Reviews

• 

  Fennec Fox

  Jan 9, 2023

  TL;DR: This game managed to stay fun and feel like a game even as it becomes more difficult in later levels. The difficulty is fair, incremental, and satisfying. For casual players: You can most likely get through the first half of the levels and have several hours of fun before deciding you've had enough. Since this game goes on sale for $2 regularly, I'd say it's worth it even for casual puzzle players who just want to jump around in some rooms and see what happens. For the 10-15% of people who usually finish puzzle games that they start, this will be a longer and more satisfying world to jump into. You don't need to have programming experience to enjoy this game, the concepts like recursion are not something you have to know about formally in order to solve the puzzles. (If anything, this game will help someone who's learning programming to visualize what they are trying to learn and to think creatively about solving problems). Is it difficult? Yes! Is it unfair? No! Every level gives you what you need to know to get to the answer. It lends itself to trying a few different things, seeing what happens, and in time gaining an understanding of how the mechanics work. I think it's best approached a puzzle at a time in the later worlds, from the 'ruins' onwards. If you're stuck, step away and think about it, come back later. I ended up needing hints for a couple of levels but never a walkthrough for the problem solving levels. The exceptions being 2 main levels in void and one paradox level in Interlock, which rely on platforming tricks rather than puzzle solving. As well the achievement for finding the escape, and what to do about it when found, as that is also outside the main scope of problem solving. In addition to the huge set of main levels, and sevral hidden levels, there are also two sets of DLCs that add even more dynamics. I'm just starting those and while they are smaller puzzles than some of the main ones, they introduce some new toys to throw around and a continued sense of mystery. So I would say this game is very worth it, unless: - You need to 100%. This one would take a while and have some tough challenges - You really can't stand simple graphics or need you character to move fast. - You aren't very patient. This could get frustrating. I don't normally like 'walk around inside the puzzle to solve it' puzzles but this one didn't bother me. If you get into an unsolvable state or accidentally trigger a paradox when you want to be completing a main level, you have to restart the level entirely. As well, if you get into an unsolveable state inside a paradox, you have to restart the main level, reenter the paradox and get back to where you were. This will drive some people crazy in later levels. So, it does require a playful and relaxed mindset. Best not to hurry through it. This is probably one of the best puzzle games I have played. In terms of introducing puzzle challenge without becoming repetitive or tedious, Recursed walks that narrow line successfully. It costs almost nothing on sale and is almost guaranteed to be fun. Earlier levels could probably be easy enough for older kids, and could be a good simple learning tool for building problem solving skills (for adults as well). Learn without feeling like you're in school, and jump into treasure chests like a happy elf. Then jump into the same treasure chest again, if it's green (seriously, this is a hint). ;)
• 

  Shadowxaf

  Oct 2, 2016

  I think I've played through about half the game, but I'll need much more than double my current playtime to complete it. It has a very gradual difficulty curve but it is starting to get very difficult. The most similar game I can think of is Braid. It has similar keys and locks, and even has glowing green items that are immune to some effects. A couple of the solutions remind me a bit of Tetrobot. But it's a unique game. Highly recommended for fans of tough puzzle platformers! (The platforming is easy, the puzzles are hard)
• 

  polomi

  Oct 6, 2016

  Recursed is a game of nested structures, patterns, loops, paradoxes, and of course recursion. Imagine a set of Matryoshka dolls where somewhere down the chain, one of the embedded dolls contains the first outermost doll itself again, with all its contents repeating, which means that deeper down it will again contain itself, and so on. Or imagine two different sets of Matryoshka dolls, the first one containing the second one, and the second one containing the first one, both sets interlacing each other forever. These are the kind of structures that Recursed requires you to construct in order to solve platforming puzzles. Rooms are chests that you can pick up, carry around, and enter in. By nesting them in other chests, you can shape the world by creating intricate entangled configurations that allow you to reach places otherwise unattainable. The fun aspect of the game is to make mental maps of such knotted networks of chests, and to keep track of the relationships between rooms as you change them. It is an abstract mental maze of endless loops and infinite regressions. And when you get lost in that maze, it feels like rather than being lost in the game, you are instead lost in you own mind, since you are the one making the layout of that maze as you go along. There is more than chests to the game, new gameplay elements are introduced throughout. For each new chapter, it starts straightforwardly but ultimately the concepts are pushed to the very limits of their imaginable uses. The puzzles are quite inventive and the difficulty can reach very high levels that will push you into extreme mental contortions. I absolutely recommend this game to anyone who enjoys puzzles relying on logic and mathematical ideas.
• 

