Puzzle Agent

I recently joined the wonder world of Steam after hearing so much about how great the online PC gaming retailer was, and hoo boy was it worth it. I think I spent maybe ~$30 and doubled my gaming backlog thanks to their ridiculous sales. Some of the fairly new AAA titles I'll save for whenever I get a more powerful computer, so for now I'll just be posting some lighter fare and indie games. First off came Puzzle Agent, a charming little puzzle game that feels like a cross between Professor Layton and the film Fargo. You play as Nelson Tethers, the only agent in the United States Puzzle Research Department, sent on a mission to the small town of Scoggins Minnesota to determine the cause of some mysterious disappearances happening in its eraser factory. Of course the town is full of puzzle fanatics, so any time Nelson needs to press a witness for information, or even just to get around town from one place to another, he's got to solve a puzzle. I feared that like the old Professor Layton games I'd run into a few repeats of classic puzzles, and given the short game length (3 hours, 39 puzzles) there wouldn't be much new to see here; luckily almost all of the puzzles were fresh, although the game did repeat a few of its own gimmicks. Also like the Layton series, Puzzle Agent has a unique art style; in this one the characters and backgrounds look like a nice cartoony mix of crayon and watercolor. The game finished up quickly, but went out of its way to set itself up for a sequel, as most of the plot doesn't quite add up yet, so I'll get to it's sequel Puzzle Agent 2 in the coming months.