I love adventure games, so I’m pretty willing to give anything a shot that somewhat passes itself off as one. As it turns out, Submachine is more like Myst in that it’s simply a series of puzzles linked together by an environment, rather than say a Sierra style game where there are other characters to interact with and potential “missions” to accomplish. The game is pretty easy to navigate. Click on the door you want to enter or the ladder you want to climb. Click on an object to pick it up, and when you want to use it simply click on the object in your inventory and then the item in the scene that you want to interact with that object. Puzzles that don’t require inventory objects are solved simply by clicking on the appropriate places within the scene.

A Mysterious Contraption

There are quite a few puzzles in the game, but none of them are very hard to complete. Many of them simply require using the right inventory item, and only one or two need any real thought. You’ll probably spend more time traipsing back and forth than solving puzzles. In fact, that’s the problem with the game as a whole. It would be generous to say that I got half an hour of play time from the game. I don’t care if a game isn’t 30-40 hours, because frankly I don’t have that kind of time for a single game any more anyway. There really should have been more play time here, however, and preferably in the puzzle department, and not spent wandering.

Graphically the game is okay. There’s nothing magical about the visuals, but at least they are consistent throughout the game. This might have been a good candidate for simple 3D rendered scenes in Unity. The sound effects sufficed for what activities needed them, though a few background effects – like dripping water where appropriate – would have been a nice touch. The music was well done, and actually suited the mysterious atmosphere of the secluded complex with no history.

Submachine is a fun game with a variety of puzzles, decent visuals and a mysterious atmosphere. Unfortunately, no explanation of your surroundings kind of negates the whole ominous tone, and the short length of the game means you’ll be done before you knew what hit you. As a result it’s hard for me to flat out recommend this game.

Final Verdict: On The Fence
App Store Link
App Shopper Link

[Note: image courtesy of App Shopper]