  Toph

  Nov 15, 2016

  A very clever space-manipulation puzzle game. Everything in Recursed (graphics, story, music) exists to serve the puzzles, so if you don't enjoy puzzles, there's nothing for you here. If you do enjoy puzzles - particularly puzzles with keys, locks, platforming, and green-tinted objects that are unaffected by your space powers - then you're in for a real treat. The core mechanic is this: when you leave a room, its contents revert to their original state. This may remind you of old games like Megaman, where the hardware didn't have enough memory to remember the entire level at once. An enemy that followed you out of a room and then back into it might be duplicated, while an enemy that wandered off-screen would be erased. If you've ever thought that would make a good mechanic for a puzzle game: you're absolutely right. Recursed is that game. The puzzles are masterfully designed. Many of them hinge on a single insight, and solving them will make you feel like a genius. There's lots of room for experimentation, and lots of opportunities to see how the puzzle elements interact that really makes you feel like you're learning the rules of this world. Even if what you've learned doesn't help you with this puzzle, it will almost certainly come back in a later one. Recursed encourages these moments of discovery. Sets them up, even. At least once in the game, you'll have a question about a particular mechanic, and you'll set up an experiment to find out the answer... and the game will reward your curiosity. "Well done", it seems to say. "You spotted a cool thing, and I didn't even have to point you towards it." (And then you get a diamond.) The game introduces its concepts very gradually, letting you experiment and master each one before throwing a new object at you. The first world doesn't even use the core mechanic, it just lets players familiarise themselves with the platforming and lock-and-key mechanics. Which is appreciated, because there are a couple of subtleties (the ability to throw objects, in particular) that veteran gamers may not expect, so they'll appreciate the slow start. The green objects in the fourth world are something of a turning point. By then, you ought to understand the basic mechanics of Recursed well enough, and you'll have discovered that some things are impossible within the game's rules. Green breaks those rules, turning the discoveries you've made so far on their head, making some things possible that were impossible, and opening up new areas to explore. But unlike the start of the game where you had no idea what to expect, this time you'll have a framework to fit these new ideas into, and you may even think of a use for green objects before you see the puzzle that demonstrates it. It's from this point on that Recursed's puzzle design really shines. With that high point in mind, I'm a little let down by the later areas. The new mechanics introduced are less obvious than the ones before - acid brings little novelty over water, and fissure jars are strangely complicated compared to the rest of the game's elements. But the new expansion The Oobleck Conundrum remedies this very well, as oobleck has a very simple behaviour from which complex and interesting puzzles flow. The final level is one for the books, as well. Everything you've seen throughout the game comes back for one last hurrah, a final boss of a puzzle that uses all the most advanced tricks you've learned. Yet it's ultimately simple enough that you can beat it in three minutes, when you understand the solution. Worth playing through to the end. The game took me about twelve hours to beat all-in-all, including the expansion. There's not much reason to play it again once you've gotten 100%. Also, after I did beat it, I caught myself checking what I was holding before leaving my bedroom. 10/10, would attempt to use game mechanics in real life again.
• 

  zarat.us

  Nov 25, 2016

  Before playing: "oh hey this game has an interesting description it's probably going to be underwhelming but let's give it a shot" While playing: "jesus CHRIST I AM THE LORD OF SPACE AND TIME"
• 

  choongmyoung

  Dec 4, 2016

  If you love puzzle games, especially puzzle platformers or reality twisters, you buy it. YOU NEVER REGRET BUYING IT. pros: - Brilliant game mechanic - Excellent puzzle designs, even better than Braid imo - Almost all the levels require deep understanding to the game mechanics - You can break the levels (see the steam achievements!) [spoiler]to get diamonds[/spoiler] - All the necessary information is given (as opposed to Braid's "stars" which are hidden) cons: - Damn hard
• 

