A masterclass in strategy design, Patrick's Parabox delivers an unforgettable experience from start to finish.
98
Verdict
99%
Steam
—
IGDB
Verdict score based on confidence-adjusted Steam reviews?
Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam (99% positive from 5K reviews)
Standout indie gem
Steep difficulty curve may not appeal to casual players
Patrick's Parabox is a puzzle video game created by indie developer Patrick Traynor. Originating as a short demo built in 2020, the game was expanded and released on 29 March 2022 for PC, followed by a release on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 on 26 July 2023. The game centers around playing with infinity and recursion by pushing boxes into and out of other boxes, sometimes in and out of itself, in order to finish the level by putting boxes into their spaces.
Runs well on modern hardware.
Last updated 19h ago
截止目前，过半以上的游戏时长在完全挂机。 整个游戏的流程体验于我，像梅雨季烘干的衣服，掺杂着一点洗衣凝珠香氛的味道里满是挥之不去的霉气。 当一个关卡卡住之后，我没有办法顺利劝说自己“先去玩下一个大章”。我会被“此章未完成”困在原地挂机，不断劝说自己“拆解一下关卡逻辑”，以至为了顺利通关去研究“什么是递归”（数学意义上的）。 帕箱给我的“做题感”是我玩过的所有游戏里最重的的。 我姑且可以认为帕箱在每一个大章都引入了一个新的“概念”，每一个小节都是对这个“概念”举一反三的应用。每一个小节，我是说每一个小节，都有自己通关的“标准答案（唯一核心关窍）”。 喜欢在一套设计好的体系里“发散式解谜”的我（比如在野炊王泪的物理引擎里用天马行空的方式解神庙、围观游戏博主用更新奇的方式解神庙），像一只被掏空了内脏固定在毛毡背板上的昆虫一样，被迫收束“如果我可以这样，那我可不可以那样？”的想法，努力变成符合通关评级的“标本”。 每一个小关都是一次验证“我是否对作者的想法无言自明”的默契测试，成功通关的多巴胺无法抵御“我下一节还能猜中作者心意吗？、我能一直这样顺利验证他在想什么吗”的对未知的恐惧。在你点进下一个关卡前你知道作者已经想到了一个“点子“，你要做的就是尝试和他想到同一个“点子”（或者说，解题公式？）（给我的感觉be like：“我心里有个想法但我不告诉你 你猜中了就是我们有默契猜不中那就是我们没缘分”；于是我猜不中很愤怒，猜中了更愤怒） 很多很多次，我都想不到“作者所想”，最后我会挂到实在受不了关闭游戏。 我斗胆奉劝每一个Ne很高的人停止尝试帕箱。（或者如果有Ne很高的人愿意和我分享游戏体验感激不尽？我真的很好奇我不喜欢帕箱是什么性格特征发力了）。（我喜欢可能性，不喜欢确定性，尤其对“唯一正确答案”PTSD） 我的理性在分析，理论上它作为cocoon（我的24年度最佳独游）的灵感启蒙之一，应该是个很好的游戏（它是干净的，我洗过了，有一点点香味，可以穿） 但我的情感在抗拒，为什么它明明是个“好”游戏但我玩起来那么痛苦，需要不断通过播放自己喜欢的音乐覆盖游戏原生bgm、吃喜欢的零食、和喜欢的人们聊天转移注意力来哄自己“接着玩下去吧”（穿上这件衣服我闻起来像个老旧墙皮上的霉斑） “大家好像都很喜欢帕箱、我居然不喜欢帕箱”的愧疚被我用“我要坚持把这个游戏打完”活埋，终于有一天这些情绪以更丑陋的形式重新出现。 帕箱或许对很多很多解谜独游爱好者来说是个好游戏，它机制设计环环相扣、几乎0损耗用“游戏”和“图形”引入了递归的概念，同时又从始至终只用这一个概念创造了三桌满汉全席（364个关卡量大管饱，按108道菜来算三桌甚至摆不下）；设计思路一点不拖泥带水，没有过量文字带来的厚重的说教感，引导十分精巧。但我不喜欢它，我在这个游戏身上体验到了当年被周测月考模拟压的喘不过气来的一次又一次的验证“你到底会不会数学”的痛苦。 所以我认可帕箱是个优秀的游戏，我也不再逼自己喜欢它。 以上。
I am just 8 hours into this game and I am very happy with it. As of this writing I solved 90 puzzles and only looked up the solution for one of them. The difficulty level is perfect. There are challenging puzzles but most of them are optional. This game is as difficult as you want it to be. The walls are your enemy in this game. You'll see what I mean by that. There are so many times where I am convinced that a puzzle is truly impossible to solve. I just can't free a box from the imprisonment of the walls. Then after a day or two, I come back to it seeing that the solution was quite simple. There are other times when I solve a puzzle and I do not completely understand how I did it. I just moved boxes around intuitively until everything just fell into place. I enjoy puzzle games that force me to think in different ways. Only the best video games can do that and this one delivers. I have no criticisms. The developers of this game must be truly smart people indeed to not only create this innovative game, but to come up with such elegant level design. If you enjoyed "Stephen's Sausage Roll" you are guaranteed to like this one. This is a must buy for people who enjoy puzzle games and lately, that is the only type of game that I am buying. Enjoy!
A deceptively simple, yet incredibly challenging game. I love the puzzle design.
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