Just smashed this little gem out in one sitting over this afternoon. I loved it! Definitely my pick for the jam. Yal absolutely nailed it IMHO. This is a tightly designed puzzler that is bang on theme, with excellent level variety, a clean and functional aesthetic and great sound design.
Even though I could point fingers at stuff that's not there (classic game jam commentary), I never really felt that there were things missing during my playthrough that hampered my enjoyment. Yeah okay some have already mentioned that it's hard and the difficulty ramps quickly but for me that was a strength as each level introduced a new twist and really took some investment into understanding how things fit together. I am not a big puzzle gamer and to me the solutions never felt obtusely out of reach and I solved them quite organically, striking just the right balance between creativity with how I went about solving each one and feeling guided to the solution through the design of the level. The problem space feels large given the size of the map but complexity has been cleverly limited through tile arrangement to prevent extended periods of the dreaded "analysis paralysis". Kudos for throwing in a generous undo too, a much appreciated feature.
The graphics and audio while understated feel entirely appropriate for the setting and are enhanced by all the little visual FX/shader touches. So often this visual and audio candy can feel like unnecessary smoke and mirrors to mask poor gameplay and visual design. But here I think it really works as you've made the UI so minimal that the sfx, spark particles and glow effects that occur as you reorient the tiles work as wonderful feedback mechanisms for the player and look great while not being overly flashy and distracting. Maybe the glow is cranked a little too much, but I never found that it got in the way of me playing and is a minor nitpick.
On top of being a good game you even threw in a story that could have easily felt like bloat but instead really helped to contextualize the game and added an unexpected "employee caught in the middle of a class struggle" moral conundrum layer to the whole thing. A really nice touch, it evoked a similar feeling to Papers Please though obviously much lighter in tone. I would love to see this expanded further if you choose to continue development.
Now it could use a little polish here and there to bring it to release level but the game already feels confident in it's identity. Honestly you two did a great job, it was a pleasure to let myself slip out of game jam critique mode and just enjoy myself.
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