  Ryan Dorkoski

  Mar 18, 2017

  [b][i]Recursed[/i] is a hard-as-nails brilliant indie puzzle game with some seriously nice artwork and theme.[/b] At first glance it just looks retro, but check out those chests and keys. How they rotate and land at a random angle. I would imagine that the developer had a very specific vision in mind - and then tediously crafted exactly that. [b]And while the ambience is great, the puzzles are where the game really shines.[/b] Definitely has those 'WOAH' moments that I felt in other well-done puzzlers such as [i]Stephen's Sausage Roll[/i]. What makes this title particulary stand apart from other puzzlers is the mechanics. Each element of the puzzle has its own set of simple rules, but mixing (and mastering) these rules can be mind-bending. [b]Pros:[/b] +Absolutely unique +Quite fun, with the all-important 'aha!' moment where you [i]learn[/i] something really neat that you didn't know about the mechanics (in other words, they gave you all the tools upfront - you are just learning how to use them) +Outstanding artwork and music +Great controller support +Tons of content, and it's cheap +Mind-blowingly difficult [b]Cons:[/b] -Mind-blowingly difficult [b]If you enjoy difficult mind-bending puzzlers, this is a must-have.[/b] Otherwise, I'd probably pass. It's dense. I probably completed ~25% of the game in about an hour, but that was the easy part. Will I finish it 100%? Likely not, but I'll certainly keep it.
• 

  Mute Spectre

  May 28, 2017

  There are plenty of games that try to bend yur mind, but this is the only one I have seen which doesn't try to break it. The levels go slow enough that although you are never bored, you are never hopelessly stuck. You find yourself thinking in ways that seemed previously impossible. Some games try to force your brain to do backfips, but this game trains your brain to do them. Best puzzle game I have ever played. (in terms of the puzzles)
• 

  Amorbis

  Jun 18, 2017

  On the surface it looks like a simple platformer/puzzle game, but the further you go the more brain bending it gets.
• 

  Agent Clyde

  Jul 23, 2017

  World 1: You're putting a chest inside a chest to solve a puzzle. World 4: You're pulling a chest out of a chest and going back in so the chest is duplicated, then putting a chest that retains its location when the room is dissolved into one of the duplicated chests so it appears in both chests, then taking one of the duplicated chests into the other and then taking it into the chest that retains its location, so I have a chest with a chest that retains its location inside with the first chest inside with the second chest inside, so I can then take the innermost chest out of the bottom layer of the first chest, in order to put a chest that retains its location inside itself, which effectively makes an infinite loop of chests inside themselves, which I then exit, evaporating the chest I was trying to exit to and the one I was in and an infinite number of chests that were actually just one chest to solve a puzzle.
• 

  asterite

  Aug 5, 2017

  This is a 10/10 puzzle game. Here's why: - Simple, clever and fun mechanisms, introduced gradually - You can tell a lot of thought and effort went into the design of each level - Levels never feel too big or overwhelming, while being very challenging at times - Levels never feel repetitive - The game mechanisms are fully exploited, making you really learn its world and rules - It has secrets - Nice, challenging ending - Nice, relaxing music - Adequate graphics (2D with a mixture of 3D in some places, and some cute animations), though graphics are not the main goal of the game - Comes with an extra set of levels that introduce a new concept - You can create (and find) custom levels, which means that if you really liked it you can continue playing it even after you finish the main story I had so much fun playing this game! I consider it at the level of other puzzle games like Braid, Snakebird, Portal, Antichamber, The Talos Principle and The Witness. I know these other games might have better graphics, but in this kind of games what I look for is a well thought, fun and challenging puzzle game (though I can tell graphics and music in Recursed have soul and love put in them). So if you liked any or all of the above games then this game might be for you. The fact that there are no negative reviews of this game up to this point is also a very good sign. Oh, and if you like recursion, you'll like it even more. This review continues here: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198071809634/recommended/497780
• 

