Rules & Rodents

A lovely game with interesting, challenging puzzles set to excellent art and even better music. A hidden gem that deserves more attention.

cute puzzle game with a charming style, that's not too tough or exceptionally long but still manages some great and clever moments of reasoning along the way. looks a little rough on steam deck (assumedly it's sized for 1080p, so it's being scaled down to 720p and suffering slightly for it) but otherwise a good game to pick up and play on there (if you've got reasonably sharp eyes, i suppose, lol). i hope the sales figures have been enough to spare us all from more original fart collection jokes this year

Here he comes now, The Big Rat that makes all the rules. Whatever his rules touch Turns to pawns in his clutch. He's too much. You're Mr. Mouse. Whatever you touch Molds the rules of his clutch. 2much Don't expect Baba is You-tier logic rewriting puzzles here: you just collect rules from spellsheets spread across puzzles which are bound to one of six buttons, and you can have one movement rule plus one passive effect active at any one time. They're relatively simple (for example, you'll be routinely swapping out your own ability to move so an enemy can move and hit a switch for you), but the stages make good use of them and do a great job of slowly introducing new mechanics so the player isn't overwhelmed right off the bat. All this is done without a shred of text outside the title and credits either. Everything is conveyed through visuals and audio cues, and you will need both of these because the game is very fond of spreading isolated chunks of level across the screen and stuffing them with enemies and switches which affect other parts of the stage. This works out just fine in most stages, given the game's relaxed pace, but the later boss stages often have so much going on that you're grateful for every bit of help the sound effects give you. Is it a stellar classic of a puzzle game? No. It's a rat-sized puzzle game with fun, well-animated designs and mechanics that don't overstay their welcome for a mouse-sized price. Give the demo a nibble and see if it charms you; it did me.