Puzzle Parasite Review (PC)

First person puzzling is hardly a niche genre these days, and so a lot of times games look for a unique hook; Viewfinder’s photo-black magic; Maquette’s Russian nesting dolls; Superliminal’s perspective shifting. Puzzle Parasite brings something a bit more grounded to the fray – a cricket bat. Don’t let this simple bit of sports kit put you off though. Puzzle Parasite is a solid puzzler that offers a good challenge in either solo or co-op play.

As stated above, our primary interaction is whacking various orbs with our bat, both to get them over obstacles and into the ultimate goal of each level. Picking up an orb lets us carry it about, and charging our hits lets us determine how far it will be walloped. There’s the arc of the ball to consider – it follows physics in  dropping over distance – as well as other factors like impenetrable walls, or bottomless pits. We also quickly gain the ability to magnetically pull the ball to us, letting it cross gaps or jump over walls if done right.

Early on, we’re settled in easily enough, placing a blue ball into a blue goal with little obstacle. But soon we’re introduced to other colours, each with their own quirks. For example, red ones can’t be pulled to us, while gold ones can’t be hit with the bat directly, instead requiring some other use of physics to get it where we need.

Add in some colour changing totems, walls that drain colour, or switches that alternate with each use and things soon become a bit more challenging. Levels are short enough to not be a pain to have to retry or figure out, and we’re given a few skip tokens for levels that we get stuck on.

Throughout my time with Puzzle Parasite I’ve found the general difficulty pretty well balanced overall. Some seem more overwhelming at first glance, but most can be solved with a bit of logic and patience. I think this would be a great puzzler for those new to the genre, something to offer a bit of a brain workout without being super complex or fiddly.

Co-op play feels a bit trickier, but is a fun addition. The co-op levels are separate from the solo levels, and get far more intricate solutions with more complex layouts early on. It feels as though players might be better off finishing the solo game first, but it’s not impossible to grasp. MPV Graham and I played about halfway through the co-op and definitely got stuck a few times, though we managed to figure it out in the end. I’m looking forward to going back and finishing it off with him when we get the time as well.

Conclusion

With dedicated solo and co-op level campaigns, Puzzle Parasite offers a great entry point into the puzzler genre, one with a good balance of difficulty and a decent selection of levels to play through. 

This game was tested and reviewed on PC (via Steam). All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by the publisher.