Layers Reviews

black and white

󠀡

alright. i guess this is something i havent seen before.

Just a bad free low effort mobile game that has a lot of bugs.

Layers is a mobile app that's been dumped on Steam as if it was a real PC game (it's not)... it's a cash grab from greedy mobile devs. The game is a simple minimalist puzzle platformer with one twist, a phase shift that switches you between "layers", adding a small extra element to the puzzle solving. This gimmick has been done far better by dozens of other retro platformers, leaving us with a very shallow, pointless mobile app experience here. From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard. There's no options to change the resolution for the game or customise the graphics settings. There's no way for gamers to ensure this is running at the native resolution of their displays... there's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision. There's no way for gamers to try improve the low quality graphics. The game features extremely lazy, minimalist "art", of the type you normally expect to see in low effort Flash/browser games and mobile apps. Considering this is being evaluated as a PC game, having the graphics phoned in like this isn't going to result in a high quality, visually impressive game that PC gamers are used to seeing. The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers. Because this is a mobile app, it carries a number of deliberate design deficiencies. Compromises were made to cater to the iPhones that the game was designed for. These are unfortunate handicaps and limitations that PC gamers shouldn't be forced to accept, but it's evident that PC was an afterthought for the iPhone developers who are to blame for this. The game is deficient as a result of these choices, and would have been so much better without the handicaps that designing games for mobile phones forces upon a game. Once more, mobile devs have made gaming worse for everyone. I didn't spend thousands on building a gaming rig just so I could pretend it's an iPhone. These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game. The poor quality of this game is reflected in the general public reception. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 2 players. That's right, only 2. This is a remarkably low number, and now, the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam and well over 50,000 games for gamers to choose from, the overwhelming lack of interest in the game is to be expected. Gamers just didn't take this low quality game seriously, and for good reason. PC gamers don't like mobile apps and we don't like being insulted by greedy mobile app developers. Once more we see greedy mobile devs trying to scam PC gamers. On Steam, this is $1 USD, on app stores, it's free. Mobile devs must learn PC gamers are not here to be gouged, and can't be expected to pay a premium for a free mobile game just because it's been lazily dumped on Steam. This is unacceptable disrespect for PC gamers. Because this can be played free elsewhere, and because of the other defects, it's impossible to recommend. Who do they think we are?

Really cool puzzle game that appears really simple at first, but is actually a pretty decent challenge. Most of the game's 9 levels really only require precise attention to the order of operations you have to work with. There are several hazards in each level, with complete avoidance as key to bypass them, however, that's easier said than done. You can move a number of characters through their respective layers to exits, but making a clear path for each ball is very delicate. You can easily trap your characters, destroy them, or even invert their layer without needing to. It's a tight game of balancing what each character, button, and object has to do and where it needs to be before thinking about the endgame. Essentially the game feels like a series of strings with different knots or breaks that need to be pulled apart and then reconstructed. I think that's where the most surprising and honestly really fun aspect comes from. It's actually pretty thrilling to get each part in order and then nail the ending. Maybe I'm gushing a bit too much and even found some levels harder because I overthought the order in which things needed to be pulled apart. The game also includes a level editor that can challenge you to make an equation of your own for others to solve. All in all, I definitely recommend you get lost in Layers.

+++ easy 100 % Steam Achievements (need to play Beta for Level Editor Achievement) ++ nice 2 D Plattformer Puzzle Idea with Black & White (--- No 5 Trading Cards) Good for Achievement Hunters & Indie Puzzle Fans