Degrees of Separation

Degrees of Separation is one of those games that makes you go, “Oh, that’s clever,” about ten minutes in. And then it keeps doing that. Sometimes it impresses you. Sometimes it trips over its own feet. But overall it’s a pretty fun ride, especially if you’re sharing the couch with someone.

The screen is literally split in two. On one side, Rime lives in a cold, frozen world. On the other, Ember moves through warmth and color. Fire and ice. Classic combo, but used in a genuinely interesting way here. The entire game is built around manipulating that divide, shifting the line between warm and cold to solve puzzles and move forward.

Early on, things are simple and easy to read. Warm a lantern with Ember, a platform rises. Cool it down with Rime, and it drops. Straightforward, satisfying, and a good way to teach you the rules. Then the game starts layering on more ideas. Rime can create snowballs to form platforms. Ember can melt them so they fit through tight spaces. Geothermal vents can launch Ember across gaps, unless Rime shuts them down so she doesn’t get bounced around. And water is where the game really clicks. Rime freezes it and walks across. Ember keeps it liquid and runs underneath. Suddenly, precise positioning of both characters and the temperature rift becomes everything.

It’s smart. It’s refreshing. And when a puzzle finally clicks, it feels great.

The game includes waypoints that let you fast travel around the map, which is a lifesaver given how open and non-linear the levels are. Backtracking is encouraged, exploration is rewarded, and for the most part it works well.

For the most part.

Because the map itself is… not great. If you’re missing a single scarf, good luck. The map only really shows which scarfs you got and which are missing, and it’s surprisingly hard to tell where you are and where that last collectible is.

Movement doesn’t help either. Both characters feel a bit stiff, with clunky animations that never fully smooth out. It’s not game-breaking, but it’s noticeable, especially in a puzzle game where precise positioning matters.

The presentation does a lot of heavy lifting here. The art style is polished and charming, the environments are pleasant to explore, and the music fits the mood nicely. It all comes together into a high-quality experience that feels carefully crafted, even when the gameplay stumbles.

TL;DR: Degrees of Separation has a genuinely unique and refreshing puzzle mechanic built around heat and cold, wrapped in a polished art style and best enjoyed as a co-op experience. It’s clever, charming, and fun, but held back by clunky movement and a frustrating map. 7/10

* I played the game solo. This review will cover the game when played solo.
My Playtime: 8.7h (100% achievement, finished the game)
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (10 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.
Intro
Degrees of Separation is a puzzle game where you control two people with contrasting worlds: Ember's world is where the sun shines and water flows, while Rime's world is where everything is made of ice and freezes. The game has six main levels with different main mechanics as a focus.
Pros:
- 6 main mechanics
- Easy to figure out the collectible location
- Freedom to finish the puzzles in any order that you want
Cons:
- Game only saves your collectible, not position
- AI tends not to move in the direction that you want
Specs
Steam Deck: AMD Zen 2 4c/8t 2.4-3.5GHz, 16 GB RAM, 8 AMD RDNA 2 CUs
Should you buy this game?
If you enjoy puzzle games, buy this game.
In-Depth Review
Visuals
The characters seem to use 3D models despite the side-scroller display. However, since they will mostly be shown from afar, it can be hard to see the details. They are easy to distinguish by the color, though; Ember will be red and Rime will be blue. The environment will also be colored to match this color palette, and despite using the same color, it's still easy to see where the characters are since their color tends to be darker than the environment. However, it can be hard to see the ropes in a dark environment sometimes.
Story
The story will be told as you play, telling you the adventure of our protagonists while slipping some lore as you go through the levels. However, I found that the story tends to be lengthy despite the game being a puzzle game. I had to stop a lot of times just to wait for the dialogue to finish, whether it was from doing puzzles or from accessing the exit.
The game tends to incorporate its story into the levels, telling you the mechanics and tying it to the game's story. I like how soothing the voice dubs are, and if you are into games with story as a focus, this game's story is quite detailed. You need to assume what's happening, but the game gives enough context for you to figure it out.
The Game
Gameplay
Two people, two worlds. Degree of Separation's main concept lies in the fact that our protagonists live in two different worlds. You'll have both of them on the same screen, although they are divided into their worlds—think of it as playing a game in a split-screen, except that the split-screen will affect each other to solve the puzzle. Ember's world has a gust of wind that sends you in a certain direction and allows you to "fall" into a body of water. Rime's world will turn off all winds and freeze all bodies of water, allowing you to walk above it. The range between both worlds depends on their position—despite being in separate worlds, you control them as if they are within the same world, except that the range of their world will change as you move.
The game has six chapters plus one main hub in total. Each chapter, including the main hub, consists of a big world divided into smaller puzzle areas. Each puzzle area usually can be fit into one screen, although there are some cases where you need to bring a certain item from another puzzle area to solve the puzzle. The chapters usually revolve around the newly introduced mechanic that is unique to each chapter. That being said, the main mechanic of the two worlds will still be applied in most chapters.
The puzzles' main goal is to collect scarves, a collectible that can be used to open the door to more chapters. The game is not linear—as long as you have enough scarves, you can explore and finish the world in any order that you want. Navigating through the chapter world to find the puzzles might be tricky, but the game offers a hint that lets you know the rough location of the scarves. It's easy to find the puzzles this way, and you can also fast-travel between these hint structures if you want to. That being said, the fast-travel can still take time, especially if you want to go to an area far from where you are located. Collecting all scarves is also not necessary to beat the game, although it's required to 100% it.
The puzzles themselves are simple. Most of them work on a certain rule that you must figure out first. Once you know about the rule, the other puzzles within the same chapter will be easier to solve. It can take a while to find it, but it was always satisfying whenever you managed to solve it on your own. The puzzles never take that long to finish, and even if you are stuck, there are always a lot of things that you can figure out based on the available techniques that you have. One of them will usually end up as the solution.
Length and Difficulty
I finished the game in 8.7h. The game is in the easy-medium range; it can take a bit of brainpower for you to solve the puzzles, although they are never too hard for me. The only exception is in two levels in the first chapter, since they require you to move an object from another puzzle to solve.
Issues
The game only saves your scarf's progress, not your location. If you exit the game midway, you must redo the whole chapter from scratch, although your solved puzzles will still be treated as completed. The AI also tends not to move as I want. There was one level that required me to control both characters at once, and since I played the game solo, I had to rely on the AI. It took me longer than it originally takes to reach what I wanted with that AI. The same goes when you call the AI to come to you. Sometimes the pathfinding works, sometimes it doesn't. As for the latter case, prepare to do the same puzzle twice.
Conclusion
It's hard to find puzzle games that are just right in difficulty for me. Degree of Separation surprisingly nails the difficulty well, allowing me to enjoy the game while still having to think. It was such a nice puzzle game, even if you play it solo. If you enjoy playing puzzle games, I don't see a reason why you shouldn't play this one.

