Main game
Played the pre-release demo on Steam recently and loved it. The game has shot right to the top of my wish list and will be a Day 1 buy for me whenever it releases. (Still just listed as "Q1 2026" at the moment.)
On more than one occasion I'd think I had a puzzle solved, but it wouldn't work, and I'd think, "Could it be because of this tiny nuance I observed, that logically would mean the solution actually needs to be [something slightly different]?" and then I'd try the variation, and it would work!
So many PnC puzzle games stop a step or two short of that, like they don't trust the player to be able to figure out something even slightly more layered or complicated if they don't point arrows at it or spell out the full solution somewhere just in case you can't work it out on your own. This game's demo just continually impressed me with how much it respected and trusted my ability to actually solve the puzzles on my own, and that it did this in the opening/tutorial sequence of the game.
It does have a hints system built in. I looked at one …
Played the pre-release demo on Steam recently and loved it. The game has shot right to the top of my wish list and will be a Day 1 buy for me whenever it releases. (Still just listed as "Q1 2026" at the moment.)
On more than one occasion I'd think I had a puzzle solved, but it wouldn't work, and I'd think, "Could it be because of this tiny nuance I observed, that logically would mean the solution actually needs to be [something slightly different]?" and then I'd try the variation, and it would work!
So many PnC puzzle games stop a step or two short of that, like they don't trust the player to be able to figure out something even slightly more layered or complicated if they don't point arrows at it or spell out the full solution somewhere just in case you can't work it out on your own. This game's demo just continually impressed me with how much it respected and trusted my ability to actually solve the puzzles on my own, and that it did this in the opening/tutorial sequence of the game.
It does have a hints system built in. I looked at one of them just to see how it was implemented, and I really liked that even the hints seemed to show that same respect. It was something like, "Have you found any items or clues you haven't used yet?" Probably they get a little more specific if you reveal more of them, but the developers clearly understand that the reason someone would use a hints system instead of just looking up the solution online is because they want their thought process nudged in the right direction, not to have answers (even partial ones) just handed to them.
It might not be a good choice for someone who isn't familiar with first-person puzzle games and their typical mechanics, but it looks like it will be one of those rare games that can actually offer genuine challenge to puzzle game veterans who want their skills put to the test.