Poorzzle - Puzzle Alive

4/10

Overhyped puzzle game with surprising mechanics.

What is it: A short puzzle game (almost 14 total levels). The purpose in each level is first figuring out what you're actually expected to do, and then figuring out the right steps to achieve that. There are actually only 6 unique levels, each in an easy and a hard version, and once you finish all 12 levels, the puzzle "comes alive" as the author says, which means that the level select itself becomes jumbled and jumpy and you have to reorder the levels before you can play them again. And there's also a hidden puzzle. The levels are kind of interesting, and maybe if I hadn't mastered all of Bart Bonte's color games, I would be surprised by some of them. But in this universe, I did master all of Bart Bonte's color games, so finishing the entire game took me less than 10 minutes.

Every level involves some kind of clicking on or around colored squared, figuring out what clicking on a square does, and figuring out the order in which to click. The goal is kind of obscure, so the game offers hints. Every level you finish awards you a heart, and you can gradually reveal the hint by spending up to 3 hearts. If you're having trouble figuring out where the hint is, know that actually spending hearts does something, it expands the level title into a full sentence. Does that sentence constitute a good hint? Maybe, it's usually a cryptic sounding thing that adds little more clarity than can be inferred just by guessing what is happening when clicking on the screen. The solution is either the obvious thing to do, or the exact opposite of the obvious thing to do.

So, a Bart Bonte game comes with 50 (or 100) unique levels, that usually have a clever solution, has 3 different good hints for each level, and is free! This has 6x2 levels, has cryptic hints that aren't free, costs a fortune, but it promises you immortality... To quote from the game description itself:

However, reality seems to be hinting to you: this is a scam...

How hard is it: Trivial.

How long is it: Let's be generous and say it has 14 levels, for 10-20 minutes of playtime.

Level design: Meh.

Quality: Minimal. Other than a language select and a full screen toggle, no settings. No achievements. No dark mode. A couple of AI-generated pictures providing the "story" of the game.

Worth the price: Hell no.

Most positive aspect for me: Varied levels.

Most negative aspect for me: Unsatisfying levels.

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Difficulty : 0/5 (Extremely Easy)
Global : 0/5 (Bad)

Curator page : Anokturnus

I really like puzzle games that don't explain anything.
Trying to figure out the mechanics and all their possible interactions in hard sokoban games, figuring out the rules in witness-like games, seeking for the twisted solutions of That Level Again... it's fun.

But Poorzzle completely misses the point.
The game is about clicking and seeing what happens; then you try to find something logical you can do. Well, why not.

The problem is that you barely get anything to work with. I'll take the example of That Level Again : in that game, you loop through the same room over and over and each instance has a unique (and sometimes crazy) solution, hinted by its title.
This is what Poorzzle lacks, a simple vague hint. Otherwise, there's absolutely no fun and that's the core thing any game must have.

I finished the 12 basic levels and half of the reversed-ones. Most of them are extremely easy even if you don't fully understand why it works (you'll randomly find the solution); some of them should just be deleted (seriously, who had fun with the rotating circular puzzle?).
Then I clicked on an arrow near the title and it wiped everything so I stopped there.

Let's recap. Poorzzle should be a thinky game that has rather hard and obscure solutions hinted by a simple sentence or even a few words.
But what we get is a bunch of extremely easy puzzles without hint that you can solve even if you don't understand anything at all.

I could also talk about the nonsense the game throws at you, the absurd price, the fact that my save got wiped, the total absence of options, the useless life counter... but I think it's already clear that nobody should buy Poorzzle.

I clearly can't recommend a game that is completely flawed at its core. The idea is good, the execution is not.

Very short game you will finish during your lunch break.

The idea is to click on colored squares and figure out what the puzzle wants from you. The game contains six puzzles, but you must progress through both the normal and hard variants. It's all really simple because there are no complicated mechanics. When you're done, you can click the flashing button to delete all progress.

Reading the "About the Game" section, you'd think this was the most inventive puzzle ever. Except for one statement, none of it is true. It's extremely expensive and appears AI-generated.