  edderiofer

  Aug 16, 2017

  Recursed is a game about what Recursed is a game about. Ahem, sorry, I'm thinking of INF (Ludum Dare 37 entry). Lemme try again. Recursed is a puzzle-platformer. The goal of the game is to get to the goal (a giant floating purple crystal) by solving puzzles. As in a standard platformer, you can move around and jump (three blocks high, in fact). But if you're holding an item, you can only jump two blocks high (you can however throw items horizontally). Already this is a pretty novel mechanic I've not seen in any other game; there *might* be a game I've played where you merely can't jump when you're holding an item, but that's just not the same. Point is, Recursed does some neat stuff with this mechanic, as it's the focus of a fair few puzzles in the game. But of course, that's not actually what Recursed is about. No, Recursed is a game about what Recursed is a game about. Ahem, sorry, I'm thinking of INF (Ludum Dare 37 entry). Lemme try again. There are three types of item you can pick up: keys, which open doors; blocks, which you can stand on; and chests, which are rooms which you can bring items into and pick them out of. The first two are standard puzzle fare, but it is the third that's where the game is. "But," I hear you cry, "Isn't that just the same as rooms being linked to one another? I can't [i]possibly[/i] see how that would give deep gameplay!" And here lie two subtleties. The first one is that since chests are items, you can also pick up chests and bring them into other chests. This changes which rooms are connected. But that still doesn't get at what Recursed is about. No, Recursed is a game about what Recursed is a game about. Ahem, sorry, I'm thinking of INF (Ludum Dare 37 entry). Lemme try again. The second subtlety is this: Entering a chest does not actually move you to another room; it instead creates an *instance* of a room, which is destroyed when you leave the room. So what's the difference? When you re-enter the room, it re-creates the *original* instance of the room. So, for example, you can take an item out of the room, then enter it again and find that the item's respawned. And it is *this* subtlety that creates the puzzles in the game. Using this, you can, for instance, pull chest A out of chest B, then put chest B in chest A. Then pull another copy of chest A out of chest B, and put it back into chest B, into a third copy of chest A. Be careful, of course, because if you leave the first copy of chest A now, chest B will vanish into the aether, and cannot be gotten back (which probably means you've borked the puzzle). This unique sort of action in a game could only ever be dreamt up by a madman. Truly, Recursed is a game about what Recursed is a game about. And yes, this time I [i]am[/i] thinking of Recursed, not INF (Ludum Dare 37 entry). Unfortunately, at some points, you have to think like a madman to solve the puzzles. That's not to say the puzzles are *unfair*; rather that they require such a weird modus of thinking that I've yet to wrap my head around the game. Contrast this with Stephen's Sausage Roll, the Best Puzzle Game Ever™, where the levels themselves usually tend to guide you towards what to do; the levels here are either doing so in a really arcane manner, or not at all. That's not always a bad thing, though, but it does mean that you'll have to experiment a lot more than most (and often don't really get as much feedback when you've done something right or wrong). Complementing the game quite nicely is a rather catchy soundtrack (unfortunately not a fractal one, but either way it's been stuck in my head the past few days), and some nice humour ("This green stuff smells terrible! I hope it's not poisonous. *deep sniff*"). Despite its lack of level signposting, Recursed is a game about what Recursed is a game about. It is unique in terms of mechanics and brings a lot to the table in terms of that. [strike]While it's not as good as Stephen's Sausage Roll (because it's still the best puzzle game ever by a long shot)[/strike] (SEE EDIT), I still recommend it highly, with the caveat that you'll need some patience to get through it. Also, screw Rolling Shapes and Soko Match (formerly known as Flow Match). Those two games can chuck themselves into a chest which I'll happily remove from existence for them, because they're that bad and I've mentioned in my previous reviews that I would slag them off from time to time. EDIT 17/09/2017: Having finished the game now, I can definitively say that it's somehow [b]BETTER[/b] than Stephen's Sausage Roll! If you are a fan of puzzle games, you DEFINITELY do not want to miss this. The main mechanic is just so rich and the secondary introduced mechanics complement it so damn nicely. And unlike SSR, chances are that this game is of complexity class Undecideable, not just in PSPACE! Also it has a level editor, so there's that too. And the free in-game expansion is pretty sweet too. I hope another one's on the way for the game's anniversary. EDIT 14/02/2020: [url=https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.05131]Recursed is undecidable. Good game, and well done to Erik Demaine, Justin Kopinsky, and Jayson Lynch for proving it. (This review is cited in that paper, by the way.)[/url]
• 

