Thistlemine

i killed so many women and children with my rock hammer

"This Game is a Mind F*ck" was a Phrase that I said a lot during my Playthrough and it is not an Exaggeration, one moment you go through a door to see what's on the other side only to wind up in a completely different area when you try to go back through that same door, What happens when you go through the same door again? well congratulations you're now at the start of the maze. This game is Extremely Difficult and it will take you a while to figure out some of the puzzles and you will Die A LOT when fighting the actual enemies because they themselves are also Puzzles which is the main Charm of the Game, the Game also has a Fantastic soundtrack. a Major complaint that I have is that Trying to get the True Ending is extremely Frustrating to the point that it made me give up, the game has so many secrets to the point that I question what the hell the Dev was smoking while Making this game, The secrets are Honestly too hidden and the Game Doesn't give you enough hints to figure it out yourself, they say that Smashing your head against the wall until it works is an Option but that's honestly what you'll have to do to get the True Ending and I just Couldn't handle it, Not to mention th…

Either the description of this game gave the wrong impression or the first 30 minutes does, because I was expecting puzzles like "find these items", "figure out who needs what", "navigate mazes using hints and context clues", etc. and not "understand the entire battle system through item and skill descriptions to figure out one of a very few number of ways to escape this battle alive" for ~10 consecutive battles. I was expecting an escape room and I got a kaizo experience for a pokemon clone whose mechanics haven't been explained. From what I've seen in the reviews, it looks like the game does open up after some time but considering the game's warning that you should be making numerous saves (presumably because of the consumable item softlocks mentioned in other reviews), that you may need to brute force your way through encounters to find a route to success, and how it's unclear that a given encounter may be possible considering some suboptimal item usage from several encounters prior I'm not really interested in continuing to find the other puzzles in the game that I'm actually interested in seeing. While I see the interest in a game experience like this this game doesn't seem …

Intense puzzle-solving (which sounds like an oxymoron, but is the best way to describe the gameplay in Thistlemine) mixed with excellent artwork and a lovely soundtrack.

Really unique puzzle game. the turn-based battles feel like they require a different strategy in every encounter and have just enough wiggle room to leave you wondering if you could save juuuust a few more precious ressources and still get by. I think the game is also very good at setting a strong oppressive mood: you're constantly lost, trying to find your way alone through endless nonsensical mazes, and when you do find your comrades, most of the time you'll be counting your bullets to see if you can put them down before they get to you first.

Overall an awesome experience I had playing this game. Thistlemine certainly is different from your traditional puzzle game, and mixing it with a turn-based combat system led to a game I enjoyed playing a lot, and still do. Originally offered this game to a friend, I decided to try it myself, to no regret. I highly recommend playing it if you're up to the challenge, struggling to find a way through the exclusion zone and its many dangers was awesome, and I'm still having a lot of fun trying to get the achievements and other content.