Wizard’s Way Out

wizard's way out is a relatively short but not all that easy sokoban, with only 32 levels unlocked in a linear fashion and a bit of narrative. it starts with our hero falling into a well, then encountering an ominous presence that wants to join him on the surface. what can possibly go wrong?
since you're a magical creature, pulling stuff is just as easily achieved as pushing, both work from a distance and you're blessed with unlimited undo. hints are also available and a level reset button eventually got patched in. I'd ask how they missed that but I'm not surprised by anything anymore when it comes to games, including the dev's original and insane suggestion of holding undo until you're back at the start. very elegant. level names and numbers are shown everywhere (again, after a patch) but sadly there's no puzzle skip option. I appreciate its presence these days, don't necessarily want to solve everything, just see what's on offer, even if I can't figure out level 17 or whatever. and it's more convenient than editing the save file.
monsters are always asleep and can be dealt with by smashing objects or their buddies in their face or dumping them into the abyss. some float, others can't be moved or only one tile at a time, etc. there's a mandatory move limit before they fully wake up, then the level fails, but undo works there as well. weirdly enough and despite it being the entire premise of the game, reaching the level exit is not the goal, just get rid of everybody. doors are monsters too and keys have to be tossed around, can't pick them up. other than these, there's a single new mechanic introduced near the end, an arrow redirecting stuff.
technically, the game is completely playable with keyboard, mouse or controller, but in reality keyboard (and I assume gamepad) controls are abysmal. the mouse is much better, though if you want to mix it up for convenience, prompts will be an ever-changing mess until you learn what's what, then they'll just be in the way (a toggle got patched in). wasd/arrows move the cursor (only wasd is mentioned), 'e' or left click to activate and push, 'q' or right click to pull. backspace is undo (can be held for more), tab for hints (always a bad idea, alt+tab switches tasks, shift+tab is the steam overlay). since it doesn't do anything, the mouse wheel should work as undo as well.
nothing is rebindable, of course, and there's no direct control of the character and only one tile can be traversed at a time, indicated by the constantly moving arrows getting on your nerves (well, mine for sure), so moving 5 tiles to the right means 5 clicks or 10(!) keypresses (cursor right, move, right, move, etc.). you can click any unlocked level on level select, except the way it's laid out, there are only a few on one screen and mouse wheel or the mouse itself doesn't work here either to pan the map. at least the amount of tedium is consistent across the board. oh, and there are 2 in-game cursors, but after a patch the one for keyboard isn't always visible at least. the whole thing is handled better than before but still a new low in gamedev, can't remember seeing this anywhere before.
the presentation is nice, except if your gpu (or in my case, outdated drivers I can't do anything about on the paperweight I'm using) doesn't support vulkan stuff, you'll only be able to play in opengl mode. wouldn't be a problem, especially for a 2d game, and very kind of godot (my least favorite engine after rpgmaker) to offer the option, but devs should make sure both versions work as they should. in this case, black letters became white for some reason, really hard to read on a bright background, and there were other visual issues as well, which got fixed eventually, so it's all good now.
settings are decent and available anytime. separate volumes, windowed mode, text display options (including instant), the annoying film grain effect and screen shake can also be removed (the former not completely), but imagine not wasting resources on adding these in the first place and working on more important and necessary functionality. also, unskippable credits. can be sped up, same thing, right? sure, just like holding undo for 5 minutes is the same as pressing the reset button. and it doesn't always remember windowed/full screen status between sessions, seemingly picks one at random, though that's just one of godot's many built-in defects, along with crashing every ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ time I quit. the two might even be related, though settings shouldn't get saved on exit but when they're changed.
I didn't finish it, not a fan of sokoban, much less with a move limit, so unlocking all the levels by editing the save and solving about half was enough. it's a good enough puzzler, as long as you're using a mouse, but imagine it in a half-decent engine without perplexing design decisions. I'll keep editing the review if they decide to fix things up some more (was questionable when I posted the review, been waiting weeks for some very basic stuff), now it's in a better place and more easily recommendable on sale.
btw, there's a free 13-level predecessor, used to be on itch but can still be found on not-flash-anymore sites, works for demo purposes. and guess what? level select is a single screen there, whereas here it takes 5 clicks just to get from level 1 to 10 on the map and 12(!) to go from the first level to the last (I'm the master of wasting time, tested it myself).

