Szlia
Member
It is very difficult to write about, Stephen "Increpare" Lavelle latest game:Stephen's Sausage Roll. The first difficulty is that it is a puzzle game and, as such, its core virtues are in its mechanics and in its level design. The second difficulty is that discovering the mechanics is an integral part of the game so keeping things spoiler free without being vague is tough. Let's try though.
The incredible elegance of Stephen's Sausage Roll comes from the fact that from the very start of the game to its very end all the rules of the world are there, but the complexity and richness of the rule set are only unveiled little by little, because new puzzles offer the potential for new situations where new rules are discovered (and are often needed to solve the puzzle). To make an analogy, if you are able to walk on water but are in a desert, you can't know you have this ability. So Increpare would make you start in the desert, then later would put water in a level that would at first feel impossible until you realize you can in fact walk on water.
My analogy is not very good, because the beauty of this game's design is that, more often than not, it's not the apparition of a new component that allows a new rule to be discovered, it's using new configurations of known elements. Also the abilities and rules you discover do not come out of left field, they make sense and if they might be a little too surprising, levels are carefully designed (with funnels or bread crumbs) to guide you toward their discovery. Something that works with my analogy though is that an alarmingly high number of levels will at first make you believe they are impossible to solve. I can't tell you the number of times I discovered a new level only to mutter (or shout...) "What???? How???"
While I am slowly running out of superlatives, it is also important to note the game manages the feat to be both very long and very dense. Those familiar with Increpare's other puzzle games, be it the number of free games on the puzzlescript platform he created or his previous commercial product, English Country Tune (also highly recommended), know his aversion for fluff such as mundane tutorial levels, so these sausages are pure meat from the get go. There is no such thing as a level that does not bring something new to the table in form of an original challenge, so solving any single puzzle is extremely satisfying. Reaching this point is the fruit of a strenuous work of distillation that lasted years with dozens and dozens of levels that got discarded and all the rest going through multiple iterations and fine tuning to be sure that, as often as possible, they provide challenge the whole way through their resolution.
To give a sense of the scope of the game, I played through the final build in about eighteen hours, while I knew just about all the mechanics and had played most of the levels in an earlier build a year or so ago, so I would expect people new to the game to easily go past the 30 hours mark. It is important to note because, at $29, the price can feel pretty steep for an indie puzzle game, but that's probably less than $1 per hour of pure gameplay and level design meat. Another way to look at it is that it is without a doubt the cheapest masterclass in puzzle design money can buy!
With this package also comes a thin and strange narrative that works hand in hand with the structure of the game, and an aesthetic which at first seems a bit crude and rudimentary, but really grows on you with its surprising care to details such as weather effects, day/night cycles and a soundscape periodically haunted by some minimalist musical tracks. It should also be mentioned that the control of the character takes a little time getting used to, but pretty quick it becomes apparent as to why it is the way it is. Every move matters.
Official trailer:
Other opinions:
Destructoid 10/10 :Review: Stephen's Sausage Roll
The Guardian 5/5:Stephen??Ts Sausage Roll review ??" sizzling pork has never been this challenging | Technology | The Guardian
Jonathan Blow considers it to be "possibly the best puzzle game ever made."
The incredible elegance of Stephen's Sausage Roll comes from the fact that from the very start of the game to its very end all the rules of the world are there, but the complexity and richness of the rule set are only unveiled little by little, because new puzzles offer the potential for new situations where new rules are discovered (and are often needed to solve the puzzle). To make an analogy, if you are able to walk on water but are in a desert, you can't know you have this ability. So Increpare would make you start in the desert, then later would put water in a level that would at first feel impossible until you realize you can in fact walk on water.
My analogy is not very good, because the beauty of this game's design is that, more often than not, it's not the apparition of a new component that allows a new rule to be discovered, it's using new configurations of known elements. Also the abilities and rules you discover do not come out of left field, they make sense and if they might be a little too surprising, levels are carefully designed (with funnels or bread crumbs) to guide you toward their discovery. Something that works with my analogy though is that an alarmingly high number of levels will at first make you believe they are impossible to solve. I can't tell you the number of times I discovered a new level only to mutter (or shout...) "What???? How???"
While I am slowly running out of superlatives, it is also important to note the game manages the feat to be both very long and very dense. Those familiar with Increpare's other puzzle games, be it the number of free games on the puzzlescript platform he created or his previous commercial product, English Country Tune (also highly recommended), know his aversion for fluff such as mundane tutorial levels, so these sausages are pure meat from the get go. There is no such thing as a level that does not bring something new to the table in form of an original challenge, so solving any single puzzle is extremely satisfying. Reaching this point is the fruit of a strenuous work of distillation that lasted years with dozens and dozens of levels that got discarded and all the rest going through multiple iterations and fine tuning to be sure that, as often as possible, they provide challenge the whole way through their resolution.
To give a sense of the scope of the game, I played through the final build in about eighteen hours, while I knew just about all the mechanics and had played most of the levels in an earlier build a year or so ago, so I would expect people new to the game to easily go past the 30 hours mark. It is important to note because, at $29, the price can feel pretty steep for an indie puzzle game, but that's probably less than $1 per hour of pure gameplay and level design meat. Another way to look at it is that it is without a doubt the cheapest masterclass in puzzle design money can buy!
With this package also comes a thin and strange narrative that works hand in hand with the structure of the game, and an aesthetic which at first seems a bit crude and rudimentary, but really grows on you with its surprising care to details such as weather effects, day/night cycles and a soundscape periodically haunted by some minimalist musical tracks. It should also be mentioned that the control of the character takes a little time getting used to, but pretty quick it becomes apparent as to why it is the way it is. Every move matters.
Official trailer:
Other opinions:
Destructoid 10/10 :Review: Stephen's Sausage Roll
The Guardian 5/5:Stephen??Ts Sausage Roll review ??" sizzling pork has never been this challenging | Technology | The Guardian
Jonathan Blow considers it to be "possibly the best puzzle game ever made."