Buy Full Bore

After playing Toki Tori and Blocks That Matter I started to think that I dislike such games... but now I realize that Full Bore is simply the first good tile-based puzzler that I've played. And all the competition pales in comparison.

Notice that I didn't use the word "platformer". Well, that's because I associate the word with jumping, action, reflexes, etc. And that's not what Full Bore is about, don't be fooled by the trailers. Sure, there are a few places that require quick action, but you don't need any of the qualities required by typical platformers. The stop time+rewind feature mitigates this even more. Oh, and... you actually can't jump.
Full Bore is quite a pure puzzle game. Everything, including the character, is always aligned to the tile grid. And the puzzles... they are extremely well designed and all very different. It's just hard to imagine how someone could come up with such a variety of puzzles, while keeping the set of concepts limited and so elegant.
To be clear here, Full Bore is a difficult game, but never too difficult. To me the difficulty always seemed just perfect. Every puzzle felt rewarding. And I never got stuck for too long (taking a break always helped).

About the open world thing... The world map is a lot like the one you see in FEZ. But all the rooms also have "thumbnails", and connections between them are shown very clearly. Rooms where there is nothing left to do are indicated as well. A portal system prevents travel from being tedious.
And since I started this whole FEZ topic... It is clear that some inspiration is drawn from it, and yes, there are secrets in Full Bore. But finding them, and eventually completing the game 100% is something actually doable. Without guides, that is. All the secrets have good hints for them, and there definitely are no obscure and outright impossible to find secrets (unlike in FEZ).

Full Bore can easily give you 25 hours of gameplay (this is about the minimal time that you need to explore everything, if you don't look up solutions, of course). Since I knew right away that I was going for full completion, I don't really know how much time it would take to just complete the story, while mostly ignoring optional tasks. Maybe 5 hours, maybe 10. There is even a "preliminary" ending that may let you consider the game completed, if you so choose.

What is also very nice, you can never lock yourself out of something; no location, secret, ending or achievement is missable (well, to be honest, one achievement does explicitly require a separate playthrough, but don't concern yourself with this). Explore freely without worry.

Controls are simple. Redefinable. No problems with them.
Soundtrack is great.
Graphics are immaculate.

Full Bore deserves so much more love than it gets. Really is a hidden gem (haha).

★★★★★★★★★★

An instantly engaging puzzle game, with a unique personality, that boasts a lot of fun.

At first glance, Full Bore might look like a mix of Toki Tori and SteamWorld Dig. It is indeed a block puzzler with digging, but what really sets it apart from similar games is the exploration aspect, the non-linearity and the lore.

The gameplay consists of solving puzzles to progress through a vast underground world. Since you can only move by running, falling or leaping diagonally, many puzzles revolve around clearing a path or building steps to reach exits. Because of the large variation in materials you can dig through, or make crumble or fall by stomping, and the many different kinds of crates, no two puzzles in the game feel the same. At least one puzzle even have an additional solution to uncover a secret passage. And as far as puzzle games go, I've played none other with such a huge amount of secrets and collectibles.

Full Bore has a metroidvania-esque map, where collectible gems and lore, along with passages and mysteries are marked. The map is similar to that of FEZ with lines connecting all the discovered passages and completed rooms being marked in yellow. New rooms are added to the map as you discover them and are displayed as a small preview, annotated with anything left to discover. This is handy both for figuring out which way you should take to progress the story and is great for completionists.

The game is full of references to games that likely inspired the creators. I caught references to Metroid, Offspring Fling!, Escape Goat and FEZ, but I'm sure I also missed many. The Escape Goat and FEZ references are both elegantly incorporated into the game as puzzles that works well alongside its other puzzles, while still being true to their inspirations. The FEZ puzzle especially being a nice throwback to the more meta puzzles of the indie classic.

This unique game already has a place among my absolute favourites. It says something about this game that I've played it almost compulsively for a total of more than 30 hours the past week without experiencing any of the fatigue that I normally associate with puzzle games.

Cute, isn't it? Full bore has a charming and rather untalkative main character. You can either play as Frederick or Hildi through the story. It starts with your "crash" into the vault of Gullinbursti who then accuses you of theft and forces you to recollect his valued gems. Although this goal will be set aside after clearing the first of the five areas (Workings, Deep Dive, Bhudevi, Scrapyard and the sleepless sea all with different style and desgin) of the game and the real story will unfold from there.

