Midnight Swamp is a satisfying old-school puzzle game
A cosy night camping in the woods: what could go wrong? That’s the basic premise of Midnight Swamp, a satisfyingly old-school point-and-click puzzle game from developer WildOmul. Your character’s already regretting not staying at home, reading on the couch, but he tries his best to embrace camping, making a fire and getting settled in his tent. But when a thunderclap draws him towards the nearby lake, things swiftly take a terrifying turn. Fading to black, you wake up in an unknown location, meet a talking cat and… well, I’ll leave the rest for you to figure out.
Puzzles are king in Midnight Swamp. Sure, there’s a story, and you’ll likely be interested to find out what exactly has happened to your protagonist, but solving puzzles is your real motivation to move forward. There’s a great range of puzzles here, from figuring out logic clues, spinning wheels to complete a pattern, matching shapes and a whole lot more. Nothing is too complex, and figuring out a solution feels satisfying. Like a digital puzzle book, there’s a good range of puzzle types, all testing your brain in numerous ways.
Being a point and click game, though, Midnight Swamp has some elements of interacting with items, filling up an inventory and using certain objects with parts of the environment. If you’ve played an Artifex Mundi game like Dark Arcana or Enigmatis, you’ll have some idea what to expect here in terms of puzzles and exploration. It’s a laid-back experience that requires you to engage your brain, but at your own pace and without any pressure.
It’s not a very long game, and you’ll be done with Midnight Swamp in a couple of hours, but while it lasts it’s a very pleasurable experience – particularly if you’re a puzzle fan. If you’re expecting a point-and-click adventure on the level of Broken Sword then you’re going to be disappointed, but if you’re open to an experience led by its puzzles, it’s absolutely worth your time.
Midnight Swamp is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC.
