if you liked climbing over mountains in skyrim by walking into them while mashing jump then this game is for you

And here we have what is easily one of my favorite games of all the ones I've played this year, and one of those sorts that I just dont get tired of. Just to put it in perspective, I spent like 6 hours in just the demo, before the game had released. Usually with demos I'll like, give them 20 minutes to get a handle on what the gameplay is like, and then that's enough, I'd rather wait to play more when the full game releases. But this? I just kept doing this one again and again. Even with that limited demo it just never got old for me, I love this sort of thing.

I want to stress though that if you're going to play this, you *must* be okay with losing. If you're the sort to get easily frustrated, this one probably isnt for you. As the store page says, the game is "aggressively random" and hostile in its design, and yes indeed, it is that. So many games out there tend to be a bit paranoid about their design, when it comes to things like puzzle solutions and stuff of that nature. Which is likely why games with true emergent qualities are so very rare... heck, the only one that comes to mind for me is Streets of Rogue. But even that one allows you to *technically* be able to solve absolutely every situation just by punching stuff. Of course, most of the time you get mangled if you actually try that, but... technically possible, always. It's built into that game, and most others.

This though? Hah! No. And that's part of what makes it work.

Each run is about 9 levels long, and there's a wide selection of different screwball tools for you to lose. 9 of these are randomly chosen at the start of the run, and these 9 are the only ones you will encounter on that run. At the start of each level, 3 random tools from that selection of 9 will be chosen, and that's what you get for that level. Each individual tool has limited uses, which is not random, it's based on the specific tool. Like the stasis thing always has three uses, the phaser always only has one. These reset each time you start a level, so you dont have to worry about running out of some item over the course of the run.

Only three tools per level? With all of those screwy layouts? It seems a bit much, doesnt it? And to a degree, it is. A lot of puzzle games out there are pretty straightforward with what you need to do, even in more difficult games. But this? Nope! Well, sort of. The difficulty of each level fluctuates very wildly. There are times when you'll have to do some loopy stuff to clear a level, and more rarely, you might find that a specific single tool can clear said level if used just right. There are a couple of levels that can actually be beaten without using any tools, but I suspect those will get tweaked (after all, puzzling out the tool uses in each level is the whole point!)

What really makes this game what it is, is the totally bonkers nature of the solutions you'll come up with. It doesnt matter how many times I play this... it constantly surprises me with the stuff that happens and the things that end up working. Well, and I guess I surprise myself at the same time, for managing to do them each time.

Now, it absolutely is possible for the game to generate a situation where you literally cannot beat a given level with the three items that were chosen. Heck, the store page warns you about this. Thing is though, the game is actually very forgiving about this. If you fall off the stage, get hit with spikes, or hit "reroll" in the menu, you'll sort of "pop", and either that stage will reload, or you'll hop over to a different stage selected for that run (but you'll still go back to complete the unfinished one later!) In any of those cases, when the level loads, a new set of 3 tools will be chosen, and so the situation will be different.

Here's the truly wild thing though in my opinion: I've found that it's actually very rare that an overall run is unwinnable. Very rare. No matter what selection of stages is chosen for that run (there are a lot of them!), no matter what 9 tools are chosen, I've found I can usually find a way to do it.

Of course, actually pulling off the solutions is another matter! This is not JUST a game about puzzling stuff out... executing those solutions you dream up can require very careful timing, precision platforming, risky tricks, and so on, and it's easy to screw it up in hilarious ways. So, just because your idea absolutely can work, doesnt mean you cant mess it up!

And the nature of those solutions can be so very, very wild. I'd have a hard time describing the sheer ridiculousness of some of the stuff I've managed to pull off so far. "Emergent gameplay" really is the key phrase here, and the game just pulls it off wonderfully. Every tool has about a zillion possible ways it can be used, ways it can interact with other tools, and with stage objects, and so on.

However, this is also where it might put some players off. Just due to how amazingly convoluted those solutions can be... you seriously gotta wrack your brain here, and think outside of the box, and then outside of the universe the box is in. And you have to be able to realize the many ways things can be used. For instance, spears... they fire in a straight line and stick into things. You could fire a bunch of them horizontally into a wall, creating a long (and kinda wobbly) platform to jump on. You could fire them to cut a rope. You could aim down and fire a bunch of them straight into each other, sort of shoving you upwards. You could fire a bunch of them quickly into some wonky spinning thing, causing it to get locked up and stop moving when the spears jam it up against other things. Or heck, just shoot at a floating fruit... spears are affected by gravity, so that can be used to lower them to the ground (or off a cliff). Seriously I could just keep ranting about spears here. And I could rant this much about EVERY SINGLE TOOL. Even the ones that, at first, might just seem useless to you. The fish are probably the strangest, they just flop all over the place (and unlike the frogs, they cannot grab fruits for you). How are you supposed to use those? Well, I tell ya, they're just as useful as every other tool, but it's up to you to work out how to use them in a given situation. Other tools are a lot more obvious in ways they can be used, like the boxes. Until you have to combine them with something else in a screwball way, that is.

