BIT RAT: Singularity
Note: this is also a giant bundle game but I wanted to dig into the puzzle mechanics a bit so I’m posting this here instead of in the giant bundle topic, but know that if you purchased said bundle you already own this game.
Bit Rat: Singularity is basically a puzzle game that takes the base idea of the pipe style ones we’ve all seen in the past (be it in Pipe Mania or something like the hacking minigame in Bioshock) and goes in a very different, markedly more complex direction with it. Rather than transporting water through pipes instead this is focused on transmitting electricity through circuits, and unlike Pipe Mania where you place the pipes upon the playing grid here the circuits are already in place with you just having to rotate them to direct electricity how you see fit. There also isn’t any time pressure in this game, okay maybe this isn’t built off the same idea but it’s still a good reference as a starting visualization point.
So rotating circuits to direct power around a series of rooms to eventually power an exit node seems simple enough but you can’t just rotate circuits at will, you can only rotate a circuit that already has power running through it. If there is one circuit that must be rotated in order to reach the exit node then you’ll have to craft an electrical path to it before you can do so and often this path will be significantly different than the one that’ll ultimately lead to said exit. Even so you can only rotate these circuits if the room is also powered up (the lights are on), and a room can only be turned on if it is connected to a room that already has power (linked rooms have lines between them). This itself is limited as only a certain number of rooms can be lit up at a given time, the capacity set by generators that list both the current number and max number of rooms they can power up. These generators can be connected in series (two four room generators can power eight connected rooms) but then you must be careful not to depower a room that connects them or else you risk blowing one of them out.
The thing is as you play as an AI you yourself can’t flip a light switch, but various humans around you can. You fix this by possessing them and having them turn various rooms on and off, but only certain rooms are reachable from a given location (humans always “spawn” in the same room) and these connections are almost always different from the way room are connected via power. Of course you can only possess a human if the powered-on circuit passes by them, which often requires taking a completely different route than any of the other goals you are trying to accomplish.
This all reads very complicated, so let me take a step back and simplify it by going into macro terms. Rather than have to deal with a single series of things (the circuit) you have to deal with two other sets of factors (the rooms/generators and the humans) that are all overlaid on top of the same grid of rooms but that play by slightly different rules and often can’t all be worked towards at the same time but are all in play at the same time. If you need to rotate a particular circuit you have to make sure power to that room is on, which requires making sure connected rooms are powered on first and that the generator won’t be over taxed. To do this means taking control of a human, which means making sure that the path of the circuit currently reaches them. Doing so may require rotating other circuits which in themselves operate on the “need to have power heading into them and be located in a powered-up room” rules and if either of those things isn’t currently true you may have to undergo a similar “well I guess I have to find a human who can reach this room and make sure the right ones are powered on” song and dance before you can even start dealing with the room/circuit you were initially concerned with.
Is it a lot? Yes. Does it ramp up slow enough to not be initially overwhelming? Also yes. Does it makes the puzzles time consuming? Often yes, in many cases it requires several steps to adjust a single thing and that means it isn’t built to be picked up and played. Most importantly, is it well done? Yes it is. It can be demanding, but it is undeniably clever the way it sets up its systems atop one another. It definitely wouldn’t be a title I recommend for a puzzle game beginner, in fact I’d consider it a more advanced genre entry, but it is one I would recommend in general.
A couple other things worth noting. It is a rather story-heavy game about an AI that gained sentience and is trying to explore and perhaps get out of the system it finds itself in, the story isn’t bad for what it is and doesn’t take too long when it does pop up but it does pop up frequently. The other thing is that the game was designed as a prologue to a theoretical full-sized later game that follows up the events here. This means it is designed to be a few hours long but because they wanted to end it on an example of what the game can be like at its full power the final puzzle is a beast that is dramatically more involved and tricky than what came beforehand. The dev themselves admit that in a fuller game they’d ramp up to such demands much more gradually, and the final puzzle is fair and in truth well designed, but it very much was a “how in the hell am I even gonna start to approach this” wall/punch in the mouth difficulty spike so be forewarned.
