Vaporum: Lockdown

As the title says, this is an extremely difficult game. As someone who had finished the story of the 1st Vaporum game 20+ times on brutal difficulty without watching any walkthrough / playthroughs, and without reading any guides on how to play the game I can tell you first-hand that this prequel to the first Vaporum game is ultra difficult. Just take my word for it, seriously! I mean, at almost every floor of the game I had to watch youtubers play the game to see how they solved some of the - story-related mind you - puzzles to progress into the story. Don't get me wrong, puzzles in a game like Vaporum are an absolute must and the more, and the harder, the better, but dear god! Some of them are just brutal. You have to be very clever to solve them, and cleverness is not enough, either. You also need to plan things well and also to really study your surroundings well. Some of the puzzles spread over more than one level, too, and on top of that you also need to remember clues and patterns, too. And I'm not even mentioning the secrets which, after thoroughly inspecting every inch of every floor TWICE start to finish I was still able to find only 1/3rd of those secrets. By the end of floor 4 I should have discovered 11 secrets in total but I only found 4. So, yeah... Anyway, overall the game is pretty good, despite of the intense focus on puzzle solving to the detriment of combat. You will get many more hours of gameplay than in the first Vaporum, but that's because of the puzzles rather than the combat which is pretty rare and easy in general. I mean, if you can square dance properly and can use your brain instead of your muscles most of the enemy won't even touch you, even on brutal difficulty like I played.

If you liked the 1st Vaporum, you'll probably like this. I think the hardest combats are as hard as in the first Vaporum, and there are a similar quantity, too. A few of the puzzles are perhaps harder than puzzles in the first game, and there is a tendency towards more 'thinky' puzzles rather than timing (these do exist) or memorization puzzles. You might be more used to Grimrock, if you've tried this genre. The fights are harder and more creative (builds are better, too), you play a single character, and the puzzles are much harder, but don't require a unintuitive logic leaps - are just challenging. This and the first Vaporum are worth a try!

I picked up the first game, Vaporum, on a whim and fell in love fast. I haven't found another game that is quite like it. So I was excited to hear of a prequel being released. I do not regret buying this at launch since I've been enjoying it so much! Compared to the first game, Lockdown is far less linear. You have one main overarching goal to complete, and subtasks that will lead you into the various zones within the game. You will likely end up traveling back and forth between several zones, or going to a different area to complete tasks somewhere else. The various weapon/gadget/circuit systems remain familiar with the addition of a new weapon type. The exo rigs are the same as before, so if you had a playstyle you preferred in Vaporum, you'll be able to recreate in Lockdown. The puzzles are challenging as ever, though completely doable without any sort of guide. You just have to be observant and think of other solutions! My paranoia is as high as it's ever been and I can't wait to get to the end!

I played this game at Casual to enjoy its Lore, design and puzzles. I was not disappoined. The combat was still challenging enough to provide a challenge. But once the enemies were out of the way, the puzzles were, for lack of a better word ...fiendish! Not impossible, not without sense, just challenging enough to require at times the help of the internet community. "Throwing is you friend" was a hint given by a helpful buddy. Talking about thinking outside the box! I found no bugs or other external troubles to the running of this game. Overall a great game that I thoroughly enjoyed. Well done!