“Think outside the box!” is a commonly heard phrase as an engineer. We’re always expected to come up with newer ways to fix some problem or overcome some difficulty. So, it’s nice to be able to use my outside-the-box-thinking-brain-place-thing toward something more relaxing and fun!

Unfortunately, whenever a puzzle adventure game decides to design its puzzles, there is usually a single solution to the problem. But, Think Outside the Box isn’t your typical puzzle adventure game. Essentially, you are carted from one short adventure to the next, each one with the same goal: leave the room. Sounds simple, right? Well, it can be, but unless you find all the exits, you will miss out on some of the later content and some of the harder to achieve endings. You should be able to reach all of the rooms without much trouble; after each escape, you are awarded with a certain number of points, depending on the difficulty of the puzzle. Once a certain number of points is attained, you can move onto the next puzzle, giving you access to more escapes and more points. The point requirements are generally low, allowing access to all of the puzzles pretty quickly. There are also “charms” that can be found throughout the various rooms, each of which is a puzzle in and of itself. Not only are these an extra challenge within the game, but they also act as a currency for buying hints to the various escapes. Having trouble figuring out what the developer had in mind for the one escape you’re missing? Use those hard earned charms to move on!

On the note of figuring out what the developer is thinking, when a adventure based puzzle game is made, there is the issue of having to figure out exactly what two objects are meant to go together. Remember the old days of Monkey Island? Where you HAD to use that one specific container to get the water, even though you had 75 other objects that would work just as well? Yea, that… but to be honest it’s not that terrible in Think Outside the Box. For one, there are only a few items per room, each of which is exclusive to that room. For another, most of the interactable objects in the game are VERY visible, making things easy to find. I will say that I found every escape without much trouble, only using 2 or 3 hints to help me figure out what I was meant to do. Like I have said many times in the past, if I can do it, anyone can!

I also want to mention that all the art assets are custom and have a very cute style to them! Everything is based on boxes, but each box has a very unique personality worked into its sprite. There is also a vague story woven into the game; basically, you are a young box that needs to prove himself worthy of solving puzzles, which will allow him to function better in the real world… or something like that…? Either way, it makes the game more fun when there is some sort of motivation for the puzzles you are completing.

Overall, I really enjoyed how this game was designed, and it really kept me occupied for a couple of hours! I really enjoy puzzles, even the more esoteric ones. I did get a bit frustrated when I got to the point of the game where I was frantically rubbing every object in my inventory on every object in the environment, but it’s that much more satisfying when you figure it out in the end. All of this being said, I would give this game a

4 out of 5 stars!

Although it is not a grand epic RPG, it will definitely keep you occupied for a few hours, even if you don’t particularly enjoy puzzles! If you haven’t already, I would definitely give this guy a try!