izigame.me

Oh to be an estranged friend of an insane alchemist who invites me over to their abode, having promised grand treasures should I solve their silly little puzzles, only for them to kidnap me into the fucking shadow realm.
I will say I got this game for fifty cents. If this five dollar game is to go on sale for the price of a cup of instant noodles, by all means go for it. However, if you couldn't tell, I don't think this game is worth the five dollars it asks for.
It's a standard point and click puzzle game with some pretty nice graphics, good atmosphere, and a "story," which comes in the form of little diary entries from our mysterious estranged friend responsible for the puzzles we solve. It took me a little less than two hours to complete. It's short. That being said, I'm not a believer that money should always be in proportion to amount of gameplay. It's about quality, not quantity. SO LET'S TALK ABOUT THE QUALITY OF GAMEPLAY.
It's okay at best. Most of the "puzzles" revolve around you making visual observations. A cylinder might have some ridges on it, meaning you can twist and open it, revealing a key or piece to previously inaccessible "puzzle," that's solved immediately after you add the item you just received, which opens another puzzle, or gives another key, and so on and so forth. There's very little thinking required, which is unfortunate because having to use my brain is something I look forward to in the puzzle genre. If you can solve the "puzzle" just by clicking random shit until it works, which in most cases for this game, you definitely could, then it's not what I'm looking for in a puzzle game.
The tutorial of the game includes a riddle as one of its first puzzles. I like riddles, because it makes me think, and not just click random shit. And then the moment passed, and we don't see any more. Just clicking, dragging, twisting keys to fit keyholes, twisting knobs to form the same image over and over again, etc. I saw a review that stated one of the game's strengths is its ever-changing nature of its puzzles. While every chapter brought a new setting/theme for its puzzles, as well a "signature piece" for each chapter, I disagree. The gameplay is still just looking for shit that moves, and then moving it. Looking at something, and then lining its obviously corresponding piece up to match. Getting an item, and putting it in the place its obviously missing from.
TL;DR
It's an eh point and click puzzle game that is mostly built up from player inspection of the visually impressive puzzles. Good graphics and atmosphere. Disappointing gameplay in my opinion, but obviously I'm in the minority here so take it with a grain of salt.
Not worth five dollars, get it on sale. Or just... don't get it.