Submachine 1

Submachine 1 is eerily similar to waking up in an empty building with no memories, even less direction, and no sense of urgency regarding either deficit. One wanders from room to room, poking about, presumably seeking something (though what is anyone's guess). A less curious or observant individual might wander aimlessly until he died of dehydration or the grating soundtrack exploded his brain. Hopefully the former fate will not befall any unsuspecting gamer; as for the latter, I recommend playing with the sound off. 

Being unencumbered by plot or characters is not necessarily a negative attribute; many successful games have neither. In Submachine 1, however, the lack of mission or story is glaring; the setting and clues create the expectation of plot. When nothing remotely explanatory appears through the entire game, the player is left screaming at the heavens, "Yes, but what does it all mean?" In that way this game is quite special: not every puzzle game leaves the player having an existential crisis. 

Even a simple instruction such as "Find the exit" would have improved the level of satisfaction this game produces. As it is, there is no way to win: there is no score, timer, or any external assessment at all. The game just ends; either you make it to the finish, or you wander aimlessly until you reach the end of your attention span. It is a pass or fail exercise.

The game is not all bad, even if it is frustratingly devoid of direction. The puzzles themselves are fun and engaging, falling comfortably into different levels of difficulty, so one can take a break from a difficult task and boost morale with an easier puzzle. Several of the puzzles require a keen eye in a way that is satisfyingly like being a private investigator. Others, however, seem best solved by the single-control version of button-mashing; taking random actions and using random objects until something works. At least one of the puzzles I completed without having any clear idea of how I solved it.

Visually, Submachine 1 is clean and sharp. Objects are easy to identify in the world, and navigation is simple. The single control, the mouse click, makes the game blissfully easy to play and does not feel constraining.

While it is not long enough to consume hours of your time, nor riveting enough to keep you glued to your seat to find what happens next, Submachine 1 is a fun thing to do while you wait for a pot of water to boil for tea. It is particularly well suited to those puzzlers who are self-motivated enough to need no direction or purpose and who like their cognitive playgrounds unsullied with the unnecessary fluff of plot or characters. For the rest of us, it provides just enough satisfaction to make the small time investment reasonably worthwhile.

Submachine 1 is free online for the PC but also available for the iPhone.