Loophole

About Loophole

Loophole is a single player tactical puzzle game. It was developed by Levi Pinkert and was released on July 14, 2025. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

Loophole is a grid-based puzzle game about exploiting the rules of time travel. Explore a mysterious labyrinth on the brink of destruction. With explosions just a few tiles away, use time machines to turn back the clock and escape into past. Your past selves - the actions you just performed - will be waiting. Will they help you or hurt you? That's for you to decide. After all, they're just you.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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Reviews

99%Audience ScoreBased on 127 reviews

gameplay22 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

Extremely well-crafted and polished puzzle game with clever, unique time travel mechanics based on avoiding paradoxes rather than creating them.
Gradual introduction of new mechanics keeps the learning curve smooth and satisfying, providing frequent 'aha' moments and deep brain teasing puzzles especially towards the end.
Adorable art style and pleasant audio design complement gameplay, creating an immersive yet non-intrusive puzzle-solving experience; plus community level support extends replayability.

Fog of war and hidden map areas slow down puzzle solving by forcing exploration before proper planning can begin, which some players find tedious and immersion-breaking.
Lack of an instant restart hotkey and inability to replay completed levels without starting a new save detracts from quality of life during puzzle attempts and 100% completion.
Some late-game puzzles require fiddly precise timing and complex synchronization that can feel more frustrating than intellectually challenging, slightly diminishing enjoyment.

gameplay
76 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29% positive mentions, 67% neutral mentions, 4% negative mentions
The gameplay of this time-manipulating puzzle game is praised for its clever, gradually introduced mechanics that build into a cohesive, mind-blowing experience. It features smooth controls, balanced difficulty, and innovative time travel interactions that challenge players without overwhelming them, making each puzzle feel logical and satisfying to solve. While some late-game puzzles may become more complex and slightly tedious, the overall design is innovative, accessible, and highly engaging, with a strong emphasis on experimentation and player discovery.
- “The puzzles are supremely clever; the way the mechanics grow over time is very well done, and the end-game really ties the whole experience up nicely.”
- “There's no tutorial and no exposition, but the game does a superb job of introducing new mechanics and letting you explore them at your own pace.”
- “The gameplay is super smooth and polished, way better than I expected for such a little-known game.”
- “Some of the later puzzles do get a bit tedious with keeping track of a lot of your moves, but it's not that big a deal for the time travel mechanics.”
- “I do think the negative review complaining about this is a bit unfair considering the extent of the hidden bits of the level is the puzzle itself: they played for around 10 minutes and had not started to get into the more complex mechanics that get revealed as the game goes on, but they're not wrong that it's a pain and that it doesn't add much of anything positive.”
- “There isn't any explicit tutorial or any sort of symbols to explain mechanics; the game relies entirely on experimentation to learn how it works.”
graphics
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44% positive mentions, 23% neutral mentions, 33% negative mentions
The graphics feature a simple, stylized, and adorable art style that effectively supports the puzzle mechanics without being distracting. While the visuals are clear and conceptually clever, some users note a lack of peripheral detail and minimal menu design, with occasional performance issues on lower-end PCs. Overall, the graphics complement gameplay well but could benefit from additional polish and optimization.
- “The art style is adorable while allowing the puzzle elements to be easily understood and distinguished from each other.”
- “The art style is really nice and the little guy you play is very cute.”
- “The visuals are simple and stylized, fitting the game’s mechanical focus without drawing much attention.”
- “I think there could be a bit more peripheral polish, such as a little bit of set dressing (the levels feel kind of barren, aesthetically), and the menu is very minimal, and the game just closes when you win it (I want to see my save file with 100% completion and 118 puzzles!), but these aren't largely significant.”
- “Also the graphics actually lagged my PC a lot (skill issue I guess). I had more trouble figuring out a visual setting that doesn't crash my PC than solving that region 1 final puzzle lol.”
- “The visuals are simple and stylised, fitting the game’s mechanical focus without drawing much attention.”
story
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29% positive mentions, 28% neutral mentions, 43% negative mentions
The story is simple and minimal, primarily serving to support gameplay mechanics and prevent exploitative strategies. While it lacks deep lore or immersive world-building, it effectively ties into the game's time-loop theme and ending, providing a clear and functional narrative framework.
- “The ending sequence ties together the story and gameplay in an elegant way.”
- “The fact that Loophole solved this issue by not only putting a timer in all levels, but implementing it into them as a mechanic and giving it a 'why' in the story, is incredibly smart.”
- “There isn't much lore or story.”
- “Story isn't the main focus, but it works really well as a way to prevent the cheese strats that people normally use in games like these.”
- “The storyline is simple but effective: you are trapped in a time-looping temple of doom that you are trying to escape.”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 25% negative mentions
The music in the game is generally well-received, featuring pleasant and unobtrusive background tracks that enhance the game's contemplative and lonely atmosphere. Sound effects are helpful and contribute to the overall experience, though some find the ambient soundtrack somewhat forgettable.
- “The audio design is great, with pleasant music in the background, helpful sound effects when things happen, and an ominous (but not scary) response when a critical mistake occurs.”
- “Special shout out to the sound design and music which helps contribute to the game's lonely, contemplative vibe.”
- “I like the music.”
- “The ambient soundtrack is fine — unobtrusive but also forgettable.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
Grinding in the game involves some precise synchronization and trial-and-error, which can feel mildly tedious but is balanced by engaging time travel mechanics and a fog of war that adds challenge without dragging on. Overall, the grinding is manageable and not overly repetitive compared to similar puzzle games.
- “However, once you figure out the intended solution, you often still need to spend extra time syncing the execution precisely, which can be mildly tedious (you play a simple copy at a time, so you must synchronize with future behaviors a priori).”
- “Some of the later puzzles do get a bit tedious though with keeping track of a lot of your moves, but it's not that big a deal for the time travel mechanics.”
- “And while there is a lot of tedious trial and error to be had due to a fog of war, it does a good job of keeping you in the moment and adding a believable element to it all.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The game's optimization balances challenge and accessibility by imposing a generous move limit that encourages strategic thinking without frustrating delays. Players can engage in step-counting for optimization, adding depth without feeling overly punitive.
- “You're not incentivized to wait absurdly long after every action so your future self has time, since there's a move limit (which is itself implemented in a way that has tons of interesting consequences, and is always rather generous, so no annoying optimization either).”
- “There's something of an optimization goal to everything, so you might find yourself counting your steps.”