half of those hours were idle but still a great puzzle game

Sights & Sounds
- Being a pure puzzle game, there's not much to chew on visually. Sure, the artistic design is consistent and the little aliens are cute, but a dozen hours spent looking at grids with obstacles on them has made me appreciate the value of variety in design. Simply put, the little potted plants, benches, and other various visual flair cluttering the levels doesn't do much to draw the eyes or raise engagement
- Other than the themed sundries on the maps, the only thing that changes visually between levels is the map color unique to each constellation
- The soundtrack didn't do much to ease the monotony; just a lot of space-y sounding ambient music. The ending theme is pretty nice, though, but it might be because it just sounded different that the same austere droning synth I had been listening to the whole time
- Other aspects of the sound design fared a little better. I particularly liked the squeaky sound of the train as it moved along the tracks

Story & Vibes
- There isn't a whiff of story outside the framing, which pits you as a conductor in charge of transporting alien colonists to their new homes courtesy of the Cosmic Express
- The game is pretty cute, but the contemplative gameplay and monotonous audiovisual presentation lend themselves to an almost meditative air. If you're no good at pure puzzle games, you may find it a touch on the boring side

Playability & Replayability
- The puzzles featured in all levels of Cosmic Express are all train routing puzzles that require you to transport little aliens to their color-coded homes
- This simple concept is complicated by the finite space of the puzzle grid, various obstacles placed in your way, and the fact that your tracks can't cross themselves (in most circumstances, anyway)
- As you progress, you'll encounter puzzle elements like wormholes and track intersections that appear to offer you some flexibility in terms of your pathing, but in actuality, they complicate matters somewhat. For whatever reason, I found the wormholes much easier to plan around than the track intersections, but your mileage may vary
- There's also some hidden objectives that you may not notice if you don't look at achievements. Certain levels will contain a black obelisk. Tapping on this structure will highlight an alien and a home, indicating that that specific alien must be transported to that specific spot to complete that level's hidden objective. Completing all the obelisk objectives will then reveal a more difficult version of the game's final puzzle. After that, more obelisks will appear, requiring a second sweep of the level select screen. Repeating this process again will yield yet another, even more difficult version of the final puzzle. Finishing this puzzle will finally clear the game and net you that 100% achievement
- In general, the best way to approach these puzzles is through trial and error. You'll eventually form your own set of heuristics that'll help you solve the puzzles faster, but the best way to get moving is to start laying track and seeing what looks like it'll work

Overall Impressions & Performance
- While I actually quite enjoy a pure puzzle game like this (especially one with hidden content), the presentation of the game is so dry that I almost abandoned my playthrough. It's not that Cosmic Express is a bad game; on the contrary, it's actually a solid puzzle title that can really tease your brain. Seriously, some of these puzzles are quite difficult
- There's not much going on with the visuals, so you can anticipate playing this on just about any device
- Worked great on the Steam Deck, but a mouse would have been more comfortable than the trackpads

Final Verdict
- 6.5/10. A little visual flair or a stronger soundtrack would have made Cosmic Express a much stronger title, but as it stands, it's a competent puzzle game with absolutely no bells or whistles