Game: Balance
Genre: Puzzle, Indie
System: Steam (Windows)
Developers | Publishers: Wool Tyranny
Controller Support: None
Price: US $1.99 | UK £1.69 | EU €1,99
Release Date: April 26th, 2024
A review code was used, with many thanks to Wool Tyranny.
Balance is an intriguing attempt to bring a new kind of logic game to players. Unlike Picross, which uses numerical logic to make pictures, and Sudoku, which asks for placement logic in a set of squares, Balance is trying to teach you to juggle numbers on a 4×4 board until they each eventually reach the lofty lucky number of 7, meanwhile ensuring none of them touches 0. The concept is clear in the name; sometimes, numbers have to go down for others to go up, creating a metaphorical image of an ocean wave surfing across the board. But does the game actually give the same zen sensation? The answer, this time, is pretty complicated.
Some Technical Notes on Balance
It’s not fair nor logical to demand developers, especially small indies, to have their games Steam Deck ready, whether before the official launch or otherwise. That’s on me for making the Deck my primary form of PC gaming. So this is an informative section for other puzzle game devotees using the Deck and not itself part of any score. At the time of this review, Balance will not run on the Deck without user meddling. Fortunately, it’s as simple as manually adjusting which version of Proton the game will use to boot. I used Proton 8.0-4, but it’s possible other versions previous to the current 9.0 stable build will work.
If you’ve never done that before, it’s as simple as going to the cogwheel for Settings across from the game’s start button on its home page, going to Properties, and then Compatibility. Choose to Force the use of a compatibility tool, and then select a version of Proton to try and boot the game. Balance will now run!
Unless you really want to get funky with customization, your controls will, by default, be a simple trackpad with a button input, but since that’s all you really need to play games like this one, I suggest leaving the situation there.
The Aesthetic Balance… of Balance
Balance is presented with a variety of optional but pretty monochrome schemes, with non-obtrusive mood music offered alongside to keep you chill. Everything you need is on the screen before you, with all the options, from new game selections to theme choices, offered in tinted bars on the left. The game grid itself is barely half the size of that option list, with tiny game info underneath and a world of empty space filling the rest of the screen.
Your mileage will vary on whether you find that emptiness peaceful, allowing you to focus on the puzzle itself, or if you think this is a lot of wasted screen space. Considering the incredibly tiny game text and the inability to adjust that in options, I’m afraid I’m in the latter category. The small text makes it difficult to read the numerical adjustment forecast when you hover over a square, and the pale colors that are supposed to help you see those indicators look like they’re going to be rough for colorblind or ‘my glasses are a couple of years out of date’ eyes.
What Balance Is Trying To Do
Balance’s goal is for you to clear each puzzle by tapping a square to make all numbers in the square reach 7. Each square will impact the entire board, with numbers horizontally and vertically connected, going up by one for each tap and every other number not directly impacted going down.
The trick is, then, to figure out which square to tap and in what order to maintain a stable enough balance to lift out numbers without dropping others too far. A brief tutorial will take you through the basics of what’s going on, using truncated puzzles to highlight the way the squares interact depending on where you’re tapping. If you’re a visual learner, it’s pretty clear. Even so, it can be a little tricky to figure out what’s going on once it stops holding your hand and presents you with your first full-sized board.
That’s when the panic sets in.
The Imbalance Within Balance
I mention Sudoku and Picross not only because they’re similar genres of numerical logic games but also because I really enjoy playing games like this. Unfortunately, Balance quickly knocks me off mine, and the brief tutorial doesn’t really help you zero in on where you should start with a full board. One starts picking squares experimentally to see what happens, to try to get the vibe the game intends that way. All too quickly, a square will hit zero, causing a game over.
There’s no hint system and no leaderboard. Only a random selection of designed puzzles and a customizable puzzle option. Your prize for clearing a board is a crude thumbs-up emoji, so, unfortunately, there’s not a lot of motivation to keep fighting a frustrating board. The developer claims that there should be a way to clear every board, and I don’t have a reason to disbelieve them. I also have no reason to find out for sure either way.
Conclusion
There may be someone out there for whom Balance will strike the right note. I can see, as if on a distant horizon, the goal the developer intends to show their players. But without a little more help in finding the zen of juggling numbers until they all ascend the board, I’m simply not motivated to ever try this again when I can instead move to Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons or one of the Picross S series games that I haven’t bought yet.
It’s not pleasant to give a negative review to a fledgling developer who’s trying to bring something new to an audience that loves logic puzzles. Still, between the too-tight aesthetic, the tiny text, and the way I ended up fumbling grumpily with each board with no real encouragement, I can’t, in good faith, say I can recommend this game, even to other puzzle fans. But I also don’t think developer Wool Tyranny should give up or take my ranking too deeply to heart. It’s a good start when you know to offer a simple aesthetic to someone trying to figure out something new, and the music is very charming.
Hopefully, they’ll try again down the line with something a little more polished and with a little more zest for player response. Until then, warm hugs, my apologies, and I’m very sorry that I need to say goodbye to Balance like this.
Final Verdict: I Don’t Like It
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