The Witness is an open world puzzle and exploration game that feels somewhat like an updated version of Myst. You awake on an island that's seemingly been abandoned, with all manner of unusual devices strewn about. Logic is vital to progression, as entire sections of the island are locked away until you can solve the puzzling nature of the devices.
The early areas of this game are right up there with Portal in terms of teaching the player, which is no small feat considering it uses no dialogue to do so! The difficulty spikes a bit later on, especially if your exploration takes you to an entirely different part of the island! Overall, The Witness seems like an interesting title that puzzle-solvers should be fairly entertained with. You can hear more of my thoughts on the game at 4:25:58 in the video above.
Loop through time with brain-teasing puzzles, evil refrigerators and flipping squirrels!
Tessallation is a Portal-inspired 3D puzzler that uses a time rewind/replay feature to overcome its various obstacles. When you rewind time, your past actions overlap each other allowing you to help yourself. It's a cool mechanic that oddly makes the title both a single-player and "co-op" game.
The controls are pretty straightforward using a standard WASD setup. 'T' toggles the time feature, right click begins another time loop and left click interacts with objects as appropriate (picking up or throwing things, hitting switches, opening doors, etc.). Jumping feels a bit floaty at times, but it doesn't seem to cause any problems. The game is aesthetically pleasing with bright colors and a quirky character who seems to have a Rubik's Cube for a head.
The title is not without its flaws though. A glitch on one of the earlier puzzles involving a floating platform nearly broke the game (as I couldn't solve the puzzle because of it), though a little creative thinking was able to save the day. I also had the game crash on me at one point, though to be fair I think that's a bug from an older version of the Unity Engine as it's happened with other titles.
If you can get past that one glitchy platform, Tessallation is a pretty neat puzzle game. It will certainly test both your timing and your ability to plan ahead.
Broken Dimensions is a Portal-style puzzler with a twist of horror, created in five weeks by a team of students at DADIU.
This is a fantastic game, and I'm very impressed with what the team accomplished in such little time. Broken Dimensions was clearly inspired by Portal's level design in that each area teaches you some new tricks using the game's fundamental mechanic, but in a way that lets you discover the application on your own.
You're guided by a ghostly figure that claims to be helping you out, but it doesn't take long before you realize she's not quite what she seems (GLaDOS, anyone?). In several areas you can find scrawled warnings, likely left by other children who happened to wander in (or perhaps Ratman). You end up using a box here and there to complete the puzzles and continue in the game (Companion Cube). I suppose one could also draw comparisons between the candy and cake, though to be fair you actually get the candy many times while playing.
While the game takes a lot of cues from Portal, Broken Dimensions has an important difference that makes it a unique experience. The fundamental mechanic involves you twisting the perspective of the map in 90-degree angles so that the objects and obstacles in the room (as well as what surfaces you can walk on) shift. I'm not sure whether you're rotating the temple or altering gravity, but it has the same net effect and is a damn cool power - it's like making the entire world a giant Rubik's Cube! This is a great mechanic that I'd love to see more of. If anyone knows of another game that does this, please leave me a comment!
I'd also like to point out that the levels in Broken Dimensions are aesthetically pleasing. The temple is lined with mysterious and gruesome depictions, giving you a sense of unease and leaving you to wonder when you'll face the same fate. I feel more attention was given to the temple than the game's two main characters, but I'm actually alright with that. I spent more time looking at the environment for ways to solve the puzzles anyway, so I'm glad they focused on making it look good.
Broken Dimensions has two flaws, and I feel they're connected. It's a short game, and one can finish it in about an hour. It also lacks a save option (probably due to it being so short), meaning you can't put the game down and pick up where you left off. This isn't normally a problem, but if you experience a crash or have to stop playing all of a sudden, you have start over at the beginning.
To sum it up, if you like Portal and want to try out a different game mechanic, play Broken Dimensions!
