The simple premise of this puzzle game hides surprising depth

What’s the password? It has a simple concept: to solve each of the game’s 100-plus puzzles, you have to type the correct four-digit password on the number pad. This may seem like a limiting limitation. But the simplicity gives solo developer Dan DiIorio, known as TrampolineTales, plenty of room to play with clever ideas. Over the course of a few hours, the game never ceased to amaze me.

Puzzle clues come in many different forms. Some are written text; The first puzzle is a sentence that tells you what numbers to enter. But you’ll also have to decipher four-digit codes from things like the blinking numbers of a clock, informal puzzles, solve arithmetic operations, and even count the number of teeth on a key. Clues can have small identifying information as well, such as the password on the game cover or information in the menus.

Puzzles can be difficult. I’ll get a few of them right away, but for most of them, I’ll have to try a few solutions to see what works. Fortunately, there is no penalty for wrong guesses, so you can try as many combinations as you like. Some stopped me cold for minutes at a time. If you’re stuck on a puzzle for a while, the game will give you the option to skip it, and sometimes you can get a hint.

The game is backed by a calming, jazzy soundtrack that repeats one song over and over again, and pairs well with the game’s all-black and white visuals. The whole atmosphere made me feel like some kind of black shoe. But I’ve also found that a slow drone can help me when I’m stuck on a particularly difficult puzzle; Every now and then my mind wandered to the winding tunes of the music, and every now and then this idle thought led me to solve the puzzle.

In the end I couldn’t solve it Everything. It took me about three hours to work my way through What’s the password?She completed about 77 percent of the puzzles. But the game reminded me of the value of patience and peaceful sleep; When I come back in the morning with a refreshed mind and coffee in hand, I usually have an easier time figuring things out. Lots of fun What’s the password? I could see what unexpected shape would be presented to me next, and that’s what gives the simple premise such depth.

^{What’s the password? Available now on PC via Steam, iOS and Android.}