10+/10

Fork, sausage, grill; a simple idea pushed to the max in one of the hardest games ever.

You find yourself on an island, next to a shipwreck, with nothing but a big fork in your hand, and no clue about what you have to do. You see what looks like brown cubes, two plaques, and… some ghosts? You roam around a bit, read the two plaques, one of which has the only help you're going to get, that you can use WASD to move (thanks, but too late, you already had to figure that out to reach it) and Z to undo. Maybe you’re clever enough to try to align with a ghost, and discover the actual levels. Good luck figuring out what you have to do! With some trial and error, maybe you discover that you have to cook the sausages on 4 spots, just once, no overcooking, and then return to the starting spot. Fork, sausage, grill. Such a simple thing, yet every level is unique in some way, forcing you to discover new ways to maneuver the sausages. Each level seems either impossible, or misleadingly obvious. Fork, sausage, grill, but they can interact in so many ways! And after many hours of maneuvering sausages, you manage to solve each and every one of the levels on this island and get an overworld sausage which allows you to reach the second island, and get introduced to the only new mechanics you’ll get until the last part: walls and stairs to climb them! The levels get a lot bigger and harder, and you realize that the first chapter, which seemed impossibly hard, were just the tutorial levels! Those that braved the levels so far usually get spooked by The Great Tower, in which you get a 4 levels high tower of sausages. And that's just the second chapter!

Fork, sausage, grill. Yet every level teaches you something new you can do, and also what not to do. Don’t step on a grill, it’s useless. Until that becomes needed. Don’t stab a sausage, or you won’t be able to get it off. Until you can. Don’t step on a sausage, or you won’t be able to get off. Until you discover the conditions that allow you to get off. Don’t drop your fork. Until you need to do just that. Don’t put a sausage on your head, or you won’t be able to get it off. Until that becomes possible and part of the solution. Never stab a sausage through the long part or you really won’t have a way to solve the level. Until the one impossible level that can only be solved by doing just that. Fork, sausage, grill, and yet so many things you can do with them.

Every level is perfectly designed, an exploration of a new way the few basic elements interact with each other. Nothing is wasted, nothing is accidental or haphazardly thrown in. If there’s a ladder with no obvious purpose, try to figure out what its purpose is. If there's a dragon statue that seems to be put there just as a decoration, it is the most essential part of the solution, try to figure out how it can be useful. Any little piece of grill is useful. Even the number of sausages and their placement is relevant. And while most other games throw a lot of different mechanics at you to keep a game fresh for more than a dozen of levels, Stephen’s Sausage Roll doesn’t need portals, trapdoors, spikes, buttons, enemies and the rest, just fork, sausage, grill. Until you get the first level without a grill and really start to question everything you thought you knew about the game!

“A simple 3D puzzle game” is how it describes itself. It is a simple 3D game, in the sense that the graphics are simple, crude pixelated objects and backgrounds. The mechanics are simple, in the sense that there are few types of objects. The levels are simple, in the sense that they rarely have more than 3 sausages in a small area. But all this simplicity hides a lot of complexity. Even the graphics, though simple, are actually far from basic. There are different types of terrains, each with its footstep sound, and complex weather with sun and fog and snow, big monuments and statues and tall buildings, and there are small differences and imperfections, a flower here, a crooked tile there, a patch of moss growing on tgat columb, that make it look like a lived in environment, not just an abstract grid of uniform tiles. The sounds are nice, and a bit of eerie, calm music. And there’s a tragic story too, in a simple game about cooking sausages. Where did they come from? Why are they being grilled? Who’s making those chomping noises at the end of the level?? Why are you all alone, and what will happen at the end???

Overall, a really polished experience. You can’t call yourself a puzzle master if you didn’t try this one. If some games are gems, this is the perfect diamond of puzzle games, the standard against which I compare all other puzzles when judging the level designs.

How hard is it: Starts very hard, and only gets harder. If it seems to get easier, it's just because you got smarter.

How long is it: 86 levels split in 6 chapters, plus navigating the overworld. All levels in a chapter are unlocked at once, but getting access to the next chapter requires solving all of the current chapter. At least 20 hours of playtime, up to many years.

Level design: The best there is.

Quality: Excellent puzzles, very good presentation, decent QoL. The only thing I’d like is achievements. Steam cloud saving, and 3 save slots. Fast and responsive. Non-configurable controls, but decent as they are. Unlimited undo, even across restarts, and even through different levels and the overworld, you could undo all the way to the moment you started the game. Decent settings.

Worth the price: Expensive for a puzzle game, but worth every cent.

Most positive aspect for me: Excellent puzzle design.

Most negative aspect for me: No achievements, but otherwise the game is perfect.

Also consider:

A Monster's Expedition, open world puzzler with very simple mechanics yet a lot of hidden, tough secrets.

An Architect’s Adventure, open world puzzler with sticky blocks.

Can of Wormholes, very hard open world snake-inspired puzzler, with similarly varied mechanics emerging from simple items.

Delicious Donut, puzzler with even fewer items yet equally, or even harder levels.

For more puzzle game reviews, news and everything puzzle-related, follow Puzzle Lovers and check out our Steam group.

Follow IndieGems for more reviews like this one.

Stephen’s Pricing Error.

Brilliant. A fantastic and rewarding experience.