https://armor-games-studios.itch.io/solas-128
A game of interconnected puzzles where you redirect and reconfigure rhythmic pulses of light to breathe life back into an ancient machine. At its heart, SOLAS 128 is a beam deflection game. Rotate and reposition mirrors to connect light sources and unlock adjacent puzzles. Every pulse is moving to the beat at all times, and each puzzle is connected to the next.
I wouldn't usually play a game with this description, but it was rated very highly among the itch.io Ukraine bundle. Plus, it's very expensive for a puzzle game, and since I got it basically for free with the bundle, I figured I'd try it out.
itch.io Bundle for Ukraine (ended a long time ago)
Top-rated games from the bundle according to HLTB
Yes, though it might've been a little too difficult for me. :D
SOLAS 128 definitely has a cool aesthetic, with it's neon style and synthwave-y soundtrack. Every room is directly connected to the next, so the zen-ness of it all is uninterrupted when you "complete" a room (there is really no such thing as completing a room, since you will sometimes have to come back and re-arrange things to make progress on another path). I love the theme of assembling a large interconnected machine by puzzling over low-level "circuitry". Great game, but when I completed it I rated it 8/10 just because I got a bit salty about its difficulty - especially the fact that it removes the 'Hint' button towards the endgame where the difficulty increases quite a bit, and the fact the game does not explain that you can move objects between different rooms. Oh, another reason I lowered the score was...
...there is no official Linux version, the Windows version mostly worked fine using WINE, but there was a glitch where whenever the game paused, the light beams would get reset, and I would have to wait upwards of 2-3 minutes for them to arrive again from their source which is 20 rooms earlier. I left a WineHQ App Database entry for the game, other people's mileage may vary.
-- gardenapple 2022-08-22