11) B is for... (The) Bridge
The challenge: To play through each of the games on my Steam library.
The rules: I have to play at least 1 hour of each game, in alphabetical order.
I've no idea where this game came from. It's on my Steam library, and it looks like a friend or two has played it, but I do not remember buying it. Presumably it was in a Humble Bundle or similar I bought at some point in the past.
So, I didn't know what kind of game The Bridge would be. My guess was an endless runner. Turns out it's another puzzler - strikingly similar to Braid. It's not really a clone, but definitely of the same ilk - soothing music, a distinct yet simple art style, and a kind of off-looking protagonist.
You play as Sketchy McMathsman, a drawing who lives in a world of optical illusions, angry balls, and vortexes of doom. OK, I made the protag's name up as the game doesn't really give you much in the way of story - in fact it gives you even less than Braid. I managed to beat the first three chapters, and found out that the main character is a mathematician, and he is interested in maths.
The gimmick of this game is that you can rotate the level you're playing on. It gets more complicated than that later on, where the game introduces all sorts of weird geometry based puzzles, but as I'm very much not a mathematician I don't know any of the words to be able to describe them to you. The game adds a different type of obstacle each chapter, and although they aren't necessarily more difficult, they do require you to think in a different way for each one. The Bridge does a good job of making you feel smart, even when your character plummets off into an infinite void for the twelfth time. This is a very important part of puzzlers to me, and one that the genre often doesn't get right.
Overall, The Bridge feels much better to me than Braid, and I prefer the level rotation mechanic as well. Although I didn't get bored during the hour I played this game, I doubt I'll go back to it. Puzzlers just aren't my bag.
If you like puzzle games I'd definitely recommend this one. This one's going into my GGWP folder.
The rules: I have to play at least 1 hour of each game, in alphabetical order.
I've no idea where this game came from. It's on my Steam library, and it looks like a friend or two has played it, but I do not remember buying it. Presumably it was in a Humble Bundle or similar I bought at some point in the past.
So, I didn't know what kind of game The Bridge would be. My guess was an endless runner. Turns out it's another puzzler - strikingly similar to Braid. It's not really a clone, but definitely of the same ilk - soothing music, a distinct yet simple art style, and a kind of off-looking protagonist.
You play as Sketchy McMathsman, a drawing who lives in a world of optical illusions, angry balls, and vortexes of doom. OK, I made the protag's name up as the game doesn't really give you much in the way of story - in fact it gives you even less than Braid. I managed to beat the first three chapters, and found out that the main character is a mathematician, and he is interested in maths.
You can tell he's a mathematician by his eyes, which have Seen Too Much
The gimmick of this game is that you can rotate the level you're playing on. It gets more complicated than that later on, where the game introduces all sorts of weird geometry based puzzles, but as I'm very much not a mathematician I don't know any of the words to be able to describe them to you. The game adds a different type of obstacle each chapter, and although they aren't necessarily more difficult, they do require you to think in a different way for each one. The Bridge does a good job of making you feel smart, even when your character plummets off into an infinite void for the twelfth time. This is a very important part of puzzlers to me, and one that the genre often doesn't get right.
I would name this shape 'The Infinity Treadmill'
Overall, The Bridge feels much better to me than Braid, and I prefer the level rotation mechanic as well. Although I didn't get bored during the hour I played this game, I doubt I'll go back to it. Puzzlers just aren't my bag.
If you like puzzle games I'd definitely recommend this one. This one's going into my GGWP folder.
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