  nock

  Dec 16, 2017

  Like Puzzle Games? Like Puzzle Games That Actually Challenge You. THEN YOU NEED TO GET THIS GAME! I'm an avid puzzle game player and stream puzzle games most days. I was recommended this game by one of my viewers and I'll be honest, looking at the images on the store page, the game didn't stand out to me because of the "2D Game Design", but I decided to go with my gut and give it a go. boy am I glad I did. I've just finished streaming all the main game levels. the game mechanic seems very simplistic at first, but don't be fooled. I've played so many puzzle games which have a great concept, but it feels like developers have 'given up' mid way through and what you end up with is a game which is very broken, very easy, or ends up complete trial and error. Not the case with Recursed. Each area introduces a new mechanic, and gives you a few simple (tutorial) levels before throwing you in at the deep end and combining with previous mechanics, which is where the real mental agility test comes in. it has taken me 11 episodes, and 13 hours to complete the main game, and some episodes i only solved 2/3 in an hour sitting, so be prepared to not work things out straight away. just have a break, clear your mind, and come back to it. All in all, i think recursed has been my game of the year, which last year went to The Witness. At time of writing, I'm having a small break, but still have the bonus content to play (which by the way is all included in the price, although i would happily pay a couple of quid for extra content) and I'm really hoping that Portponky has continued to bring new items and mechanics to the game. Thank You So Much For This Game
• 

  lorgon

  Jun 6, 2018

  This is an excellent puzzle game. I guess it's a puzzle "platformer", but the platforming aspects are simple and mostly subservient to the puzzles, though a very small number of puzzles do require a little bit of platforming finesse. The puzzle mechanics are where the game shines. Jumping into a chest spawns you in a 'fresh copy' of 'the room inside the chest', and as the title suggests, you can recursively explore chests and carry them to other chests to create an interesting tangle of rooms. Items like keys to unlock doors, and blocks to stand on to gain height to reach platforms, feature in early simple puzzles, but later puzzles introduce really interesting an unexpected mechanics that will take some experimenting to tease apart in order to use them. (And if you're a programmer, you'll be trying to make analogies to what you know of control flow, static/instance storage, threads, closures, ... though not all of the game mechanics map perfectly into programming constructs.) Some puzzles allow you to 'break' the level or create 'paradoxes' which often spawn surprise new embedded puzzle levels for an added layer of challenge. The puzzles start easy, but the difficulty ramps up and there are enough puzzles to keep you busy for at least 10-15 hours (personally I'm 25 hours in, and still have 3 final puzzles left to solve). You almost always have a large array of puzzles to choose from, so you can skip something if you get stuck and come back. There are only a couple minor criticisms I have of the game: - the game pretty much uses two buttons, one to jump and one to 'interact' (pickup, put down, throw, hop out of a chest)... at least a couple times you'll accidentally hit the interact button to try to pick up an object but instead exit and room and lose your progress, which is frustrating... the game might have benefited from a different control scheme where a separate button was used to exit rooms. - the audio narration in the game (limited explanation/lore, mostly in early puzzles) is very quiet relative to other game sounds (turn on subtitles to ensure you 'hear' it) A couple other possible criticisms I had early involved the 'weak platforming' and the 'lack of identifiers on chests to help remember what is inside', but eventually I decided that those aspects were good intentional decisions that add to the game's challenge. Even as you come to understand the mechanics, the games levels are often an all-out assault on your short-term memory, designed to specifically put a couple of distractions in your way as you try to think/remember your long-term strategy to solve a puzzle. What seemed initially like annoyances I came to respect as genuine well-designed puzzle elements which add to the challenge. Overall I enjoyed this game very much; it has some very interesting and clever puzzle mechanics, and the right amount of content to utilize each. The music is catchy, the graphics/sound are fine, and the puzzles are first-rate.
• 

