One problem that games have, I find, is that it’s quite difficult for them to inspire a sense of wonder. The kind of thing that old movies, before CGI, made you think, “How did they do that?” But the games are all CGI, spiritually anyway, so it’s a little harder for the craft itself to really impress by not being able to figure out how something works. However! That’s how I felt today when I saw the trailer for Uncanyon, a puzzle game from the developers behind Maquette that takes place between unparalleled realities where the very shape of the world is constantly changing.
In Uncanyon, which also happens to be the name of the game’s setting, you play as Sonia, a “young woman who dives into this new and fantastical world, where the hills breathe, the trees change color and the land itself never stands still,” as the game’s Steam page explains. It’s that last part about the land that never stays still that gave me pause while watching the reveal trailer, which made me ask how it was made. The puzzles, in part, seem to involve changing the very shape of the world, with some parts transforming from one mood to another almost seamlessly.
It’s this transition that confused me, in the way you’re confused for a moment when you watch someone cut a chocolate bar and convince yourself that there are suddenly more. It’s delicious! I’m sure there’s a real, technical explanation for all of this, the surreality of it all just caught me off guard in a way I’ve been craving for a while. It’s not entirely clear how the puzzles themselves work, it was a short trailer, but from what I understand it involves things like timing the movement of the rolling barrels just right to shape the terrain to your advantage.
Some fighting might also be seen, which I’m less interested in. Uncanyon is described as “puzzle first”, so I guess that means action second. I hope we don’t have to do all that, I’d just rather see the way the world twists and contorts in response to my puzzle solving. There’s no exact release date attached to Uncanyon yet, but it’s expected to release sometime in 2027. You can get it on Steam. here.
