Understand
- October 30, 2020
- Artless Games
- 35h median play time
Get on Steam"Understand" is a single-player adventure puzzle game with unique level-specific rules and experimental mechanics. Players must figure out the meaning of each rule through trial and error and draw lines to satisfy all rules in over 100 language-independent levels. The game boasts "think outside the box" puzzles, terrible artwork, and an unexplored puzzle genre, encouraging players to join their Discord community at .
Reviews
- The game exercises creative and logical thinking, beautifully training focus and problem-solving skills.
- Each level presents unique rules that require players to experiment and deduce solutions, leading to satisfying 'aha!' moments.
- The minimalist design and low price make it accessible, providing hours of challenging gameplay for puzzle enthusiasts.
- Many levels can feel overly complex or convoluted, leading to frustration and reliance on brute force rather than logical deduction.
- The lack of clear guidance on rules can make it difficult for players to progress, resulting in a tedious trial-and-error experience.
- Some puzzles may require outside knowledge or have arbitrary rules that can feel unfair, detracting from the overall enjoyment.
- gameplay40 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 73 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The gameplay of this puzzle game is characterized by a vast array of mechanics and a significant number of levels, offering players around 15-20 hours of playtime. While the puzzle-solving aspect is enjoyable, many players find the initial mechanic discovery tedious and reliant on guesswork, which can detract from the overall experience. However, the game rewards persistence with satisfying "aha!" moments as players refine their understanding of the mechanics through experimentation.
“A solid insight puzzle game featuring 143 levels, each with unique mechanics you need to figure out through experimentation.”
“In something like The Witness, you'll only get the satisfaction of figuring out a puzzle mechanic once per puzzle type, and you'll spend the rest of your time trying to implement the established rules; in this game, you get to experience the joy of figuring out the rules over and over again, often in rapid succession.”
“The story of your gameplay is, instead, a surprisingly satisfying repeated arc, in each set of levels, of working out what the heck is going on, fine-tuning that understanding through experimentation, and using that refined understanding to make often-difficult, frequently-pleasing puzzles at the end.”
“The puzzle-solving part is fun, but the problem lies with finding out the mechanics.”
“Every puzzle pack gives you a few example levels first that you are supposed to use to find out the mechanic - but that just doesn't work very well as most of these example levels are too small to really extract any specific mechanic from them.”
“Neither the concept of figuring out sequences nor the game's mechanics were bad ideas, but when they combine, the result is boring guess-and-check busywork.”
- grinding7 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 86 % negative mentions
Reviews indicate that while the game's concept and mechanics are engaging, the grinding aspect can become tedious and frustrating, particularly in later stages that rely on audio cues. Some players find the puzzle-solving enjoyable and mentally challenging without feeling like a chore, while others feel that the reliance on trial and error detracts from the experience, leading to a sense of monotony. Overall, opinions on grinding vary, with some appreciating the challenge and others finding it overly tedious.
“The difficulty lies in the thought process required, rather than in the time spent trying to find a solution. It's mentally challenging but not tedious.”
“Grinding in this game feels rewarding; every effort contributes to a sense of progression and achievement.”
“I appreciate how the grinding mechanics are designed to keep me engaged, making each session feel purposeful and fulfilling.”
“The concept of the game is awesome, and the mechanics are cool, but the execution is just way too tedious for me.”
“If you can stomach opening a walkthrough a lot of times to avoid bashing your head into a wall, then you can have some fun with the actual puzzle solving part of the game, but I will still give the game a downvote for the other part of the game being often very tedious, if not outright frustrating.”
“My only problem is the last stages are based on audio cues, meaning if you are not able to listen to it for any reason, it becomes tedious, complete random guessing with no help whatsoever.”
- graphics6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are characterized by a crisp and clean minimalist aesthetic that enhances the overall experience. While some may perceive the art style as simplistic, it is evident that significant effort has been invested in the design of each puzzle, emphasizing gameplay over visual flair. Overall, the graphics effectively support the game's focus on engaging puzzles rather than elaborate visuals.
“Crisp, clean graphics.”
“The minimalist aesthetic really works in the game's favor.”
“Cool story, stunning graphics, great soundtrack.”
“As you can tell from the screenshots, this is very much a developer-graphics, pure-gameplay, no-story kind of game.”
- story5 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 80 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's story is minimal and largely absent, focusing instead on gameplay mechanics and visual aesthetics. Players experience a satisfying arc of discovery and experimentation, akin to solving puzzles, rather than following a traditional narrative. While some find this lack of a conventional story frustrating, others appreciate the emphasis on gameplay and the unique challenges it presents.
“The story of your gameplay is, instead, a surprisingly satisfying repeated arc, in each set of levels, of working out what the heck is going on, fine-tuning that understanding through experimentation, and using that refined understanding to make often-difficult, frequently-pleasing puzzles at the end.”
“The story of your gameplay is, instead, a surprisingly satisfying repeated arc, in each set of levels, of working out what the heck is going on, fine-tuning that understanding through experimentation, and using that refined understanding to make often-difficult, frequently-pleasing puzzles at the end.”
“As you can tell from screenshots, this is very much a developer-graphics, pure-gameplay, no-story kind of game.”
“This is a great game that puts one in mind of The Witness (minus story), but also Zendo and Bongard problems.”
- music3 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is described as potentially distracting, leading some players to turn it off in favor of focusing on the puzzles. While the soundtrack is noted as great, its repetitive nature can detract from the overall experience, especially during intense gameplay moments.
“Cool story, stunning graphics, great soundtrack.”
“I personally turned off all audio for this game besides sound effects because I found that this is one of those cerebral games that requires a ton of focus, and having the music on can easily distract you when solving the puzzles.”
“I lost count of how many solutions I looked up while replaying the same three songs over and over again.”
- humor3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its clever and surprising humor, with players noting that creative gimmicks often lead to genuine laughter. A standout moment is the stage "1-?", which particularly resonated with players and contributed to the game's overall charm.
“This game is difficult, fun, and has a good sense of humor.”
“All of these had very surprising and creative gimmicks; several of them made me laugh out loud once I figured out what was going on.”
“This game deserves a recommendation just because of the stage '1-?' that made me laugh.”
- emotional3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the game emotionally engaging, as it challenges their thinking and fosters a sense of cleverness and accomplishment. The emotional investment is strong enough to motivate them to persevere through frustration, highlighting the game's clever design and wholesome nature.
“One who, prior to this, had marathoned over a dozen single-achievement puzzle games by the brawn of my anxiety-ridden brain, and I was damned if I was going to quit a game I was so emotionally invested in because it was frustrating me, as it made me realize the limits of my own thinking.”
“I really love games like this, and so far this one has been very clever indeed, and made me feel clever too.”
“Wholesome game :>”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
While overall performance is typically stable, some levels exhibit poor optimization, leading to significant lag spikes during validation under certain configurations.
“Performance is generally not an issue for obvious reasons, but there are about three levels that are complicated enough (or poorly optimized enough) where certain configurations can cause seconds-long lag spikes during validation.”
“Performance is generally not an issue for obvious reasons, but around three levels are complicated enough (or poorly optimized enough) where certain configurations can cause seconds-long lag spikes during validation.”
