Drama Gameplay Preview – Puzzle Mini Games

Drama is a series of self contained puzzle minigames. The game has ninety six rooms and each room is a unique puzzle. The only objective is to get to the exit on the other side by any means possible.

The puzzles in drama are pretty fun to solve. Each room is a self contained puzzle level and oftentimes features a unique way to get to the exit. For example, one level required you to pick up a pencil and erase the hazards so you could reach the switch to open the exit door. The coolest level I’ve encountered so far was the one with the dimensional portal that whisked you away into a Limbo like game world.

I did have one small issue with the design of the puzzles though. Some rooms feature one off mechanics that don’t work in other rooms. For example, one puzzle room required you to move the door blocking the exit. You can’t do this in most other rooms. This creates some issues as now each room has its own arbitrary rule set so the player will have to do a little bit of trail and error for figuring out what works and what doesn’t in that room. I’d prefer if the game had a central mechanic that was built upon so the player could learn to use it in different ways but this is more of a minigame type of puzzle game so I will give it a pass.

The graphical style is very reminiscent of Limbo and works very well for the game. However, there are some sections with bright flashing lights that physical hurt to look at. Please don’t do this. It’s not pleasant, serves no purpose in enhancing the game play, and may even cause seizures for some. There are also some sections where the camera rotates by itself, causing some disorientation. As a rule of thumb, you generally don’t take away control of the camera from the player unless it’s in a cut scene.

The controls work decently well but it does feel like a mobile game ported straight to PC. Jump is bound to the up arrow key except for when you are on vines, which is then bound to space bar. Why not just have jump bound on space bar to begin with? It does make the game a bit difficult to control. The movement feels a bit floaty as well. It just seems the game would be easier to control on a touch screen than with button inputs.

These minor complaints aside, the game is genuinely fun. I had a great time with it overall. It definitely lacks some polish but the puzzles shine through. I did wish they built up on Limbo esque level more. It was unexpected and a pleasant surprise. If the game went from puzzle mini games to a full blown world to explore, that would have been an amazing and unexpected transition.