Ichi (PC) (2014)
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| Click on the red triangle to rotate it clockwise 90 degrees. |
Relevant Links:
Ichi Website
Ichi (Steam Store Page)
Ichi (MetaCritic.com)
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| Click anywhere in the game to toggle the blue triangle. The Ichi block will disappear after the first time it's been hit. |
20150512:
Ichi's gameplay is straightforward and while some levels here and there were challenging, most went by quickly. In fact, I would describe the gameplay as so simple that it was more boring than grinding experience in an RPG.
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| Cleverly pass through portals. |
Thoughts:
Pro:
+ Level Editor
Con:
- Boring
Recommendation:
The levels I've encountered thus far in Ichi require a minimal amount of trial-and-error. I'd rather play LYNE (2014) where at least some levels required basic logic in order to complete.
20250515 Snapshot:
Steam Game Time: 85 minutes (cumulative game time) / 1h 25m (Playnite)
Last Played: 20150512
20250515:
I was going through my backlog on Playnite and came across this title. Reading the recommendation above was interesting because I've been playing LYNE in little pieces. I find my enjoyment of puzzle games to be fickle. Some games are too easy and I just find it tedious while fun to blast through them. Some games are too hard and are too challenging for me to enjoy casually. Some games have a good range of puzzles that approaches a healthier balance for me, such as with Baba is You and Toki Tori.
Gameplay Log:
Logging into the game today. It looks like I've cleared the first 36 puzzles with grades of A.
In resuming #37, it didn't seem clear to me and I didn't understand what holding the button down to draw trail was for. After trying to play some earlier levels, I ran into a puzzle (#12) where more than just rotation was needed. I felt since I already beat it, I could look up the solution. So holding down the button results in a temporary boundary that can be bounced against.
I played puzzles #37 to #48.
In the recommendation statement above, I said at least some levels in LYNE required basic logic. Revisiting Ichi today, I found there was a basic logic to the game's puzzles in the same nature as that found in LYNE. The connecting pattern is often thinking backwards about what must be required to solve the puzzle and then trial-and-error follows. In fact, the trial-and-error for levels #37 to #48 in Ichi feels more friendly than the trial-and-error that can occur with LYNE. Sometimes, even after certain deductions or observations about edge count are made, puzzles in LYNE still have some ambiguity to solving them that makes them feel un-fun to solve. With this in mind, I would actually give Ichi a 4.2 out of 5 and lower the rating I'm giving to LYNE to match.
Rating: 4.2/5
Steam Game Time: 2.1 hours (cumulative game time) / 0.7 hours (session game time)
20250516:
Today I learned the game no longer has an online component. That is, players cannot create puzzles and cannot play puzzles created by other players. Furthermore, one might have the expectation that with the online component removed, the developer would have removed the online-related achievements. However, those remain and if a player had not already completed those achievements, would forever remain unobtainable. That's rather unfortunate, and I think is a legitimate reason not to get the game. I thought about lowering the game's rating, but I think I'll leave it as is.
Gameplay Log:
I played puzzles #49 to #60. Completing the game.
Steam Game Time: 3.0 hours (cumulative game time) / 0.9 hours (session game time)
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