Playing A Game Glyphs Apprentice PC

While the most striking thing about Glyphs Apprentice is how terrible its user interface is, the second-most striking thing is how uncannily it resembles Opus Magnum. Not only are there programmable arms that can grab alchemical elements, rotate, and extend or retract; the elements can also bind to others, and transform into ... familiar variations.

Today I learned: both games are based closely on some of Zachtronics' pre-Steam work. Huh.

From my limited time with it, Glyphs looks like it has a couple of advantages over Opus Magnum -- more puzzles, and more complexity in its later puzzles. And while my biggest gripe with Opus Magnum was how "simple" it felt... this feels like the wrong kind of complexity.

It's the kind that gets lost in that terrible UI, for one thing. There are so many permutations of tool type and of elemental variety, and they are all blue. The only visual distinction between one thing and another is a few low-detail lines.

There are a number of tutorial-level puzzles with extensive help text, but these are so prescriptive - click this button, now click these buttons, now confirm that it looks like this example - that it only teaches how to use the game, not how to understand it.

For whatever faults I'd ascribe to Zachtronics' more recent games, one thing they've continued to get right is the Miyamoto style of teaching: progressively enticing you to discover the tools you need, reinforcing each lesson with a feeling of accomplishment. Glyphs instead barks out directions, and hopes that by gradually barking less, you'll learn to recall previous barkings.

Outside of the puzzles themselves, Glyphs doesn't appear to have any redeeming aspects. There's zero story content, and there's no soundtrack. It's quite dull. C'mon, even SpaceChem had some smooth background music.

As with Silicon Zeroes, my biggest takeaway from Glyphs Apprentice is a renewed appreciation for how professionally-produced Zachtronics games are. And maybe it isn't fair of me to ignore the amount of content that Glyphs is offering -- but given the quality of its competition, I just can't take it seriously.

Progress: Did a few of the tutorial puzzles.