Patrick’s Parabox shakes up the traditional formula of Sokoban (box pushing) puzzle games by implementing boxes within boxes. The moment you realize the box you are pushing is a stage in itself is something truly magical that adds new depth to the genre. The visuals, polish and difficulty balance make this one of the best games in the genre to date. A must-buy for any puzzle gamer.
Patrick’s Parabox may not be the most original of video games but the way it borrows ideas and blends them together is simply exceptional. Its paradoxical puzzles will mangle your brain, the concept of applied infinity will stun you. Do you like Baba Is You? If so, play this and thank us later.
Of course, if you don't like puzzle games with minimalistic style, this is NOT for you. Otherwise...
Brilliant. The most brilliant puzzle game i have played for decades. Patrick's Parabox constantly challenges you AND blows your mind, and it seems to never stop as the level goes on and on.
The puzzles are well-paced, never too hard or too long to resolve, making it less frustrating than a Baba is You for instance - yet they are amazingly satisfying when you finally solve them.
And from a gameplay standpoint, this is pure videogame. Nothing else than a VIDEO game can give you these perspective, recursive, loop de loop tricks.
Try the demo : it gives enough insight to realize if you like this game or not. But i honestly don't see what's what possibly wrong with the whole design.
Patrick's Parabox is brilliant, there's no other way to say it. It starts with a small idea and expands it again and again, mixing each new insight with the previous one to create larger and larger and more interesting puzzles. It offers lots of content, administered quickly to the player, with lots of optional levels, allowing the more experienced to test themselves and those who struggle a bit more to advance by completing only the easier sections.
Those who like their puzzlers to have a supplementary hook will find it wanting on that front, then, but you will struggle to find more ingenious challenges than these in any other game this year. [Issue#371, p.121]
Mostly, though, it's just the sheer brilliance of Patrick's puzzles that makes it stand out. There's just so much to admire and delight in here, and lemme tell you, the puzzles I can't talk about are just chefkiss.gif genius. Truly wonderful stuff. Just when you think you've got the measure of where this box shuffler's going, it pulls the recursive rug out from under you and captivates you all over again. Given what we're dealing with here, I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this is an infinitely pleasing puzzle game. If I were Wilmot, I'd be green with envy. [RPS Bestest Bests]
It's an essential puzzle game, really innvoative and original. Portal was the first puzzle game that accomplished to astonish me with all its level design and mechanics. This game... really made me remind of that time. Excellent.
Pretty tight and fun puzzle game. I was able to beat it in about 5 hours on the main path, doing almost nothing optional, without cheating. I found the difficulty level satisfying. I looked at some of the challenge puzzles but they seem to take the term "challenge" literally. They're very tough.
This game is a lot like "Baba is You" and some other recent puzzle games in that you're sort of moving around the level and altering the rules a little bit in order to solve the puzzles. Very fun concept and clean execution.
The music is great, which is a huge asset in this kind of game. Highly recommended for puzzle gamers.
SummaryA mind-bending recursive puzzle game about boxes within boxes within boxes within boxes. Learn to use infinity to your advantage as you explore a deep and elegant system.