Leaf's Odyssey

It's a cute little puzzle game, which is running smoothly even on my very obsolete computer (a six-year-old Intel iMac). I haven't played the games people are comparing it to, but it reminds me vaguely of Sokoban with some extra mechanics. The main campaign took me a little over 12 hours to complete. Its difficulty level was high but tolerable: I never felt stuck (the only individual level that took me more than 30 minutes to solve was, appropriately enough, the finale), but I did occasionally feel tired and had to take a break until I was back in the right mood. All in all, a good brain workout that respected the value of my time. Now I'm playing people's custom levels (some of which are [i]very[/i] hard) and fooling around with the level editor. There doesn't seem to be any danger of running out of content.

This game is inspired by DROD, I think. You're on a grid, there are enemies that behave in deterministic ways. Everything is turn-based; you make one move, every enemy makes one move. Defeat all the enemies to clear the level. There are a variety of enemies and a variety of other objects, making each one a puzzle to solve. Mechanics in the game have quite a number of properties to them, and you'll often discover new rule interactions. The impressive thing is, the game keeps track of this. It has a rulebook that shows you how each interaction exactly works, but only after you discover the interaction once; it helps to remind you of the rules and clarify any details you might have missed. The game's progression is a little strange. You seem to have branching paths, and in each path, you have something like 3 sub-areas to clear through, each one giving you a key. You can solve the sub-areas in any order. But in order to solve the path, you need all 3 keys. And in order to progress, you need to solve all the paths. So although it gives you a variety of choices, eventually all the puzzles are mandatory. This makes the game pretty difficult. (Not to mention that, in the final stretch of the game, it's entirely linear: you only have one level at a time.) It's also hard to replay a level; the game saves the entire state of the world after every level you clear, so you can rewind back and replay a level that way, but it's impossible to replay a level "normally" without using the saves like this. So while I normally would recommend just looking up a solution to bypass a tough level, that will mean you can't really replay the level in the future. Other than this high difficulty though, I think the game is excellent and it's well worth to play it. It also comes with a level editor, so you can share your creations; there are a lot of custom worlds out there.

[h2]Masterclass of puzzle design with interesting and fun mechanics[/h2] Perhaps one of the best puzzle games of 2024. Don't let the simple graphics fool you. This is a gem worth picking up if you love puzzle games. You control Leaf the ferret, and travesre the world while solving puzzles. Monsters and obstacles stand in your way and you need to eliminate them in creative and interesting ways to progress. Enemies move, behave and interact with each other, with Leaf and the environment in different ways. The game is often quite challenging, yet not overly complicated. The world/level design is rock solid. The puzzles are expertly designed, creative, varied, devious with clever twists, baits and traps. Definitely recommended for the advanced+ puzzle player. Cool interface, note/observations system, fast travel and map. Boots up in 1-2 seconds which is always a positive. Plays OK with a controller, though hovering over stuff with the mouse can be a huge help, or even necessary with the more complex puzzles.

Leaf's Odyssey is a puzzle game in the tradition of Deadly Rooms of Death: defeat monsters by understanding and outwitting their predictable behavior. Leaf is different enough to distinguish itself if you're a fan of the genre, and a good entry point if you're not: it has six monster types as opposed to DROD's 20 or so, and it changes a few core mechanics like "the player can't move diagonally" that change up the puzzles. The base campaign's quite fun, and there's a good amount of player-created levels which I've only scratched the surface of. Plus, you're a cute little ferret who does a little bounce when you hit the wait button.

I'm working through it slowly (probably less than half way through), but I want to give it a thumbs up because it is an EXCELLENT puzzle game. Very difficult from the start, but in the best way - for each puzzle, you have to step back, look at the constraints and let them guide you to 'the trick'. Mechanics gradually build and layer, but the concept driving each individual puzzle is unique. May add more thoughts later once I complete it.

Way too complicated unless you are Einstein. I couldnt do a single dungeon without having to use the internet for a solution.

The most underrated puzzle, this game deserves more attention!

Leaf's Odyssey is an okay puzzle game. I'm glad someone made a [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/314330/DROD_Gunthro_and_the_Epic_Blunder/]DROD[/url]-inspired game, but I wasn't impressed. Aesthetics: I really didn't like the aesthetics, and personally preferred DROD's aesthetics by a very large margin. Level progression: I really really disliked that all puzzles were mandatory. The game may be map-based, but progression is essentially fully linear; if you get stuck for good at a level, that's it, unless you're willing to look up the solution. The initially open map becomes claustrophobic very quickly; despite a design full of keys and locked doors, the dev didn't make a single puzzle optional (at least until one reaches the green keys). What's up with that?_? I ended up looking up a *lot* of the puzzles here, particularly at the end. Either due to getting stuck, or due to eventually getting outright exhausted with the game. In addition, in contrast to DROD, this game is pure puzzling, with zero breathers. DROD's story wasn't necessarily great, but it certainly had the right idea to add narrative breathers in between the puzzles. Level design: The objectives & philosophies of levels were sometimes hard to parse. And in general, I was not a fan of the levels unlocked after the initial set. Plus there were a bunch of instances where I looked up puzzle solutions only to discover that I had the right idea for the solution and just didn't find the weird or tedious execution steps required to get there. Game mechanics: it's delightful that the game allows [spoiler]stacking arbitrary entities in 3D[/spoiler]. Final verdict: Leaf's Odyssey is okay in a vacuum, but unless you've already played the [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/314330/DROD_Gunthro_and_the_Epic_Blunder/]DROD series[/url] in its entirety, I definitely recommend playing that instead.