More than an indie Portal-like, SolarGun [Steam] offers up some interesting puzzles and overall it seems like a pretty decent puzzler.
Disclosure: Key provided by the developer.
In SolarGun, you start the game by slowly waking up in a strange room, that doesn't look too far from something out of Portal. You have some weird glove on your right hand, which enables you to shoot some kind of energy ball — how curious. It seems to take inspiration from Portal for the aesthetics, while there's a little hint of The Talos Principle in there too for some of the puzzles. It's very much it's own game though.
I'll be honest, for £0.99 I wasn't expecting much from it. However, it really did surprise me.
As far as I can tell, there's no story and no explanations, it's very much a puzzle game where figuring things out is part of the fun. It does make you wonder as you go through and I ended up making all sorts of wild theories about why I was there.
This special glove was certainly a fun mechanic. You can shoot energy balls, but not through, for lack of a better word, forcefields. You can reclaim them when you don't need them to be in a specific place, but this also cannot be done through those forcefields. Which reminds me of Portal once again. It works pretty well and the level design is reasonably simple, so it doesn't take too long to figure out each room.
I have to admit, the first time I saw the death animation I let off an audible chuckle. I ran into some lasers wondering what would happen (yeah, I know) and the character just sort of gasped, fell to the floor and the screen smashed. I'm not entirely sure why the screen would smash though. Am I a robot?
It also works out of the box with the Steam Controller, but you need to do a little tinkering as the camera speed was unbearably low for me. I've seen others say it works fine, so your mileage may vary with it.
I unlocked an achievement named "Courage" for dying many times in the same puzzle, this game is trolling me. I like what the developer did with the achievements though, they spell out the name of the game — clever.
I'm currently stuck on a puzzle, but I did find an extra room to get into. Inside this room was a button on a machine, pressing it turned on some relaxing classical music. Is the game trolling me still? Is there a point to this room I'm missing? It also has a working vending machine. I'm still stuck.
Overall, it's not bad at all. The puzzles aren't too difficult, but I thought it was a charming game with some interesting design choices and I did quite enjoy it. If you're after a puzzle game that has some fun ideas and is stupidly cheap at £0.99 then go for it! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Disclosure: Key provided by the developer.
YouTube videos require cookies, you must accept their cookies to view. View cookie preferences.
Direct Link
Direct Link
In SolarGun, you start the game by slowly waking up in a strange room, that doesn't look too far from something out of Portal. You have some weird glove on your right hand, which enables you to shoot some kind of energy ball — how curious. It seems to take inspiration from Portal for the aesthetics, while there's a little hint of The Talos Principle in there too for some of the puzzles. It's very much it's own game though.
I'll be honest, for £0.99 I wasn't expecting much from it. However, it really did surprise me.
As far as I can tell, there's no story and no explanations, it's very much a puzzle game where figuring things out is part of the fun. It does make you wonder as you go through and I ended up making all sorts of wild theories about why I was there.
This special glove was certainly a fun mechanic. You can shoot energy balls, but not through, for lack of a better word, forcefields. You can reclaim them when you don't need them to be in a specific place, but this also cannot be done through those forcefields. Which reminds me of Portal once again. It works pretty well and the level design is reasonably simple, so it doesn't take too long to figure out each room.
I have to admit, the first time I saw the death animation I let off an audible chuckle. I ran into some lasers wondering what would happen (yeah, I know) and the character just sort of gasped, fell to the floor and the screen smashed. I'm not entirely sure why the screen would smash though. Am I a robot?
It also works out of the box with the Steam Controller, but you need to do a little tinkering as the camera speed was unbearably low for me. I've seen others say it works fine, so your mileage may vary with it.
I unlocked an achievement named "Courage" for dying many times in the same puzzle, this game is trolling me. I like what the developer did with the achievements though, they spell out the name of the game — clever.
I'm currently stuck on a puzzle, but I did find an extra room to get into. Inside this room was a button on a machine, pressing it turned on some relaxing classical music. Is the game trolling me still? Is there a point to this room I'm missing? It also has a working vending machine. I'm still stuck.