Now, the stages themselves are all predesigned, they are not proc-gen things. Mostly. Sometimes, you may find that something on a stage is a little different than when you've seen it in previous runs. The exit point may be somewhere totally different, for instance, and even just that little change can totally alter how you need to do things. The final level of each run is sort of... like an "evolved" version of a normal stage. Hard to explain what I mean, but these are the most difficult and convoluted of the levels, and if you're going to just get stuck, not quite able to figure out (or pull off) a solution, it's most likely to happen in these. These stages usually have these floaty box things containing other tools that you can switch out with, enhancing both the possibilies and complexity of whatever it is you end up figuring out. IF you figure something out.

And again, the game wants you to keep one specific thing in mind: it's okay to lose, and there's no need for frustration. Just have fun! To quote the store page here: "It's this reckless abandon of predictability that allows you to stop worrying about "winning" and frees you to enjoy the experimentation. Fun things happen more often if you don't force them.
"

Really, just a brilliant game. I'd say more, but, you know, Steam review character limit. Bah. I hate that.

For anyone who really liked doing Breath of the Wild shrines completely wrong
In Mosa Lina you get to do everything wrong because there never was a right way to begin with

A playable (and painstakingly fun) thesis on why player agency has no upper limit.

A game that has NO intended solution, NO intended obstacles, NO idea what you are going to do, and NO mercy.

Surely the holy game design wisdom of the great nintendo kingdom passed down to us through generations would alert us with a sharp jab that this is doomed to fail, and yet it stands tall and unflinchingly proud.

The impression one might get that this game is "random" is far from the truth. The design of the game's systems, weapons, and levels are all scalpel level intricate to allow the randomness to always construct a level each run where you THINK it just MIGHT be impossible, yet the solution always finds its way to you like an anvil onto a troublesome coyote.

I have had more heartpoundingly adrenaline inducing plan-and-run operations in this game than in all my hours of TOTK and its alike contemporaries, and while of course it does not have the meaty bones of such industry legends, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ does this game actually make you think and perform. In this way, it is more of a systemic and free game than any other I can think of in recent times.

S L I C K

It was cheap, I bought it, it was frustrating, it was horrible, it was unfair, it was hilarious, it was satisfying, it was fun. I will be back for another slice.

Constantly feels like you're getting away with something you're not supposed to. What a wonderful game.

Every death in this game feels like a punchline to joke you didn't know you were writing.

brain poisoned from too many "look how clever i am at game design" puzzle platformers, this like sticking your head in a bucket of ice water (in a very good way)

Back when it was the new biggest indie game, I found myself frustrated with Noita. The concept was certainly there--a world of endless experimentation and exploration using a unique pixel physics system and an in-depth magic system was extremely promising--but it was truly irritating to play. The idea of playing around with magic and watching sparks fly is undeniably exciting, and those mechanics were implemented satisfyingly into the game, but it was all framed under roguelike mechanics that constrained the free-flowing experimentation that the game boasted. In order to even get the chance to view some of the fun interactions of the many objects and elements of Noita, you had to suffer through a frankly clunky dungeon crawl, picking up the randomly generated wands as the tools for your survival. You didn't have room to experiment with the wands and magic at your disposal, because you have a dungeon level to get through, monsters to kill, and money to collect; faffing about is just going to get you killed, preventing you from seeing the rest of the magic that the world has to offer.

The people who were able to get past those intensely gameified elements of Noita were rewarded with a sandbox that was well beyond a lot of the titles out and about on the market. They found room to explore, experiment, and engage with the intricate world that was Noita's essential market appeal. But those people were few and far between, as many people instead experienced a shoddy roguelike with some fun magic elements and thought nothing more of it. They didn't see the secrets of the world, nor did they have that brilliant "a-ha" moment when they figure out something new about the way Noita's magic works.

Mosa Lina, in its self-described "hostile" approach to game design, ends up being far more approachable than Noita could have ever mustered.

Mosa Lina does not follow any expected gameplay convention. The only information you directly receive about the game's mechanics are limited to the tutorial on controls, the vague names for abilities, and an equally vague tip box in between "levels". I struggle to even describe the game as being structured in "levels", because all that's there to distinguish what may be a level and what may not be a level is a black-and-white world without abilities and a colored world with abilities.

The game is distinctly not a game. There's no overarching objective, and it actively refuses to ever define one. The points system seems completely arbitrary, and has no perceivable use in game. You're just given a character, a set of unexplained actions, and an environment.

In this way, you're given freedom to experiment, as there's absolutely nothing at stake. It is a sandbox in its truest form. The game leans into the idea of its randomness, insisting that sometimes it simply cannot be won, freeing up the player from any real, game-related frustration. Mosa Lina's mechanics are just as intricate and as interesting as Noita's, but instead of forcing all of those elements in a presentable, clearly-defined adventure that suggests a win, a loss, and the obstacles in between, it just lets those mechanics be. They are completely free to play around with to your heart's content.

Everybody who plays Mosa Lina will discover something about the secrets of its design, because little to none of its design is out in the open. As such, the supposedly "hostile" approach to this game makes it the most accessible and universally fun game I've seen this year. If you're at all interested, it's worth the five dollars.