Intuitive? This game is not. – Rusty Lake Paradise Review

What might have seemed obvious was simply not within this game so I just ended up frustrated throughout most of it. It was much like a battle of wits in which the developers might argue they were providing cryptic clues to enhance game experience, but really, I would argue poor execution, which negatively affected user design and experience. Good design is intuitive, and in some cases, the design definitely made sense and the riddles/mini-games could be figured out, but in other places, I just found myself majorly annoyed with dev logic. How would I know the cracks in the ice need to be directed through the buckets/posts?!? They seem more like obstacles, much like the thorns in the crab(?) maze game. I assumed I needed to move around them, not sink them. Simple things like using an icon such as an anchor, something that needs to be sunk, would be more obvious and readily understood. Also, there should be some way to avoid failing the little mini games and challenges. Some are only won through multiple failures so there really was no logic to it. You can only figure it out using trial and error and that effectively means there is nothing to solve, merely a model you wanted us to use without any instructions. That’s cool and all for some people, but if I can’t actually try and it’s all guesswork, that’s not very entertaining to me. There should be some method to the madness. To add, I was frequently required to remember information, something I have no desire to do within a game. You should be able to make some reference page of something you’ve seen or discovered, otherwise it’s back and forth and back and forth again for those who struggle with short-term and/or working memory. The game attempted to be creepy and definitely didn’t succeed for me, but obviously many people like it. While I was definitely a bit disappointed, the game can be redeemed IMHO with a bit of work. I suppose my assumption is that everyone doesn’t think alike or share the same logic, so I might suggest when designing clues or making connections between game items/people, please understand that discoverability matters. If the user can’t intuitively figure out what something does, that is, how they may interact with the game (e.g., the affordances), and if no signifiers are present to signal the method of interaction, users will always be forced to have someone else tell them how to play through the game. While I didn’t love the game, I hope you all take my suggestions to heart. They are sensible and would allow you all to bring in a larger audience.
Review by cheekyacademic on Rusty Lake Paradise.