Overall, it's not bad at all. The puzzles aren't too difficult, but I thought it was a charming game with some interesting design choices and I did quite enjoy it. If you're after a puzzle game that has some fun ideas and is stupidly cheap at £0.99 then go for it! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
The comments on this article are closed.
7 comments
I played and finished it. While it certainly is no Portal, I enjoyed the puzzles and liked the general mechanics and progression. Great value for the price!
P.S. The default Steam Controller bindings worked really well for me.
Last edited by micha on 22 August 2017 at 12:59 pm UTC
P.S. The default Steam Controller bindings worked really well for me.
Last edited by micha on 22 August 2017 at 12:59 pm UTC
0 Likes
Quoting: michaI played and finished it. While it certainly is no Portal, I enjoyed the puzzles and liked the general mechanics and progression. Great value for the price!
P.S. The default Steam Controller bindings worked really well for me.
How long is it compared to portal ?
Any story or just pure puzzles ?
0 Likes
> How long is it compared to portal ?
About 2h for me
> Any story or just pure puzzles ?
Not really. There's no voice at least. However, there are parts in the environment hinting on what's going on / a background story.
About 2h for me
> Any story or just pure puzzles ?
Not really. There's no voice at least. However, there are parts in the environment hinting on what's going on / a background story.
0 Likes
I'm about 20 minutes in and stuck in the third or fourth room. No idea what to do. You can't rebind keys and there's no introduction or tutorial, so I don't even know if I'm missing some kind of core mechanic that has to be uncovered by experimentation?
(I'm looking at a door with a bunch of low-level lasers covering it, but the switch is down a corridor of water - touch the water, you die. Totally stumped, and for a quid, I'm not inclined to spend too long fretting about it.)
However, I have to say, it's just not fun. The total lack of any kind of theme, story, or direction is pretty off-putting. It's pretty, but completely experimental.
Like I say, it's a quid, so whatever, but it's not something I'd actually recommend! I'd rather spend fifteen times as much and buy Antichamber instead - better puzzles, better graphics, better atmosphere and a vague, surreal storyline to urge you along.
(I'm looking at a door with a bunch of low-level lasers covering it, but the switch is down a corridor of water - touch the water, you die. Totally stumped, and for a quid, I'm not inclined to spend too long fretting about it.)
However, I have to say, it's just not fun. The total lack of any kind of theme, story, or direction is pretty off-putting. It's pretty, but completely experimental.
Like I say, it's a quid, so whatever, but it's not something I'd actually recommend! I'd rather spend fifteen times as much and buy Antichamber instead - better puzzles, better graphics, better atmosphere and a vague, surreal storyline to urge you along.
0 Likes
Quoting: scaine(I'm looking at a door with a bunch of low-level lasers covering it, but the switch is down a corridor of water - touch the water, you die. Totally stumped, and for a quid, I'm not inclined to spend too long fretting about it.)
shoot your energy thingy at the toxic water..
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: michaQuoting: scaine(I'm looking at a door with a bunch of low-level lasers covering it, but the switch is down a corridor of water - touch the water, you die. Totally stumped, and for a quid, I'm not inclined to spend too long fretting about it.)
shoot your energy thingy at the toxic water..
Really?? REALLY??? I never tried that???????
Bloody hell! I got the "Courage" result for dying in that godforsaken room. I thought eventually that I could die in phases, then use my dead arms to jump across. Yeah, that didn't work...
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: scaineHah I was going to tell you how, but wanted to see if you came back after figuring it out :pQuoting: michaQuoting: scaine(I'm looking at a door with a bunch of low-level lasers covering it, but the switch is down a corridor of water - touch the water, you die. Totally stumped, and for a quid, I'm not inclined to spend too long fretting about it.)
shoot your energy thingy at the toxic water..
Really?? REALLY??? I never tried that???????
Bloody hell! I got the "Courage" result for dying in that godforsaken room. I thought eventually that I could die in phases, then use my dead arms to jump across. Yeah, that didn't work...
0 Likes
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me