Dédale Review

Dédale is a great little puzzle title in which you guide a butterfly around. I have been informed that Dédale means maze and that is a fitting title. In Dédale you have to colour in each piano key square without going back over the ones you have already done. When you guide the butterfly over a square a musical note will play and the sequence of going over them all at once makes a tune. As the puzzles get trickier and add in more elements, I found myself relaxed instead of infuriated when I simply couldn't figure out the puzzle. The soothing music and the "Yes!" factor when you figure out how to finish a level make for a highly addictive and relaxing experience.

What makes Dédale a true gem is the music. It is gorgeous. It is worth playing just to relax to the music. My only issue is that sometimes when you go too fast moving the butterfly the piano key notes mash together. However, that is mostly my own fault for rushing.

Dédale is splits each puzzle into a different level and then further groups the levels together in worlds. There are 15 levels in each of the 7 worlds. In addition to this there are time trail, vortex and a Dédale-O-Matic modes.

Dédale-O-Matic is an endless mode where every time you finish a puzzle a new randomly generated one appears for our butterfly to paint in. Each is different to the puzzles from the story mode and follows the same key principles.

In time trail the piano key gradually disappear making life even harder for our young butterfly friend and his endless quest for colouring in. You can play through all of the worlds with time trail on for an added challenge and Dédale-O-Matic as well. It doesn't really make the game any harder just looks pretty and mixes the levels up a bit.

Vortex mode rotates the levels as you play them. This causes them to only be mildly harder but made me feel quite ill while playing. Needless to say I did not continue this mode for very long. A nice addition though for those who can manage it.

As you progress in worlds new elements are added (as you might have seen from the pictures above). These 'special' blocks alter how you can move the butterfly and bring a bit more depth to the gameplay.  While it is a nice addition they don't really make the game that much more challenging or alter the core gaming experience beyond "Oh I have to go left here" and can in fact make certain levels easier as it guides you and your insect friend through it.

Overall Dédale has some interesting elements but is still lacking a bit. I can get over the fact that it assumes I know what to do and have played this kind of game before but it would have been nice to be pointed in the right direction. The puzzles range from very easy to fairly tricky but are randomly assigned in each world. It doesn't feel like they get harder and harder rather you have a hard level then easy level. At the end of the day Dédale is an enjoyable and relaxing puzzler that doesn't do much to stand out from the crowd but is a find addition to it instead.


Score - 75/100

General Information


Game Name - Dédale
Developer - Sergey Mohov
Genre - Puzzle
Release date - 4 Jul 2012
Bundle - Bundle In A Box