Initial Impressions review
Zen Puzzle Garden (for PC & Mac) (PC version reviewed here)
by Lexaloffle Games
http://www.lexaloffle.com/zen.htm
This is an indie puzzle game where you control a little monk boy with an oversized bald head who must rake all the sand in a a rectangular-shaped zen garden. This rectangular area of sand is essentially made up of a checkerboard of squares which can be travelled over horizontally or vertically but not diagonally. The boy cannot step on any sand that has been raked and he cannot step on any rocks. When the he starts pulling his rake in one direction he continues all the way to the boundary of the garden or until he encounters a rock after which he can go either right or left depending on the rock layout and previously raked sand. After raking all the sand he must be able to step off the sand.
This might not sound terribly interesting but it's intriguing how some deceivingly simple rock layouts end up requiring rather intricate rake patterns that can only be accomplished by traversing paths in a particular order. Trial and error will only get you so far and you'll quickly encounter gardens that force you to think about your moves. It can actually become quite compelling.
Later puzzles introduce new elements such as a movable lantern and different coloured leaves which must be picked up in order. I have only solved the first 14 puzzles so I haven't encountered these elements. It's a good thing that I do have this to look forward to because it can admittedly get a bit dull when every puzzle is just a bunch of rocks and not much else.
The game has 64 different gardens. You can play them in whichever order you wish. Based on the puzzles I have solved, the difficulty does more ore less progress steadily if the puzzles are done in order. The game can be controlled by either the arrow keys on the keyboard or the mouse. Hovering your mouse cursor to the top of the screen shows various options. You can control how fast your little boy walks as well as the contrast of the raked sand. You can easily restart or undo moves that have been made. There is also a Zen garden designer option where you can create your own puzzle gardens if your'e feeling creative.
The minimalist graphics and sound while completely functional don't make the game appear any less boring either. There is no music either but that shouldn't be a concern. As far as the gameplay itself, the developer could've done a bit more to make things more interesting in the early puzzles. There's also no built-in incentive to play a puzzle again. All these aspects certainly didn't give me a great first impression but after solving first 10 gardens or so, I began to appreciate the hidden depth to its design. It's the type of game that you can play in short bursts or for extended periods of time as you think over possible solutions.
The best thing about Zen Puzzle Garden is that it's simple and easy to learn but can offer a great challenge. This challenge isn't initially apparent and impatient players might dismiss it as being too simple and boring. I would guess that for most people this puzzler won't approach addictive levels but I certainly ended up spending more than short bursts solving multiple puzzles in a half an hour or so at times. I do find the concept unique based on my limited knowledge of puzzlers.
My recommendation is that even if the description of the game doesn't sound interesting at first, puzzle fans should give it a fair shot. I think doing at least the first 10 puzzles should give you a good idea of whether the concept bores you or not.