And here I will state the most important aspect of the game (as I see it). The game heavily relies on your urge to explore, to search, to figure out:
- for the story: It tells you sometimes where you can find some story characters but gives you no explicit directions. You have to run around searching for them. To understand the story itself you need discover and read the various terminals spread through the different areas
- for the gameplay: It tells you how to stomp, how to climb and that you can dig. But how the different blocks behave you have to figure out yourself.
For you not to run around in circles too much and to reduce unnecessary backtracking a bit there are two "systems" implemented. The first one is that every puzzle is solvable the moment you discover it. If you can't solve it than only because you are unable to figure out the solution not because you are missing equipment. The second it that on the map at the bottom of every room there is listed if you can still discover something in said room.

The difficulty in the puzzles differs from very very easy to hard where the harder puzzles are mostly related to the "second ending" of the game or obtaining gems. Also the puzzle change from area to area. So the scrapyard plays differently then Bhudevi for example.

All of this is rounded up with a nice soundtrack. So if you have an explorative nature (up to 20+ hours of gameplay), you like the graphic style and you like puzzle platformers (and adore boars) I can only recommand Full Bore to you.


PS: If you have any questions regarding the game, ask in the comments and I'll try to answer them.

Steam needs more games where you can play as an adorable boar / pig.
I approve this game.

Playing this game is just...Pleasant, you're a cute little boar. Digging around for gems and all sorts of other secrets. Every one of which is it's own small puzzle to solve. If you're in the mood for something nice and fun, this is what you want to play.

full bore is an extremely solid puzzle game from all perspectives; the presentation is outstanding, the puzzle design is tight and competent and challenging, and it doesn't take itself too seriously or try to be more than it really is, but is exactly as complex and lengthy and engaging as it needs to be

i got to about 96% completion by myself but had to look up those last few gem puzzle solutions in the scrapyard on youtube

also the soundtrack is nice

Challenging and fun.

This game is full of a lot of thought and love. Some of these puzzles will have you stumped for hours! Full Bore deserves to be counted as a peer to other fantastic puzzlers, if not more so. I love the character design too.

If you enjoy puzzles and adventure, you will like this game.

It's not boaring and you won't regret it. ;)

Loved the Game and loved how you could just explore and get things just by looking around.

Full Bore is the greatest block-based puzzle platformer I've ever played. It has fantastic graphics, fantastic music, but more importantly, a huge amount of very well-made puzzles that are fun and satisfying to complete.

You start with all abilities required to 100% the game; there is never a need to come back later with more moves to solve a puzzle. Your moveset is also quite simple. Basically, you can move, push, dig, and stomp. This simplicity of what you as a character can do allows you to have a perfect understanding of what you need to accomplish the puzzle; "It is absolutely impossible for me to get that gem unless I have a 3-block high stack here." I like that certainty in a puzzle game, as it allows you to set a goal, and then figure out how to accomplish it.

Complexity in the puzzles comes from the different block types, and how they interact with your moves, the world, and the other blocks. The different areas all introduce new block types, such as the Scrapyard's blocks that get destroyed if you walk off of them, and Bhudevi's switch blocks. It never gets ridiculously hard, though. I never had to look up a puzzle solution, and never got completely stumped for long.

Another thing I like is the map. It is extremely helpful and detailed, like Fez's map. It tells you exactly what you have remaining to get in every room. When it comes to "did I even get everything?", there's no question, and I like that a lot. It's a sharp contrast from, say, Super Metroid, where if you want every single missile expansion, you're going to have to use a whole lot of random super bombs, or look it up. In this, you'd never have to look up WHERE a puzzle is.

One complaint I have is that, as far as I know, there is absolutely no purpose for gems. I don't think any gems are needed to reach the final boss, or to get the secret ending. Yet, they're the main collectible; most of the puzzles are to get a gem. I don't really mind this though; I was going for 100%, and I didn't care about what I get for it. Having fun doing the puzzles is reward enough. It also has very low replay value, being a puzzle game and all. I've gotten a lot more hours of it because I decided to start doing speedruns, but, for most people, there's no reason to play it more after getting 100%.