Beautiful artwork, music, and story.
However, solo players beware:
There is a part at the very end of the game (Door 6) that is super, super frustrating (and likely impossible) when playing this solo. The mechanics are designed to where one player must slowly walk a cart across a stretch of land, while the other person has to walk in time with them. I spent way too long trying to do this solo, before giving up which was pretty disappointing as the story was just about over. Ended up watching a YouTube video for the remaining 10 minutes of story.
I had no issues playing it solo up until that point.

A dated co-op game not by ideas but just by technology.
Had issues with duel sense 5,
Older duel senses register and work fine.
THAT ASIDE.
Beautiful ambiance, Music is relaxing, cozy with the wife, ascetics and even the cheesy / kinda cringe at times poetic dialogue. This game does not disappoint and you start right inside the action.
Each puzzle in the worlds you visit have their own theme that you must use to CREATIVELY (and I cannot stress this enough) solve a puzzle.
So far, at the end of world 2, about 65% of puzzles were intuitive.
Of the non-intuitive, there were never any hints or subtle clues about interactions / ways you use your powers. Sometimes a ledge wasn’t fully telegraphed, the way your split powers can interact had to be brute forced to be figured out,
There was one hint in a puzzle from narration, which did help, but that aside, those non-intuitive puzzles were VERY frustrating
More to come after I finish it.
Post Game Edit
Worlds 3-5 Were fall more intuitive than World 2. The story felt a little disconnected towards the end but was able to make sense of it. Enjoyed playing it with my SO, we both had our laughs and would give this a thumbs up for couples to play for cozy platforming.

A really interesting puzzle game with clever mechanics that keep introducing new elements throughout. Aside from minor gripes, (such as not being sure where to go in the hub world, one or two instances of solo controls being very clunky for the puzzle needed, and some cases of being unsure if the object is scenery or has collision), the game is great.
I had fun getting all the puzzles and only had to look up the solution twice - in the first case I already knew what I needed to do but I couldn't find the tool to do it with (the well), and in the second I think my brain shortcircuited and I thought I needed to do an extra insane launch but the scarf was just a little further down in the level (start of mountain level).
Don't be discouraged by the apparent co-op requirement - the game is perfectly and fully playable solo.

When I started playing Degrees of Separation, I barely knew my girlfriend. Now we're engaged and are planning to marry

A puzzle game best played with two, but often playable solo. Light platforming that is often fine, except when it gets in the way. Puzzles that are often clever, but not usually unsolvably so. Different regions with special powers that seem out of order for their difficulty. Quite nice that you can skip a puzzle here or there, until at the end section they're all mandatory.
Oddly, you don't have to beat the game to get all the achievements.