The Portsmoor Abysm

The Portsmoor Abysm is a Boulder Dash-like game I recommend playing, with the fitting cosmic horror theme with enough differences and quirks that stand out from the other similar games where they take place underground with vague fantasy themes; one strong example being that gravity-oriented objects fall faster than the player's speed. Unlike most Bolder Dash-like games, there's a relatively light story to unravel though on the mystery on what's going on investigating through the catacombs, but lacks a level editor currently. Unlike all of the other games I played on Steam reviewed or unreviewed before this, I was recommended by the One More Gem dev to the dev of The Portsmoor Abysm to consider me playtest their game before release. I was cautious, [url=https://itch.io/t/1659440/psa-beware-the-try-my-game-scam]because of those 'Play my game!' scams on tricking people to download malware disguised as a video game via websites or Discord[/url], but they assured me they're real and provided a Steam key for me to help out. Steam isn't perfect as even with anti-virus scanning, [url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/steam-game-update-reportedly-distributed-malware-and-stole-money-from-c…

As an effective stranger to the 'Sokoban' genre, I'd say this is an excellent introduction to the genre as it's very approachable. The game has pleasant and fitting music , graphics and difficulty. If you find a particular level frustrating you can skip it , meaning if you can't figure it out right then and there, you can always come back to 100% it.

The Portsmoor Abysm is a unique nod to Lovecraftian horror through the mechanical lens of a Sokoban. It feels like these retro game mechanics are used as an abstract medium to paint a story, and it works monstrously well. The visual and auditory atmosphere alone draws you in, but it is by no means shallow, it is richly steeped in lore, and even includes a variety of other cultural references. Aside from Abysm's multi faceted depth, the puzzles don't disappoint; They aren't so obtuse that they feel impossible to solve, neither are they so one dimensional that they feel like a means to an end. little by little, the mechanics are laid out in a way where they are easily learned and every level layout helps you along without being too revealing. Each level leaves plenty of room to experiment, but once you realize a solution, the challenge is having the coordination to perform the steps involved, which i find fun and intuitive. That being said, I recommend The Portsmoor Abysm to all puzzle and Lovecraft fans alike, I'd definitely consider it one of my favorites. 9.8/10

I might be biased since I am a big Boulder Dash fan to say this game is amazing, but stepping a bit back and not letting my enthusiasm speak I still would recommend the game if you like puzzles in general. This game, while being a BoulderDash genre game does well with the puzzles in a way that is not only action directed, but rather actually make you think about the structure of the level and what the items on screen do and how they interact. I did not finish the game yet, but the first two chapters are already amazing.

[h2]A puzzle-heavy Boulder Dash with a dark, Lovecraftian atmosphere[/h2] [i]Review after finishing the game[/i] I did not expect that this would work, but it does. The concept has potential for some great puzzles. So why the negative review? Because the puzzle design is just all over the place. There are some really good, well designed and fun levels, but I'd say half of them are just not like that and feel like uninspired, boring filler, or just poorly tested levels that are easy to break with unintended solutions, making some rooms way too easy. The game has 4 chapters, each with a boss at the end, most of which is fun, especially the final boss. From chapter 3, the game starts to regularly use and rely on one weird gimmick I was not a big fan of at all. This game also loves to use red herrings, also something I don't really like that much. The levels are dark, sometimes it is hard to see where is what in the level. Most puzzles hinge on timing and execution, not just thinking, and if you die you have to start over the level, which can be really frustrating as one simple mistake will ruin your entire setup. The game really does not respect your time, there are no 'undo' or…