The Impossible – Review
The IMPOSSIBLE is a unique puzzle game with an emphasis on optical illusions. The star of the show isn’t the gameplay; surprisingly that mantle goes to the AI companion/villain that follows the player through the game.
Story
The story in THE IMPOSSIBLE comes off as simple. On the main menu, the player is greeted by an AI who explains the game is a simple IQ test made by IMPOSSIBLE Inc., using simple puzzles and the reward for following the rules and completion is steam achievements.
The tone is relaxing with the AI giving the player helpful instructions on how to proceed through the beginning levels. After progressing through the game, however, things take a quick U-turn as certain levels become much more difficult. The tone of the game becomes more ominous, the music switches from calming to intense, certain levels become glitched and the kind AI shifts gears, becoming sentient and self-aware, similar to the AI in the Portal series GLaDOS.
The descent into madness is further complemented by the AI asking the player various questions involving the game itself, basically proving the notion that the AI is self-aware by breaking the fourth wall at random times.
Graphics
In the graphics department, THE IMPOSSIBLE does not have much to offer. The game looks similar to being completely hand sketched on a piece of paper, with the puzzles following suit. The art style, as simplistic as it may look, is actually well done; the simple design makes the game much easier to pay attention to what’s in front of the player, prioritizing the puzzles and placement before anything else.
Sound
When it comes to the game’s sound design, there’s not much to deliver. The music only bounced between two tracks with the first being reminiscent of elevator music, which makes sense considering the beginning of the game is simplistic and holds the player’s hand. The second song, however, is the complete opposite, with the latter being replaced with a depressing tone and constant ringing, much like the player is trapped in an endless loop.
The sound of the AI however is surprisingly well made. When it’s first introduced at the start screen, the AI gives off the impression of being as helpful as possible, however, during the shift in gameplay, the AI switches to a more depressing version of SIRI, which complements the music greatly.
Gameplay
As said earlier, THE IMPOSSIBLE is a puzzle game with an emphasis on optical illusions, guiding a small cube to the foreground and background of random shapes in order to reach the goal, a small red mark. The levels do come off as easy in the beginning but begin to get difficult rather quickly as the player progresses.
The level design is well done. The shapes are varied enough for each stage to be as unique as possible, requiring different solutions to each problem. In the later levels, the shapes grow in size with twists and turns requiring the player to be patient and analyze the design before jumping in.
Players control the cube using the arrow keys to move in 8 directions, moving one space every time the player presses the keys. Occasionally there will be stages that require the player to move to a certain spot to unlock the goal or traversing through the front and back of stages requiring players to have good memory and to think outside the box. There have been a few issues here and there though; the arrow keys can be unresponsive at times (possibly the game does that on purpose to hinder progression). Pressing the keys multiple times just to move to a certain space can be really annoying, especially when the later puzzles require precision to reach the goal, rather than guessing the way through and hoping to get lucky.
Conclusion
THE IMPOSSIBLE is a short and sweet puzzle game with a slight emphasis on psychological horror. The glitches, music, AI, and smart level design compensate for its simplistic looks. Sometimes the game can be clunky when it comes to the precise movements for controlling the block but it’s overall a pleasant experience for fans of the puzzle genre and fourth-wall-breaking.
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