GNOG

This is a weird game to describe. It is a puzzle game that seems partly based on trial-and-error. Even when the game loads up, it’s a bit of a puzzle to even get into the first challenge. There’s no instructions, dialog or clues.

In each challenge, you are presented with a robot face, which is like a puzzle box. You can usually open it by pressing buttons, twisting dials, pulling levers, or moving sliders etc. There will be objects to interact with on both sides, which you can access by right-clicking to spin 180 degrees.

Once the box opens, you are given a more elaborate challenge. You will be presented with the same kind of objects but you will need to work out what the next sequence is. This is a trial-and-error process to see what is interactable at that point, then by witnessing the result of your actions, it gives you a bit of a clue what you need to do next.

Some of the puzzles are about turning objects to a certain position, or to display a certain icon. The correct positions can be found somewhere on screen.

It can be very frustrating to play given that you mainly don’t know what your end goal is, and it all seems to be quite abstract. You end up feeling quite dumb, which I’d imagine that’s what children would feel like if they are trying to put a square into the round hole. It did remind me of those kinds of children’s education toys since it has bold and colourful graphics. Then you are just randomly hammering anything that has an interesting shape or pattern to see what happens.

It has some interesting music which you could say is the best part of the game. It’s quite trippy and surreal. When you complete the puzzle, you are treated to a song of sorts, like the robot face is singing to you.

It’s weird.

The controls are a bit awkward because many of the knobs are turned by moving your mouse left and right, rather than rotating it in a circular motion like I assumed.

It’s a short game and can be completed within a couple of hours. I found it was best to only do a couple of puzzles in one sitting though.

It’s quite unique, and very arty - but maybe a bit too awkward and obscure for my liking.