Puzzle Depot Demo

There are certain types of games that work no matter when they are released, because the underlying ideas maintain their charm every time. Puzzle games may look and play differently than they did a few years ago, but everyone still gets them in order to enjoy a challenge and a bit of a workout for the mind. As such, the genre is always open to new additions, as long as a few small, but important rules are respected.

Puzzle Depot is a Sokoban-inspired puzzle game in which your primary goal is to open the door to the next room, by pushing objects around without getting stuck. There are buttons spread throughout the levels, each one of which must be pressed in order to activate the unlocking mechanism. However, keycards and various other objects come in handy sometimes as well.

As far as the demo at hand is concerned, there’s not much of a story going on, although you might be able to figure out what the writers have in mind. In short, you play the role of a worker by the name of Tod Torial, who’s actually just one of the characters planned for the full version. Your task is to move boxes around, but after some sort of experiment, you wake up in the future, and things get slightly more dangerous.

To make the game easier to replay, each level has more than one solution you can reach to clear it. Each level is part of a larger dungeon, and you can see the map on the screen to help you orientate. Various items can be picked up as well, including consumables to regenerate health points and so on. Speaking of which, combat is also part of the mix, since there are a few nasty creatures you need to deal with.

One of the more interesting concepts integrated into the gameplay is the counter that monitors your moves. As such, some challenges may ask you to complete certain levels in a set amount of moves, which is obviously a lot more difficult than having the freedom to do as you please. It’s not mandatory, but it is one more reason to go back and replay the stages multiple times.

In the end, Puzzle Depot has the potential to become a hit with puzzle enthusiasts, especially if the level designers do a good job and provide the fans with a real challenge. The environments and the graphics might bring back a few memories as well, so that’s definitely a plus.