I picked up Puzzle Agent during a Steam sale (probably at Christmas) with some other puzzle type games and finally got around to trying it out.  I was nearly turned away completely by the cartoony graphics and animations, but then it through a puzzle at me and I was hooked.  Three or four hours later I had finished the game.

The game follows a fictional agent from a fictional department of the FBI tasked with solving the puzzles which are stopping an eraser plant from producing the erasers the president uses in the white house.  Convoluted, sure, but I think making the story more ridiculous was a good choice, it shows that the designer was having fun with it.

Considering the game is mostly reminiscent of paper cut-out animation it’s really amazing how well they convey a subtle joke.  The voice acting plays a huge role in that and it’s spot on.

The real stars of this game are the puzzles, most of which teeter on IQ test material, and some stumped me at first.  If you find yourself getting stumped you can get up to three clues, the third one almost gives the puzzle away, and you can attempt it as often as you like.  There is an odd sequence when you finish a puzzle, it is sent off to the FBI and there is a tally of how much tax payer money was spent reviewing the case (typically $75,000 per attempt) but this money is never tallied anywhere and there doesn’t seem to ever be a limit on spending, so I guess it’s just there for a running joke.

I really hope to see more fun games like this from indie developers, especially on Steam.

• Game Review
• Puzzle
• Steam