One last note, the length. It took me about 20 hours to 100%, which is damn good for a little indie puzzle game I'd say. Braid only takes a couple hours, Fez is probably close to 10. This has a TON of content, a TON of puzzles, and they're all fantastic.

I am not good at writing reviews, I don't know if this will convince anyone to buy, but, basically, IT'S AMAZING. I have played Braid, and Fez, and Toki Tori 1 and 2, and Blocks That Matter, and Antichamber, and The Swapper. This is better than all of those. If you enjoyed any of those games, you will enjoy this.

Of the many puzzle games which I've played Full Bore is one of the most exciting games which trys to take and old idea and somehow manages to innovate.

Not only is it sucessful in that but it also leaves a "cute charm" which even the most skilled indie games can't trully replicate.

Full Bore is awesome. Here's a few reasons why:

It's challenging. In all the best ways.
Seriously, there are some absolutely devilish brain teasers to be found in here. But they are incredibly fun to figure out, in large part probably due to the great rewind function that lets you undo and redo moves, helping you get to the solution. Plus, the puzzles in this game offer a big range of difficulty levels. There is no fixed progression here, and you can solve puzzles in whatever order you desire. Each area in the game comes with it's own set of blocks, and therefore it's own set of rules you'll need to figure out in order to succeed. There is a LOT of variety in the gameplay, and it's as impressive as it's fun.

It's big. Wonderfully so.
I'll be honest, the game didn't immediately click for me, and I think this is one of the reasons. The size of the game and the fact you are free to explore in whatever order you want (you ARE given loose objectives, but it's somewhat easy to lose track of them imo) can be daunting. There are warp hubs, but you can't get to specific rooms (they usually are fast and easy to get to from the warp area, though). But once you figure out how to work with the in-game map, the game's size becomes something wonderful. The atmospheric graphics and huge variety in puzzles make sure you're exploring for the sake of exploration, not just to complete every room (which is a satisfying feeling too, though).
My one complaint would be that in some areas of the game, once you're trying to go for a 100% completion, you may have to solve certain puzzles again to get to where you want to go. This is a bit annoying, but rare enough to not be an issue. Still, it should be mentioned.

It's adorable, and atmospheric.
The character sprites? So freaking cute. The lighting effects and environments? So effective at truly making this world a joy to explore. It can be pretty creepy at times, and that's a great achievement. The artist did a truly wonderful job, and the music and sound design compliments the visuals nicely, too. (For what it's worth, at times the music feels a bit repetetive, but never to the point where it made me want to turn it off)
Lastly, the story - it's mostly told through you finding logs and books and stuff, so it's not a very direct way of storytelling (which honestly, I think is a good thing here, the puzzles can take some time to solve, and this passive storytelling fits the gameplay's pace). It took a while for me to feel involved and really get a sense of curiosity for the world and it's characters, but once I did, I thought it was a really interesting and engaging tale.

To sum it up, grab this if you like your puzzle platformers to be more puzzle than platformer. At it's core there is extremely fun and solid gameplay, and rounding everything out are gorgeous production values. Full Bore is a true gem deserving of way more attention.

*Wish I could jump*

But you can't ! It's a platformer where you can't jump ! And it's a good one, really.
Instead of jumping, you have to climb over blocks and use your brains (a lot) to solve puzzles in order to continue.

This game is also a lot of exploration, which feels like FEZ (it even has a reference to it), a few secrets to be found, and hidden locations to discover (but, like FEZ, you know if a room has been completed by looking at the map, which helps).

+ Free exploration world
+ A great variety of crates to climb over
+ Many puzzles, with scaling difficulty (some at the end are really hard)
+ Map helps a lot and is very precise in its details
+ Possibility to go back in time if you made a mistake
+ Boar character (and boar puns)

- Rewinding time will sometimes work well, erasing your last move, and sometimes make you go back to the beginning of the level because no "checkpoints" have been set since (I don't know how checkpoints are set, though)

All in all, it's a great game, worth its price

Suprisingly deep/weird story combined with gorgeus graphics topped with puzzles that makes you feel smart when you figure them out.
One of the best Indie games I have played in 2014.
I truly can recommend this game to all who likes the retro pixel perfection and challenging puzzles.