I love it when puzzle games have very simple mechanics but do a lot with it. Out of the gate this game tells you "think before you move" and it's right! if you go for a trial and error approach it can get frustrating, but if you actually stop and plan your moves, it's a very satisfying game. Music and art are well thought out and executed, there is a coherence between the two which is nice to see from a small indie title like this. Overall this game could be a little bit of a hidden gem, I hope more people find it!
If I could wish for an improvement it would be more easier levels in the beginning to smooth out the learning curve a little bit, to allow players some time to practice how to think in this game. Give a level or two to practice thinking with each mechanic before we have to learn a new one!

A classic puzzle game with new looks where you are a wizard who can push and pull objects with the power of telekinesis.
Nothing extraordinary, which is also noted by amusing remarks made during the game. In essence, you are a dropout who decides to investigate voices. Now you’re trapped in an ancient jail where you befriend a pack of rats.
Although gamepad is supported, playing with a mouse is much more fluid because you can simply point and click.
The goal of each stage is to either use the surroundings to eliminate every guard and use a key to unlock the door. You must position the wizard on the appropriate areas around the playing field because you can only influence things in the four general directions and not diagonally. Additionally, if there are additional items in a row, you must move the first one out of the way in order to access the second one.
The limited number of moves at your disposal makes things more challenging. The requirement is so strict that there isn't even room for a single extra step. Fortunately, exceeding the number that alerts the guards doesn't mean defeat. You have an extremely helpful undo button at your disposal, which you will keep pushing until you find the solution.
And you’ll be doing that a lot because difficulty is definitely not casual. Before the game's halfway point, there are a few stages with about 20 steps; since there is no room for error, the challenges can be quite daunting. Relying on a single hint is useless. It's general advice like "use only what you need" or "put things in the right place before making your move". The stage's name can occasionally be more helpful than the hint.
Achievements work fine and none can be missed. You’ll have them all once you beat the game.

Well this is a game that checks off alot of good aspects but it still has some issues.
But the good,
Cheap price.
Good and intresting premise,
Good art style,
And runs great aswell,
The negetive's
Lack of introduction of how the game works as it's quite lacking. So unless you have experience with puzzle games. you will be confused on how things works.
Making everything to be to x amount of moves, Just limits the diffrent amount of ways of completing it.
(Personally i would limit the amount of moves to a harder difficulty)
But for the low price. and the good aspects. It sets a good foundation on what kikmora might deliver next.

Kikimora Games has done a fantastic job creating a good puzzle game - Wizard's Way Out. The game is a good mix of simplicity and challenge, as the player is forced to think, which in its entirety provides a good balance in the game. The game has a really good mysterious atmosphere, where Kikimora has excelled with the design and the music. I can recommend everyone who loves puzzle games to test the game, you won't get bored.

It's not often a puzzle game releases that makes me feel dumb. I don't know if I'll ever complete it, but boy is it fun to boot it up and have a good cry. 10/10

Executive summary: It is a great game, reminds me of old push puzzles back on the first mobile phones but with a twist. The game is hard as hell as well and can get a bit frustrating at times. Definetly worth the price. 4.5/5 and a great first entry for a new developer. Lacking just a small amount of polish.
Pros:
Awesome art style
Great non intrusive music
Mentally challenging puzzles
While seemingly nonsensical story it is pretty endearing
Cons:
Keyboard and mouse controls are not too intuitive
Game lacks difficulty presets, some of the levels are really tight and you can easily get stuck.
Hints are very vague and of limited help
Some interactions are not explained well - would love to see easier levels to ease you in.
Excited to see what next is coming from Kikimora.