Hands-On With PS Vita Induction Game

At PAX East 2015, I was able to chat with Bryan Gale about his upcoming puzzle game Induction, and I even got to try out the PlayStation Vita build of the game.

Set to come out sometime next year, Induction really tries to push the player’s brain to the limits. The main idea of the game is to complete somewhat small levels by pushing cylindric objects onto certain platforms, thus creating bridges and opening new ways to get through the level. Sounds pretty easy, right? No.

Time-Travel Puzzler Fun

See, Induction isn’t just about pushing around those little cylindric objects — instead, it also deals with time travel. For example, one of the levels I played had two bridges that formed. One only formed when the object was placed in the correct spot, and the other only formed when it was not in the correct spot. How, then, is the player supposed to cross over both bridges, since both need to be up at the same time to get through the level.

The answer is, of course, time travel, but a weird and unique sort of time travel. By hitting a certain button, the game essentially resets and all objects move back to how they were, but the player stays where he or she is. In the meantime, the ghost of what the player previously did will be moving around and repeating whatever last happened before that button was pressed. That means when I pushed the object onto the certain spot, the bridge appeared, and I (the current, non-ghost version of myself) was able to move across the bridge. My ghost self then pushed the object off of the spot just as I was reaching the second bridge, allowing me to cross both and get to the end of the level.

It sounds confusing when I type it out, but take a look at the above video to get a glimpse of what I mean. Currently, Induction has about 25 levels, but Gale mentioned that about when it finally releases it will have about 50 or 60. It looks to be quite a challenging game, but also a fun one, so puzzle fans so keep an eye out for more information in the coming months.