This is a great, great little puzzle-platformer! It's just a joy to play.

Things I particularly like about this game:

• Simple, smooth controls. There's not a whole lot you can do, but you can do all of it from the very beginning, and your boar handles very well, even in tight-timing precision situations (of which there are thankfully not too many).
  
  
• The puzzles are all totally discrete. There are never any puzzles that do not fit on a single screen, even within larger rooms, which allows both for easy visual review and contemplation and nice "chunking" of gameplay -- you get potential break or stopping points every 5-10 minutes, as opposed to a gotta-find-the-next-checkpoint urgency.
  
  
• The puzzles are good. I'm about halfway through (I think?), and I've been very impressed both with the difficulty level of each puzzle -- the vast majority make me feel stupid when I start and brilliant when I finish, thanks to being built around "a ha!" moments -- and with the difficulty curve, which raises smoothly and naturally, through harder puzzles rather than introducing new gimmicks.
  
  
• The art direction is really, really solid. The actual art assets aren't anything to write home about -- the visuals are simple, and the soundtrack is a bit repetitive if nicely funky -- but both are used to great effect, and work together to build a real sense of unease and mystery.
  
  
• The story is revealed nicely. It was obvious very early on that this is somehow a post-human society, and the humans vanished after doing something stupid with science, but the characterization of the scientists through their emails and computer logs is surprisingly full of personality, and also the story slowly but confidently gets weirder and creepier in unexpected ways...
  
  
• This is a great game to play for an hour or so at a time. Usually after that much time, my brain needs a break, but then tomorrow I'm eager to jump back in and explore more and solve more puzzles. I don't have time for big, story-heavy games right now, but this has been fantastic to get a little gaming and mental workout into my evenings.
  
  
• You're a boar. That's great. You meet a giant golden boar named Gullinbursti. That's fantastic.

My one main quibble is that there clearly is (at least) one ability you have that is not explained, where you break bricks faster if you do a bunch in a row, eventually getting a cool blue aura around you -- I am completely mystified what the rules about that aura are, and there's a race against another boar early on that you clearly cannot win without mastering them/it.

Generally, though, this is by far my favorite indie game that I've played this year, and it's a shame it's burrowed so far under the radar. Give it a shot!

If you like puzzle platformer this is your game.

Clever challenging puzzles. At first you are like "oh, I will gain some ability to do this later in the game, but then you realize you actualy can do it"

Also you will find yourself swearing a lot "Why the **** I can't jump!"

I didn't even know what this game was when I got it on a humble bundle, but I can certainly say I've been pleasantly suprised.

The game is a puzzler mix of Tetrobot and co. and Fez. You have to go through various linked caves and rooms made up of blocks to obtain plot related items (in this game, one of them is gems). The game, similar to the aforementioned games, does not have you obtaining upgrades (at least to where I am 50% in), and while you may at certain points need a key, the majority of the game is about learning about how to use what you are given from the start, and how to interact with the world to solve puzzles.

An important note, is that you can't actually jump; only hop up diagonally. This makes getting around an important part of the puzzling, as you not only need to think about how to get a block someplace else, but also whether or not you'll still be able to get where you need to be. Of course, the meat of the game is the puzzling and the exploration, and both are done well. The puzzles have an appropriate difficulty curve, and there is a vast amount of gems and other items hidden throughout in secret rooms, which also have their own puzzles often times.

Another positive note (in my opinion), there is no consequence to making a mistake, as not only does a room reset when you exit it, but you can rewind to previous states to fix mistakes. You can go as many moves back as you need, whenever you need it, with no consequence, giving you full reign to try out whatever you can to solve a puzzle without frustration. Even better; when you solve a puzzle to access an area, the map changes the next time you enter it so that there is an easier way through to where you had to solve to (sometimes simply just leaving the puzzle as solved, and changing everything else back). As for the exploration, similarly to fez, the game will tell you when you have missed something in an area, but it is up to you to locate it.

I haven't completed the game yet, but I'm only 50% of the way through (on total completion), and yet I've racked up about 9 hours (removing 1 for away time, that is still 8 hours). I'll likely edit this review later on once I've completed it, incase I've missed anything.

I fully reccomend this game.

The Fez of being a pig.

It is has a BOAR, thats you need to know.