Line 'em up, knock 'em down in cube puzzler Moncage

There’s something about a virtual diorama that just makes you want to get stuck in to spinning it around and peering into all of its corners. Luckily, that’s exactly what Moncage wants you to do, and by lining things up just so you can influence the subtle machinations within. You can see it in action below, though it gives away some of the puzzles so maybe have a poke around for yourself in the free demo first.

I like this sort of perspective-bending cause and effect puzzle, which pops up from time to time in games like Gorogoa or Vignettes. I am also very bad at it, but it’s often just as satisfying to muddle your way to an answer through trial and error, and Moncage is no exception. Even if you’re not getting any closer to a solution, poking everything to see what it does (and listen to its excellent sound effects) is a goal in and of itself.

It’s also particularly good when you manage to make a new side of the cube light up, giving you a whole new bit to explore. The angles map on to the perspectives, too, so the top-down view shows a cellar full of forgotten detritus from above. I do love a good bit of video game clutter.

The demo version of the game is apparently about half the length of the planned full release (which will only run about half an hour), so you can get a good look at how it all fits together by downloading it for free on itch.io.