Degrees of Separation

A boy and a girl. They're from worlds as different as can be—

No, really, they're from actual different worlds. Rime lives in a world of frigid winter, while Ember hails from a land of fiery summer, and they're separated by a magical, transparent barrier. But when they fall down the chasm separating their homes, they need to work together to figure out how to return.

Murder by Numbers

If you poke around the internet for thoughts on Murder by Numbers, pretty much everyone who discusses it compares it to Phoenix Wright with Picross, to which I have just one thing to say... [XXXXXXXXX]!

Birth ME Code

You may or may not have heard the term "ontological mystery" before, but if you're the kind of person that reads a blog like this, you've probably already encountered some. An ontological mystery is essentially a story where the characters find themselves in an unfamiliar and often limited setting, and one of the main focuses of the story is learning about and escaping from the setting. I've already reviewed a few of them. Other major questions often include why these people in particular were chosen and who is behind everything.

Birth ME Code, the second game in the ABiMe series, takes this sub-genre and flips it on its head by letting you play as the mastermind and tasking you with ensuring your death game runs smoothly. (Well... Without naming any names, a fair number of ontological mysteries are convoluted enough where it turns out by the end that you were the mastermind the whole time. But Birth ME Code is different because it bakes this into the premise.)

Or at least, it tries to flip the sub-genre on its head. It's a solid ontological mystery, especially considering it was all done by one guy (even if he calls himself "Team" Miracle Moon), and a noticeable improvement from his previous game, Head AS Code. There's a lot to like, and Birth ME Code will undoubtedly scratch your itch if you're looking for games like Zero Escape or Danganronpa, but, along with a few other pitfalls, it never really manages to live up to its central conceit.

Hacknet

Wazzup, have you ever wanted to be a leet haxor and backdoor the mainframe by overclocking the firewall? Well, now you can with the hacking simulator Hacknet! (Not to be confused with Nethack.)

In all seriousness, Hacknet is a pretty nifty puzzle game that recreates the feeling of a hacker in a Hollywood movie. It's awesome.

Trine 2

Trine 2 is a puzzle-platforming game about the wizard Amadeus, the knight Pontius, and the thief entrepreneur Zoya, whose souls have been bound together by the Trine, a mysterious artifact. Each of the three characters has their own unique skillset, and you're free to switch characters at any point during the level.

We Were Here

How would you react if you were going on an arctic expedition with a friend only to come across a mysterious structure, get knocked out, and wake up alone trapped within an unfamiliar room? Realistically, you’d probably break down and panic. But if you’re playing We Were Here, this is nothing more than your cue to buckle down and start solving puzzles. We Were Here is a short but competent co-op puzzle game available at a price that can’t be beat: free.

Antichamber

Antichamber is a philosophical first-person physics puzzler where the gimmick is that the laws of physics don't apply. This doesn't mean you can float or fly. Rather, you play in an M.C. Escher-like world where you might go up a flight of stairs only to arrive at the bottom, or travel through a corridor with six 90-degree turns in the same direction in a row. It does what it tries to do well, although there are a few design choices that I felt could have been changed to reduce frustration.

The Room

This may tear you apart, but no, not the movie

The Room (not to be confused with The Room) is an atmospheric escape-the-room game about, despite the name and genre, opening a series of puzzle boxes. Unlike most escape-the-room games, The Room has full 3D graphics and physical control, making it feel quite close to actually manipulating the boxes yourself. While there a couple of corners that feel like they could be smoothed out, The Room is a high quality puzzler that I recommend if you enjoy the genre.