart or suspend them. Some enemies can be frozen in place using the force field energy, while others are sensitive to light and can be distracted by shooting a beam at it in the distance. You will require more advanced strategies and combining various energy types to pass them.
You find yourself in one of Delta Labs' off-world research facilities in an unknown dimension that looks more like a crashing-down laboratory. Your old friends Eugene and Alex try to connect with you shortly, and with their help, you start a journey through various dimensions. You will learn different physics interactions and meet unusual creatures on your way home. Along this, you have to unveil the mysteries of this project and your past. Experience a non-linear story where your choice always matters. Can you get to the bottom of this, or just try to escape? Who to listen? Who to trust? Which side will you take? And will you finally “break the Principle”? That depends entirely on you.
Make your way back to Earth through mysterious parallel dimensions littered with puzzles and secrets, uncover mysterious connections between the worlds you visit, and reveal the dark truth about Delta Labs and your involvement with them. Dare to explore?
- Solve various physics-based puzzles
- Unique gameplay mechanics that involve an energy-manipulating weapon
- A mix of sci-fi with surreal and esoteric themes makes the game setting a unique design. Most of the time you'll spend in bizarre alien dimensions
- Deeply thought-out story and lore. Each location and each character in the game has its own story revealed through various notes, environmental narratives, and characters' conversations.
- The game features multiple endings that can be achieved through different choices
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
I would give this game a mixed rating if I could. Its a neat concept and some of the puzzles are fun, but its most incredibly annoying to play.
Puzzles aren't puzzles when the only reason they're difficult is because you have to stop to run away from a mob until it despawns and then walk back to the 'puzzle'. The scripted chase sequences seem to have missed some QA because I soft-locked myself twice in two different areas and had to load to a previous save. Directions in some areas are unclear, to the point you wind up just button mashing whatever is available on the nearest computer screen until something dings. And while it might be of way less importance to some, in-game lore shouldn't need a science degree to be interesting. Nobody wants to scroll through dozens of pages of journal entries on quantum entanglement to find out what's going on in a game. 3 hours in and I was so bored sorting through word soup that I gave up bothering to know the story at all.
I wanted to like this game and I really did. Up until they decided to ruin their neat puzzle game with the lamest 'horror' elements possible. Chase sequences are right up there with escort missions as far as the worst game mechanics of all time go, and there are plenty of them. Voice acting was also shockingly poor except for Eugene who I think is the best part of the game.
Played the game again on 4-1-26 Really good game. Very enjoyable .. and puzzles ... and more puzzles .. did i mention puzzles and doors and blue and amber electricity? yes those are puzzles too ... if you love puzzles as much as I Don't!! then this game is for you.. Surprisingly some puzzles took me forever to figure out. THankfully the developer added audio clues to repeat and I was able to figure out the goal in each situation. Fun. well.. was fun .. too many puzzles and i forgot I'm playing a game .. walking away from my computer now .. way too much to look online or YouTube for the solutions .. But HEY .. at least they put a few puzzles in this game .. I mean who doesn't like puzzles on top of puzzles with puzzles on the side and a warm portion of more puzzles with .. breakfast, lunch, and dinner and snacks .. and in between snacks . . . PUZZLES!!
Its ok. Graphics are good. Some of the puzzles are pretty frustrating. Maybe something to try if its cheap.
The Muller-Powell principle, it's a soft mix of puzzles and walkathon/mini-novel. I'll give a mini-dive into each and tell you my thoughts at the end, so skip there if you don't care. Puzzles - I actually like the core mechanic of the game, it initially seems dull, as the puzzles start really easy, but once they feel you've grasped it, they QUICKLY ramp up the difficulty, and they also imply some mechanics from ones you've seen, assuming you've been paying attention, which I actually liked compared to the other parts of the game. The other parts - Unfortunately, there's these parts, getting between the puzzles is a chore, you're asked to stop and read "emails" to get exposition, which if you skip will have you missing half the actual story. Then walk while the characters tell you the other half of the story. It really saddens me they didn't take their visual learning aspect of the puzzles and lay it on here more. On top of all that, the game's got bugs (I got softlocked at least once by terrain bugs) and it isn't perfectly optimised either (the open areas tanked my frames on relatively new hardware), so be prepared for that. Overall, if this were a £40-£60, I'd tell you to leav…
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