InterSection Reviews

Really neat! The central mechanic is intuitive and feels fresh. There’s a little more platforming than I expected, but it’s all integrated in a very smooth way. Recommended!

My review after playing it, level 75/100: Not recommended: Different levels have very different appeals, and you are required to do both kinds of levels, whether you like them or not. I'd 100% recommend this game if there was a "skip level" button. Disclaimer: I don't like hard execution challenges much; I played through Super Meat Boy and Celeste once, and that's enough for one lifetime. If you like games like those, then this review probably won't apply to you. This is a puzzle platformer where you can walk along two different tracks, with the goal being to stand under a cube on both tracks at once. In the beginning, this is used to move platforms around so you can ascend and whatnot. Later levels introduce more blocks, which give you more movement options. I gave up on level 75 because I couldn't work it out, but I had a lot of fun trying. Ignoring levels 25-30, this game is worth the price. Pros: Decent music (Another review claims that there are only two tracks, but there is more music after level 30). Visual design is good; you can tell what's going on and it looks nice. The puzzles aren't hard until past 70ish, but require thinking in a different way than usual. The first level I particularly liked was 10, where I actually had to stop and consider where I needed to go to solve it. After level 30, the puzzles become significantly more intricate and interesting. I especially like how the later mechanics (purple respawn-point blocks, yellow block-moving blocks, and others) mesh with the game's main two-track mechanic; it was fun to see how they all interacted. I found myself continually surprised and amused at how they all came together to allow progression. I loved the twist at 56, although the return of the bounce pads was unwelcome. The puzzles are generally satisfying, with significant exceptions. Big cons: Massive difficulty spike around level 27. Unfortunately, this game includes levels with two very different kinds of challenges, and you are required to do both: thinking challenges, where you have lots of time between steps, and execution challenges, where you need to do specific steps one after the other quickly. It's fine for puzzle games to have a little bit of execution challenge in them, e.g. on level 15, which is the first level where you to move in midair in both planes at once. Everyone has a different tolerance for that stuff. For me, levels 25-30 were a tedious, frustrating slog. I spent maybe 8 minutes going through the first 25 levels, and then around 20 minutes just on level 27. This is all the more tragic because levels 31 onwards return to thinking-challenge only, and were really, really good. If you can bring yourself to grind through to level 31, it's worth it. This could be solved by a) including a skip level feature, b) unlocking all the levels by default, or c) including a bullet time mechanic as Waddlen suggests. Also, some user-avoidable bugs forced me to reboot my computer (linux). Little cons: The fractal or whatever on the bottom of the skybox flickers, which is distracting when you're looking from overhead. The platforms have a little bit sticking out to makes landing easier, but you have to jump to get on the main platform; this is frustrating when red blocks are directly over the platform. You have to turn the camera to see where you are in different planes; this makes execution challenges where you have to line up with green boost blocks in multiple planes much more luck than skill. Some levels have "cheesy" solutions, where you avoid the intended route. In particular, if you cheesed level 53, I recommend going back and doing it the intended way. It's very satisfying. Bugs: I'm on Linux; these probably don't apply on Windows etc. Only one big bug, but it's a really terrible one: if the game window loses focus while you're in a level, it still swallows all of the inputs to your computer, so that keyboard becomes unresponsive and mouse only moves the game camera. Losing focus includes alt+tabbing to another window or using the volume control. It is not possible to return focus to the game e.g. by alt-tabbing back. Computer must be restarted to fix. I can avoid doing these things, but still a massive pain. Also, the game briefly freezes when you start a level for the first time in a session; this is resolved by exiting to menu and loading the level again. Also, the mouse curser is supposed to be replaced with a lambda shape/japanese character thing, but isn't when you first start the game.

I watched this game's devlog since relatively early development on TIGSource. I'm glad to have bought it now. It's a great brain stretch and fun to play.

I'm not sure how I feel about this game. The core mechanic is inspired and interesting, but as is so common in the indie puzzle scene, it seems to need a bit more. The opening puzzles are fun and quickly introduce what I have dubbed the double platforming mechanic. The slow introduction of other elements kept the game fresh and engaging in my short play through. However, around level 25 the execution difficulty spikes. The camera becomes difficult to use and the controls (changing based on your perspective) become frustratingly easy to mess up. I overcame the level but once again hit the same problems only two levels later. Imporovements to camera control ( I have no idea how) or setting the controls so that they do not shift with perspective might fix this. It's a shame as the game is interesting, but not enough for me to warrant putting up with this frustration. A more patient player (or one with better platforming skills) will likely get more enjoyment out of what is a quirky little game, but that is not my story. Still, I will not be looking for a refund and I look forward to seeing what this developer comes out with next. So I'm recommending this, but leaving my thoughts. Buy this game if you want to see something interesting, but stay away if you're looking for a casual platformer.

Fun little unique puzzle game, good for a couple hours over 100 levels. As others mentioned, level 23 is broken, but you can play all the other levels via the level select menu. Towards the middle and the end there are unfortunately a few levels that require precision-platforming, especially level 99, so do be prepared for some frustration having to reset some levels.

This game is dope. As someone who's relatively new to playing computer/video games, the clarity and straightforwardness of InterSection's setup is great since it doesn't pose as particularly overwhelming to a novice player. With simple controls, clear instructions and a minimalistic aesthetic appeal, InterSection proves to be both an enjoyable and exciting game. However, its simplicity does not interfere with its ability to provide a refreshing challenge and encourage the player to really think (I definitely had to)! The visuals are wonderful and the color scheme is lovely. Basically, InterSection rules and everyone should buy it.

DO NOT BUY!!! There's a very old bug preventing players from beating level 23 (out of 100), as per this thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/416120/discussions/0/135511655654105220/ The game has potential, but this is a major bug that can't be overlooked. --- @DRI: It seems the last update to the game was in 2022, and I've played it this year, so the fixes didn't work for me.

I've played this game for an hour and beat 30/100 levels. In this game, you are playing a puzzle platformer where two different 2D levels are intersecting each other, with you in the middle. While initially fun, this becomes increasingly frustrating as the levels become more and more dependent on swift movement in both planes simultaneously. Thus, levels 25-30 were more about grinding specific movement patterns than thinking about how the puzzle should be solved. Indeed, it was very annoying to see how the puzzle should be solved, but having great difficulty actually executing the solution. Without redesigning all the puzzles, maybe implementing a “bullet time” or similar feature would improve this. The controls are OK but can be disorienting, and there is no way to rebind keys or invert your controls should you wish. The graphics settings are AntiAliasing and Resolution, which annoyingly do not have a dropdown. So going from 720x480 to 1920x1080 takes 29 clicks as you cycle between every single possible screen resolution. The game also only has 2 songs: one for the main menu, and one for every level. That gets old, fast. Finally, the developer hasn’t uploaded art for the new Steam library and the game seems dead in the water, so I doubt any QoL updates are coming in the future. Which is sad, because I think the game would benefit immensely from some more polish. In short, I wouldn’t recommend this experience to other players. That being said, it’s pretty good for a solo developer’s first game, and I hope he continues to refine his craft with Theyest Thou and his other future titles.