The Pedestrian Review (joerice1979)
I'm not usually one for puzzle games on a PC, but I'm glad the art style of The Pedestrian made me make an exception; it's really good.
It's a simple premise, as most puzzle games are. You're a stick figure trying to get to the exit. Of course things change, more and more elements are added and that's the challenge.
The rules are simple (you can not undo a path once travelled without a reset, etc) and the puzzles tick along nicely within them. Rules later get changed, or rather you're able to apply an exception to the rules and at this point my brain started to hurt and I stared blankly at some of the later puzzles, but I never gave up or used a guide.
I guess that's one of the best things about puzzle games, the feeling when you're absolutely stuck and can't see a way out or even forward, but then it *clicks* and you get it. It's a good feeling. Such care has been taken with the level design here that even after the click, there's a gotcha, but it never feels cheap, just that the designers were one step ahead of you and for a puzzle game, that's good.
The visuals on this are amazing, your stick figure goes through various well-observed street furniture which always nail the aesthetic, but what is truly amazing are the backgrounds. I could only think of the sheer amount of time and effort to put into the street scenes, or a factory just occasionally whizzing by in the background. You don't play within these scenes, but that such care and attention to detail has been paid to the background only speaks highly to the care that was taken with this game.
The soundtrack is perfect, pure background music and even though I heard a lot of it while stuck, it never grated and was always welcome.
Special mention goes to the finale, no spoilers here but it's worth working for. Only a few times in my many decades of video gaming have I felt what is quite a bold decision was so well judged and fit absolutely perfectly. It was quite a thing to finish this very fine game on. Don't look it up, just play this brilliant puzzle game.
Well done to all those involved.