Tricone Lab Combines Puzzles With Hard Science
Hard cell
I was terrible at science at school so it's just as well games like Tricone Lab [official site] exist. It's a puzzle game in which you "interact with the elements of a microscopic organism" en route to solving what it throws at you. As intimidating as this may sound, success hinges on the simple principles of thinking logically and how well you're able to grasp its systems. Perhaps if games like this were a thing when I was at school I wouldn't have failed Standard Grade biology.
Developer Partickhill Games has just released Tricone Lab on Steam Early Access and I suggest you learn more about it from them, not me, in the trailer below:
While encouraging lateral thinking, each puzzle has only one solution meaning you'll arrive at the same conclusion each time eventually. That said, in order to solve each puzzle, you'll need to interact with the components and structure of each organism - a process which can done/floundered with in any order you like until you strike it right. In doing so basic resource nodes are required to be combined with catalysts and whilst I'm aware this is beginning to sound like one of the many classes I slept through in my formative years, the game talks you through each newly introduced concept so as not to overwhelm you with jargon. As you progress, different elements are introduced.
Granted single-player looks fun, but the mention of a level editor in the above video has me most interested. As it stands, Tricone Lab already offers 100 fully-formed levels but is using Early Access to build on this level authoring slant, where you can expect to make your own custom puzzles and publish them for others to pore over online.
Tricone Lab is out now for Windows and Mac on Steam Early Access for £8.99.