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Neutral brings out the big guns by delivering an escape game that's meatier and more complex than anything they've put out in recent years. With puzzles, clues, and items galore, it's a satisfyingly challenge experience that's a lot bigger than you might think. You're locked in a lovely room and, as always, your goal is to try to find a way out, but, also as always, the way is filled with Neutral's cunning puzzles, secrets, locks, and objects. To play, just click around to explore, but since the cursor doesn't change even if it passes over something you can use, you'll want to try to interact with everything, and every nook and cranny. Click the magnifying glass that pops up when you mouse over items you're carrying to view items up close and maybe interact with them more, and use the save function if you need a break. Pay attention to your surroundings, and maybe take some notes if you come across anything that looks particularly puzzle solutions-y, but don't expect a lot of hand-holding. And just because you've finally opened the lock doesn't mean you're out of the woods yet. Neutral knows how to make games that are somehow at once both minimalist and beautiful in their presentation, with subtle sound effects and animation atop lovely backdrops, and then liberally packs it with puzzles that really encourage you to use your brain. Elements starts out slow, lobbing you a couple obstacles that can be cracked simply by using the right item in the right place, but slowly ramps up the difficulty with puzzles whose meanings aren't always obvious. |
