PC Gamer’s Austin Wood reviewed Solo, the introspective puzzler from Team Gotham set on a gorgeous and surreal archipelago.
Wood praised Solo’s art style and enjoyed its “wistful commentary.” He went on to explain the game’s flexible puzzle mechanics, describing one in particular he was fond of.
Virtually every puzzle has multiple solutions, so you’re encouraged to experiment. Which is good, because Solo’s puzzles are more fun to tinker with than to think about. Rather than tests of logic or pattern recognition, they’re more like those old locked ring or wooden block puzzles. The fun is in the fiddling and figuring out, not the solution. It’s the opposite of games like Portal or QUBE where you stop and meticulously work through levels in your head, but Solo is still plenty fun to solve.
New blocks are introduced at a healthy pace, and optional puzzles liven up islands with unique challenges like rerouting water or building a bridge so Geoffrey can reunite with his wife. I was especially fond of the puzzles that cap off each archipelago, where you place blocks in front of a light so that their shadows line up with the outline you’re given. These puzzles are more difficult than the island ones and make you play totally differently, and just as importantly they gave me a shot of the careful, calculated reasoning that I love about puzzle games.
Solo is now available on PC via Steam and GOG for $14.99.