  Aradesh3K

  Jun 23, 2018

  Oh man, this is a crazy puzzle game. Starts out seeming fairly simple. But pretty soon you'll have a bunch of treasure chests (rooms), and trying to figure out how to stack them properly (entering this room carrying another room, so that you can pull out various items to then reach the exit), It can really twist your brain. And once you finally solve one of the puzzles, it is oh so satisfying.
• 

  rezoons

  Aug 28, 2018

  This is the best kind of puzzle game: simple, yet difficult. The puzzles always contains very few elements but they have to be cleverly used and, in the end, it feels very rewarding to solve them. The main mechanic revolves around the recursion principle. Most puzzles contains chests that links different rooms together. When you enter a chest, you don't just move to a different room, the room you move to gets created at the same time and then destroyed when you leave it. You basically go to rooms inside rooms inside rooms etc... Otherwise, puzzles also contains rocks you can climb to go higher, keys to open door and a few other item that only appears late in the game. There are not many elements but this is enough to create some really compelling puzzle that forces the player to exploit all the possibilities of recursion. In the end, you really feel like you are mastering recursion. To quote the game: "The worst part is, it's starting to seem like it makes sense". The store page is a bit outdated since the game now contains ~100 puzzles with a bonus ~25 levels you can get to by creating "paradoxes" in some levels. It took me about 16 hours to finish everything with the help of a guide for some of the most difficult part and i'd say that around 95% of the puzzles where really satisfying to solve so i'd say the current price is definitely worth it for this game if you're inetrested in it. Otherwise, the music is great, the graphism are functionnal and the controls are ok. Thankfully, you don't need to do any difficult platforming.
• 

  Braden

  Apr 8, 2019

  This is, without a doubt, the hardest puzzle game I have ever played. The game is rock solid and the level design is downright sadistic. Playing this is like trying to reason your way through an IOCCC winner's entry. Buried under all that extremely terse syntax, recursion, indirection, macro replacement, macros-calling-macros, dirty typecasting, and other such low-level stuff built on top of many, many non-portable assumptions, there is meaning, but good luck finding it--the person who programmed it is probably a better programmer than you are, and they spent weeks putting their little abomination together in the most deliberately maddening way possible. And that's what this game is like in the last third or so. Even though I'm a seasoned programmer, and I find recursive algorithms and other functional programming concepts perfectly intuitive, this game broke me. Somewhere between halfway and two-thirds through, I had to start resorting to guides because the levels were getting so deeply nested and complicated that I just couldn't keep up. Any cognitive map I would make of the level would get smashed and thrown in a blender as I got totally and completely lost, or maybe made a misstep. Any physical map I tried to draw of the level, to solve it on-paper, would end in an incomprehensible mess. It would become incomprehensible because I was trying to draw a 2D map when in reality, this game is 3D. It may look 2D, but no. The recursion and room-saving mechanics serve to add a full third dimension to the world of the game. One that is fundamentally unintuitive to a human mind in much the same way that a fourth spatial dimension is not intuitive to a human mind. Frankly, I don't think it's possible to map out levels in a way that makes sense. Not on paper. You can only reason about the game's third dimension as you experience it through time, and with the way it's presented, you won't form anything that looks 3D. You'll form a sparse collection of 2D rooms in little "pockets" that are vaguely connected, and in trying to maintain the relationships between these pockets, you will drive yourself mad. This is where this game shows its true colors. Once the limit of your ability to cognitively map a level is tested and reached, this game begins to beat you over the head with it in the most delightfully evil fashion. Or maybe I'm just not good at taking notes. So if you want a game that's arguably harder than Infinifactory and Stephen's Sausage Roll combined, this is for you.
• 

  monoid

  Jun 3, 2019

  Very good! Somehow the game doesn't have nearly enough reviews, hopefully not due to that prominently displayed quote from Jonathan Blow. I think it's certainly up there with, say, Baba Is You in terms of puzzly awesomeness.
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  prtsscout

  Jul 1, 2019

  This is the hardest puzzle game I've ever played. Pleasant music, pleasant graphics, simple mechanics but REALLY hard and sometimes nonlinear puzzles. The game smoothly introduce and teach you with new possible mechanics and ways you can use them... It even looks really simple at the beginning but it becomes much much harder at the middle of... I think "Ruins" stage. If you're looking for something much much harder than "Portal" series (including Portal stories:MEL) and you like puzzles - this is your choice! And it will be really pleasant challenge to complete all levels, DLC's and achievements. 10 / 10.
• 

  Hatless

  Jan 4, 2020

  Smart, funny and brutally underrated. If you like [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/736260/Baba_Is_You/]Baba is You[/url] you'll probably like this, and vice versa.