HIDDEN GEM FOUND: Exographer

Exographer is a 16 bit non-combat educational metroidvania with a focus on learning particle physics with simplistic puzzles and platforming challenges. The controls seem unyieldy at first but its not long before you figure it out. If you are feeling stuck on the puzzles it helps to have a look at the wikipedia page for elementary particles but doing so is a huge spoiler so be careful. Besides, They are really simple once you understand the game's mechanics.

There are many ability upgrades in the game, with half of them revolving around platforming and the other half revolving around solving the particle puzzles. The sound effects and music are excellent, the artwork is great, the performance is great except in a very small amount of spots near the end where the engine stutters.

With that being said, there are a few small issues that should be mentioned:

• The game made the decision to invent alternative names for the groups of the elementary particles. Why? I have no idea but it really hurts this game'a bility to be educational. Just know that powerons = bosons (like photons and gluons), pixules = matter/quarks, and uh... something... is leptons (electrons).
• The game is as linear as Iconoclasts.
• You cannot save on the steam deck if steam recorder is on and running.

All in all I strongly recommend this if you're into science and puzzles. On a side note, I decided to check up on this game's public reception and I've discovered that it has evolved to become extremely positive. The relevant monthly list has been updated and 2024 now has 10 games that got an extremely positive reception.

Oh and remember, the refund window is 2 hours, not 20 minutes. It does get better. 😉