FILMECHANISM (Nintendo Switch) Review

FILMECHANISM has a single main mechanic - pressing the R button to take a picture of the current layout of the stage. Then, after moving everything in the room around in order to progress through the puzzle, holding down the L button restores the room to the exact layout it was when the picture was taken, moving back any blocks and closing any doors that had been moved in the interim. It is a simple feature to describe but one that FILMECHANISM pushes to its limit.

Every puzzle can fit onto a single screen, which is reminiscent of classic games of the genre from back in the 1990s, and this means nothing is hidden from the player. Every piece needed to solve the puzzle is presented on screen immediately, the only limitation is the player themselves, although there is a generous hint system in place in case one gets stuck.

The game is split into several worlds and has a very good difficulty curve. It starts on easy, with the option to jump straight to hard mode, yet that is not recommended because the easy route introduces each world's unique puzzle gimmick; this can be a falling platform or pressure sensitive switches. FILMECHANISM then introduces further puzzles that test a person's puzzle solving abilities, while still being fairly straightforward.

The hard and hell routes of each world are designed assuming there is an understanding or mastery of a world's features, and this is where the real challenge lies. Honestly, the main game can be beaten in no time by just sticking to the easy route, but most of the fun lies in the harder paths. There are very clever solutions to some real brain scratching puzzles.

That said, there is a handful of puzzles where the solution only really comes from trial and error. FILMECHANISM offers a quick restart mechanic which is great because it is very easy to make one small wrong move and lose all progress. Most puzzles are not too long, but for the ones that are it can be annoying when that happens. A quick save feature feels like it would have really benefited this title with no detriment to the overall game design.