One of my favorite childhood games, this is an absolute classic and a gem of the point-and-click genre.

The story is fun (albiet very cartoony) with a mystery involved, its music is superbly 90's and SUPER catchy, the graphics and sound are honestly really well-made for the time, and the gameplay/exploration in the game is also fun! I also really like the PDA system, in which, you can learn about real aspects of the culture, geography, languages, landmarks, etc. of the 6 countries in the game: England, Egypt, China, Bhutan, India, and Australia.

It has all the charm of classic 90's cartoons on a Saturday morning, but with the pleasant addition of it being playable. This is definitely one of my favorites from my childhood, and it was a pleasure to replay through the whole game again as an adult when I replayed it yesterday.

Some of the puzzles are more frustrating than enjoyable, but even so I kept coming back for more. I think it’s best when not going for immediate completion as some puzzles you need new abilities to complete. I did enjoy how the (mostly) all puzzle contained on a single screen worked in narrowing the visuals needed. I think the concepts of the different worlds were well introduced, the open world puzzle concept is super cool, and the undo reset mechanics work well.

I suppose main complaint is some of the final puzzles were convoluted, some of the secret indicators were not very visible, and it was annoying that there were unreachable map locations.

Back when this game was called Akurra, I went head over heels for the demo. A Game Boy Color-styled puzzle-metroidvania with metapuzzles and complex mechanics - what's not to love?

The full game doesn't live up to the promise of the demo. Some of that is because, yes, as other reviewers have said, it's not finished. Parts of the world are inaccessible even though they really look like they should be accessible; other parts are clearly suspicious but meaningless, clues without a puzzle. There's not that much metapuzzling in the finished game outside of upgrades from one isle allowing access to secrets in another. Future updates may fill in the gaps and the post-game, but right now it's frustrating.

The puzzles themselves are... they're generally good, but with just enough misses to put you on your guard. The best puzzles are like the best puzzles of DROD or Leaf's Odyssey, hinging on interesting interactions between disparate game elements, and then demanding just a little more of you. The best of the best throw one-shot tricks at you that leave you wanting more - the little island with the six-key gate is brilliant. The worst puzzles are loosely designed and easily cheesed with upgrades from other isles or with careful movement (including part of the final set of puzzles, sadly). It can also be hard to tell when a puzzle needs an upgrade you're missing, although you start to figure out how the game thinks after a while, and the Steam devlog says this will be tackled in version 1.1.

I think the metroidvania part of the formula is a good idea. Battling across a puzzle to open up a permanent shortcut is very satisfying, and movement upgrades that let you bounce effortlessly over a region that used to be a nightmare will always be fun. I just wonder if a bit more care could have been taken applying these upgrades to puzzles - being stuck and not knowing if you can solve it, if you need an upgrade, or if you need to wait for the game to be updated is very deflating.

The music and the art style are still great, though.

Great puzzle design that stands out due to its layers of engagement. On any given screen, you may have your focus on a puzzle for navigation, a puzzle for a key, the environment, or a multi-screen puzzle. Does not punish players too much for experimentation or failure, as you are always just one click away from an undo or a frame reset. Allows for non-linear progression and has clever, metered, enticing progression that includes metroidvania-style upgrades and recontextualizations. All-in-all, it's an extremely well-thought-out game wrapped in a consistent and endearing art style.

Fell in love with this game through its demo, eagerly awaited its release, and have been rewarded even beyond some lofty expectations. Anyone who likes puzzle games should give it a shot (and immediately get hooked).

All of the quintessential Zachtronics games have their shelf life for me. This is generally either through a bit too much repetition, or through the expanding scope growing too much to keep track of everything. But they are all so well-designed that they are fun while they last. This one certainly lasted the longest, and it did so while exuding a ton of heart. The variety of games and the trickle of notes made it a joy to bounce around when one set of mechanics started to bring out that perfectionist itch a bit too much.

It was a genius decision to have the downloads work in the background, as it definitely led me to tinker with games for longer than I normally would have (if at all). Those sections ended up being as well-crafted and enjoyable as any vignettes throughout gaming.

This game also balances humor and emotion as well as any text in games. We see the anthropological detail from Mr Chilly that 20th century soft-serve was clearly enjoyed at a temperature of absolute zero. We see the computer's original owner vulnerably offering up this hardware as a piece of himself, recounting the wistful what-ifs that we all experience throughout life, and celebrating the people who shape your life even as the decades pass since you've been in their presence.

This may be a game to play over the years, dipping in and out to complete more puzzles and find more notes. It may even eventually become its own wistful memory as we try to recount to the next generation who we were back before Zachmatics disappeared from the golden ages...

Honestly pretty gutsy to make what is essentially a bite-sized open world game, hearing this get compared to Simpsons Hit & Run before I jumped in messed with my expectations a bit though.
The collectathon aspects are certainly more pronounced here and the driving feels very tough to get a grip of, not a big problem though considering it's not really required for much of anything.

Aesthetically it's like if The Amazing World of Gumball and The Thousand-Year Door merged into a mostly lowkey exploration game that turns out to have a much more grounded (ha) story than the premise implies, snekflat's trademark funny blobs notwithstanding.

Using the wrench in mid-air to give yourself a bit of a boost is one of the greatest 3D platformer mechanics ever concieved and I'll be really sad if other games don't use it. Also the soundtrack kicks ass also also I'm really sorry I never finished wuppo snekflat I'll do it soon I prommy

Delightful!

It feels like this would be really hard to pull off given that the game is kind of centered around one big joke but the ending actually felt like the perfect punch line. I was chucklin' out loud quite a bit! Really impressive that this was a one dev effort. There's such a great tone and style to the little world in this. Like a cartoon network show that never was.

Can't get enough of these short hike style games. Terry really feels unique and special while still scratching that same itch. It just feels so great to wander around a nice looking, easily readable open space and feel like you really got the most of it in a few hours. REFRESHING!!

This one is an interesting case I think. It’s got a lot of heart and I can really appreciate the story it’s telling, but I think it could’ve used a little more in terms of execution. It just feels like there should’ve been a little more to it I guess. A lot of the humor here isn’t really my thing either. The chapter-to-chapter pacing was really fun though. The chapters are pretty short, which is less of an issue you’d think because it means that you’re getting into fun new situations pretty frequently. Really it just sorta felt like there needed to be another chapter or two to add some extra room for character development.
Gameplay-wise, it’s just kind of alright. It’s very Paper Mario inspired, but I don’t think it really gets why those games worked. The partner movesets aren’t great, and the enemy and encounter design is just a little samey. It lacks the variety that I think a game like this needs. However, it’s not like the battles are painfully boring or anything. The overworld has some fun exploration too. That was a highlight, really. There were some neat gimmicks there, and many of the environments are quite beautiful.
The game isn’t super long so I’d say it’s worth your time. It is kinda buggy and unpolished though, which might have also affected things a lot.