The Spiraling Logic Cliché

This month we will be focusing on puzzle games. I like to unwind a bit every now and then by trying to challenge my brain a little bit. However, there is something that crops up a lot in different puzzle games to the point that I would like to consider it as a cliché. You see, a puzzle as you are probably aware is impossible to complete as long as you do not have all of the pieces. Puzzle games work exactly the same way, except that typically there are extra steps involved in the process such as finding the pieces and then figuring out how to use them. After all, a puzzle is only considered acceptable if it has only one solution, but also gives you all of the necessary pieces to guide you to that solution. So, it should go without saying that the most frustrating thing in the world is when you are missing just one piece and you have no idea where it could be. What is equally frustrating is having a piece and not having any idea where to put it. The reason this usually happens is that since you failed to understand the game’s logic and spiral into your own logic until you get find your way forward. That is why I call this the spiraling logic cliché. Other people may have a better name for this, but for now let’s go with my idea. Anyway, the reason why I call this a cliché is because game developers usually do this intentionally by making the logic in their puzzle hard to grasp.

Let us take an example and say that you needed to find a way into a car. The car is locked on all sides and you don’t have a key to open it. You can come up with all sorts of ways to get into the car such as breaking the windows or picking the lock, but no matter what your train of thought is, it doesn’t matter if that isn’t the path that you are designed to follow. For instance, maybe you have to pry open the trunk with a crowbar and climb into the backseat. These kind of things happen the most in point and click games. I swear, thee logic for those is astounding and if I am being honest, I don’t think I have ever completed one of those game without consulting a walkthrough at least some point during the game. This is probably just the ramblings of a sore loser, but man I just to not possess the brain power to figure this stuff out. So I just keep clicking and clicking and clicking and clicking and clicking an searching and searching and searching and searching and looking and looking and looking and looking and I can’t find ANYTHING after spending all that time. If you can, then I fully admit that you are better than me at these types of puzzle games. You know even when I play games like The Room series, which are much more tame, I still can run into the same problems. Why is that? Or maybe I am looking at all of this the wrong way?

Maybe the point of all of this is not to speed through the challenge, but to enjoy the challenge of finding things. Even if I did spend an absurd amount of time looking for answers, it isn’t like I always come up empty handed. I guess sometimes the intention of a challenge is not to make us hate the developers, but to feel satisfied when we eventually overcome the challenge. Although sometimes I feel like they take things a little too far. They can be sneaky sometimes by changing things up on you, but I guess that is part of the fun. Personally, I do prefer my puzzles to not be easy, but why does it feel like sometimes I am my own worst enemy when it comes to solving things. I go too far off base and get into my own head and by then there is no saving me. The worst part is that my logic makes sense, I swear it does, and so it is even harder to let go. So I have to take a breather and come back to them later when my brain is feeling less wrong. So I have to unwind in a different game. Goodness my brain is a mess isn’t it. Maybe that is why I easily fall into these spirals. You know, maybe I am the only one who does and this has been a colossal waste of everyone’s time. Who can really be sure? All I know for sure is that I know for a fact I had already clicked there before, I SWEAR!