Simply Puzzles: Junctions

The puzzle mechanics are really good, but the game built around them would be much improved with some additional/more complicated features. Other than the error check, these puzzles could be printed out and done on paper (with pencil/rubber) without loosing anything, and I think that shows some wasted potential. Toolbox - I think the game should give a few pointers showing some of the rules that need to be learned to even attempt the harder puzzles. Such as: two 1's cannot connect diagonally unless one is at the edge. Coloured lines - I really struggle to see if I'm about to close a large loop on the bigger puzzles. I'd like there to be an option of colouring lines so that all connected lines became a single colour. I think any line more than 10 links long should become a distinct colour (or that this should be an option to enable). Show Mistake - this is actually too powerful. I think it would be much better if it showed all broken rules (nodes with incorrect numbers of connections and closed loops), and not just the first incorrect line.

a simple to learn but hard to master puzzle game. Nothing more, nothing less. They are not kidding with the title, the game is REALLY simple to learn. Simpler than say sudoku, even simpler than minesweeper, but with similar levels of complexity when you get really into it. The game has 100 levels for you that start of pretty small that you can do in about 5 minutes, to eventually ballooning to puzzles that take 30 minutes or longer. As far as I could tell you really did not need to ever guess, but there were definitely some puzzles where it felt like you had to guess. I would rate the medium levels very highly, being enjoyable to figure out but not too easy, but the higher levels tended to drag. Maybe you can figure out a better way, but I found myself needing to try a long branch of possibilities just to eliminate a single move that really ground the game to a halt. The game is also very bare bones, with simple looks and sounds, but the game is cheap. So not really a complaint but don't expect to be wowed by that. Overall I can recommend this game if you are a fan of games like sudoku or picross, but while it is fun for a while it does seem more limited.

Great simple puzzle game that is similar to what you would find in an old puzzle book from "back in the day". Learning the gimmick is simple but the puzzles get increasingly more challenging. Well worth the price.

Good, minimalist puzzler. Very zen (wish there was a dark mode!). One thing that might be helpful in future updates or a sequel is automatically flagging when a circle is satisfied; it can get a bit tedious later one to scour through every single circle to find the one that is broken, especially as you're moving lots of lines in succession. Overall a lovely little well-priced game!

A nice relaxing implementation of Nikoli's Gokigen Naname puzzle type, also seen as Slant in Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection. It is not a particularly difficult type of puzzle so the game is not very tough.

This is a good game for logic puzzle fans. I found many of the puzzles challenging but not so difficult that I couldn't figure them out eventually. I got stuck on a few puzzles I but came back to them later and was able to figure them out.

Just another one then I'll go do the dishes... Just another one then I'll go do the dishes... Just another one then I'll go do the dishes... *1 hour later looks up notices how dark it's gone....* Oopsie!

I recommend this game to those who enjoy logic puzzles. However, if you enjoy logic puzzles only when you can quickly find the answer, then you probably won't enjoy this. I have completed 60 of the 100 puzzles and there have been times in almost every one of them when I had to follow a sequence of moves to determine whether a cell could be a certain value (but there is always a logical answer with no guessing required). I find this game to be very enjoyable and well worth the asking price.

Very nice, simple concept and clean, minimalist execution. Clicks on the board are very responsive so you can proceed as fast as your wits allows. Recommended for fans of the minesweeper/hexcells puzzle varieties, although this one would probably count more as an entry level challenge (not to say that later levels are actually walks in the park!).

Chill puzzle game. Kept learning new ways to prove the puzzle as they ramped up in difficulty. Runs great on Linux.

Excellent little puzzle game! Well worth the $2! I'd LOVE if there were user-made puzzles so I could keep playing, but that is a considerable amount of work on the back end that I don't expect at this price point.

Fun little logic puzzle game, great to play while listening to an audiobook or watching some videos.

A very satisfying game I can play without having to worry about try-hard difficulty settings or timers. Yes please!

This is a fun collection of Gokigen Naname (Slant) type puzzles which should be quite enjoyable for anyone who enjoys logic puzzle games. There's 100 of them, all of which are available from the start of the game, so if you get stuck on one, you can always just skip forward a bit, if you like. The game's definitely worth it for the asking price. The Linux version worked like a charm, too! Apart from simply figuring out the various axiomatic deductions throughout the game (I hadn't played this particular kind of puzzle before, so it was new to me), the levels are all more or less the same -- there won't be new mechanics or anything like that. Mostly the levels just get bigger as you progress through. The difficulty curve is a little bit sporadic; I found that I'd get stuck on one for a little while but then blow right through the next few. A few quality-of-life improvements wouldn't go amiss, such as maybe having an alternate-color "testing" mode where you could more easily test out proofs-by-contradiciton. Some weirdness with windowed mode is currently getting sorted out by the developer. Anyway, I'd definitely recommend this to fans of logic puzzle games, and I'm looking forward to seeing more entries in this game series!

Playing through Simply Puzzles: Junctions was fun for me. It is a minimalistic numbers puzzle game and as such is very reminiscent of Tametsi and the Hexcells series even though its puzzles are not as unique and rather generic. Yet there has not been another similar game in quite a while that was able to keep my attention all the way through to the end. Junctions puzzles consist of a board with a rectangular grid and some numbers on the grid junctions which tell you how many lines have to touch that number. Each square of the grid has to be filled with a diagonal line so obviously there are only two options to fill any given square. On top of that simple rule the player is not allowed to form any given shape with the lines on the board, i.e. there must not be a closed "loop" of lines. Finally and most importantly, none of the puzzles require any guessing! What intriguied me about the game was exploriong all the different facets of "starting clues". Aside form the obvious clues, e.g. a 0 or a 4 on the board, there are plenty of other deductions that can be made in order to start filling an untouched section of the board and finding those was very satisfying. Yet the amount of deductions to apply is limited and with 100 puzzles to complete some may find the gameplay a bit repetitive. As mentioned before, Junctions does not reach the craftsmanship of such games as Tametsi or Hexcells. There would be some room for improvement. Most important for me would be a feature that lets you highlight a specific continuous line on the board, especially in the later puzzles of the game. It can be quite challenging to figure those out on your own on a board with about 100 squares that are mostly filled. I know such feature from conceptis puzzles games and it would simply facilitate solving the puzzles as opposed to progressing the puzzle solution. Nonetheless, I find Junctions much better than plenty of other minimalistic number puzzle games out there and as such it deserves my recommendation. It took me a little over 5 hours to complete all puzzles. For a price of 2.39€ that's a good amount of content.

Cool and simple puzzle