TOTAL RELOAD is a new inventive puzzle game that reignited my spark for the genre, and here I explore why.
While scrolling through social media recently, I stumbled upon an interaction between two people who were confiding in how much they loathe puzzles. How, when encountered with one, they would immediately reach out for their phones to look up the solution to keep going without giving it a second thought. While I respect any type of playstyle for people’s enjoyment, TOTAL RELOAD made me think of how much I actually love the process of figuring things out. Taking a step back, looking at the mechanics, possible positioning, movements, and the eventual solution. That brings me joy. In a world where not a single moment of our lives must be wasted and we must maximize every bit of it efficiently, it is almost defiant to simply ponder the different outcomes to how to solve a puzzle. And that coveted eureka moment feels all that sweeter because of it.
In Byung-Chul Han’s Vita Contemplativa, the author states, “We owe true happiness to the useless and purposeless, to what is intentionally convoluted, what is unproductive, indirect, exuberant, and superfluous, to beautiful forms and gestures that have no use and serve no purpose.” And what is more the epitome of purposeless than a puzzle game? A way to engage our minds indefinitely trying to find a solution to a problem created by another, noticeably more clever person. We owe it to those who decided to dedicate part of their lives to making these conundrums for people to spend their time solving. If the puzzle is well-made, of course, the chance of feeling smart for a brief moment is also tantalizing. In that regard, TOTAL RELOAD is quite a fruitful endeavor.
There is a fine line that all puzzlers must walk. They are either too difficult to the point of frustration, risking players quitting before reaching the solution, or a cakewalk that offends the sensibilities of these sleuthing enthusiasts. It must be recognized then, when a game achieves this elusive Goldilocks zone. The parameters establish how the tools at hand will help solve the first puzzles without entirely holding players hands and increase the complexity from there. It is markedly not a new, groundbreaking premise I am arriving at here either: Portal was released in 2007, and MYST, much earlier, in 1993.
Talking about homages for a moment, it is crystal clear what TOTAL RELOAD owes its existence to. Nudges to “the cake is a lie,” Philip K. Dick, and Muse lyrics are sprinkled by the artificial intelligence in your mind (called HAWKING no less) while you solve its first-person riddles. Media that wears its influences on its sleeves is not to be dismissed either, as everything that builds upon its predecessor and acknowledges it ends up becoming better for it. Ironically, the potential to create something truly unique with the sturdy foundation of previous works that explored a similar theme is what ends up delivering a stronger experience.
What stands out from TOTAL RELOAD is how deftly it keeps building and throwing new mechanics as the game progresses without feeling overwhelming or abrasive. The first puzzle, for instance, has you connecting wires to power up a door to reach a portal. By the third hour mark, walking through a broken-down area of the level that should not be accessible but challenges your preconception of what “should” be accessible makes it clear that they are in on the joke. Every puzzle is a delight to solve, each one breaking your preconceived notions harder than the last. Nothing is really off-limits.
Booting up a puzzle game is both an exercise in futility and one of the most therapeutic ways to spend an afternoon. The Talos Principle, The Witness, TOTAL RELOAD. These games are not simply a profound way to waste your time but a cathartic experience with every puzzle solved. Because it is not only reaffirming that you know how things inside the game work, but also brings a calming sense that pattern recognition and problem-solving are among the skills you have. Yes, it is possible to look up the answer and roll credits within an hour if you wish to, but where is the fun in that? What a great puzzler can do is offer you a renewed perspective, but you must first overcome its obstacles. That is the beauty of it.
TOTAL RELOAD is out now on Steam.
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