When playing certain kinds of games you often find yourself facing complex puzzles or challenges that, at times, you just can’t see the logic through them and need some help with. I just recently started playing Hypnospace Outlaw and I must say it’s an absolutely fascinating experience. Being a look into the pre 2000’s internet has been a nostalgia trip and a half and while just looking at all the available pages has been a great experience I must say I’ve found some difficulties in the puzzles themselves.
The objective is essentially to find offensive or infringing content on this contained internet space and report it to have it removed, however the game swiftly dives into complex or difficult solutions that mess around with your enforcement tools and has you having to visit backdoor website links or searching complex terms to find hidden files that leads to the game becoming incredible complex. So much so that at various points I just couldn’t figure out the answer and had to resort to a guide to help, but the strange thing is that I don’t feel that it took away from the experience.
Now you may feel that’s a bit odd, a puzzle game that you look up the solutions to seems like a waste of time, however for me the game is more about the simulation and incredibly clever writing and worldbuilding than it is about the puzzles themselves. As such I don’t feel as though I’m missing out on things because I’m missing out on the solutions to the puzzles themeselves. It’s a strange feeling, and I don’t use the guide too much, but it’s certainly a divisive topic that I’m sure many would like to give their opinion on, so feel free to do so! Do you feel having the solutions to a puzzle game told to you is a waste or do you feel the rest of the game’s merits can hold up the experience? Share your thoughts!
That’s all for now, and as always. It’s not just a game, It’s a Life.