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About Elise is a new game, free to play on Steam, from indie developer Toni Domínguez. You play as Owen Scott, searching for your daughter Elise in a mysterious scientific research facility, uncovering clues about its true nature in the form of conveniently placed ‘notes’ along the way. Featuring some pretty unique puzzles and an unexpectedly listenable score, it is a pretty amenable way to pass forty minutes or so. However, the basic mechanics of the game are in serious need of improvement, as they cause certain sections to be almost unplayable.

The overall style is quite basic, to the point of feeling a little dated. Though simplistic design is par for the course in most indie games, About Elise isn’t simplistic enough to work. The highly-rendered, low-texture forms resemble something that could be created in the Solidworks computer programme. Furthermore, the inconsistent lighting of these forms is quite uncanny and jarring. Had it gone the hyper-basic route, it could be explained away as a stylistic choice. However, given the obvious attempts to get textures such as frosted glass right, it’s clear that this was not the case. Such styles are often associated with games made on the Unity engine, so we’ll let Domínguez have this one.

The plot of the game is nothing new. There are interesting themes throughout, such as the effect of science on humanity, but overall it’s quite predictable. The typical ‘shady corporation’ has become a staple in plenty of games, so the big reveal at the end isn’t that shocking. The notes and diary entries scattered throughout the levels provide development of the story and its characters, which adds a degree of uniqueness. They also provide a satisfactory explanation as to why a scientific facility would have so many bizarre puzzle locks on its doors throughout the building. Indeed, the whole ‘secret science’ aspect gels quite well with the style of puzzles used. The atmospheric piano soundtrack (though sometimes a little bit rough at the edges) sets the tone of the game excellently. This is somewhat countered by the repetitive stock sound effects, but they are quiet enough not have too great an impact anyway.

The puzzles are undoubtedly the strongest component of the game, and truly what makes it worth playing. Whilst certainly not impossible, the codes throughout the games can prove a bit vexing. The third stage features a combination of mechanics which require some thinking to grasp. Good memory and the use of an ‘overlap’ feature are essential in cracking the codes of this area, along with an eye for recognising patterns. Players are required to go back and forth between sections to reread and analyse clues which may not have seemed significant at first. This style of puzzle reminded me of the early Sherlock Holmes and Professor Layton games for the Nintendo DS, though without the same polish that comes with a big budget.

The mechanics of the game are the main failing of About Elise. Sprinting, essential for getting through the very first stage, is never explained and there is a delay between hitting the spacebar and actually jumping. This makes the platforming levels nigh on unplayable, or at least very frustrating. A whole section devoted to making your way through a room where, literally, the floor is lava, took me a repetitive fifteen minutes. This is something that I feel could be improved with more time spent on patches and updates.

If you’re in the mood for a quick, free puzzle game to give your grey matter an easy going workout, About Elise is a good choice. Though by no means perfect, it does show good potential for a longer, fully-funded game later on down the line. Given the thousands of indie puzzle games available on Steam, the unique codebreakers in About Elise help it stand above plenty of others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLySQciKw_Y