Someone recently asked what my room’s ‘aesthetic’ was, and I replied as honestly as possible. “Wires,” I said. Plugs connected to monitors and consoles and chargers and other miscellaneous gadgets that I really didn’t need to waste money on - hello there, diffuser I forgot existed. They litter the corners of my house like some kind of eldritch horror tentacle-ing its way out of the shadows. Taming them all, at this point, is a lost cause, but at least I can live an organised life vicariously through management puzzler Plug It In.
Plug It In’s demo has been floating around for some time over on Itch.io, but developer unSAME has since fleshed out the early taste test and added more levels in preparation for its most recent Steam Next Fest debut. Don’t worry if you missed it during the event, though, Plug It In’s Steam demo is still, ahem, plugged in.
The basic gist is that each level puts increasingly funkily-shaped extensions and power sockets in front of you, alongside equally funkily-shaped electrical plugs, and your job is to plug all the plugs into the correct outlets while making sure there’s space for everything to fit properly. There’s also a cheery little guy egging you on in the corner, for no apparent reason, though I won’t complain about getting complimented for my every move.
Chunkier plugs will block other, smaller ones from fitting underneath, so there’s a fair amount of mental Tetris-ing as you think up the neatest formation and rotate the different blocks. Eventually, the game even emulates the horror of going on holiday only to discover an unfamiliar socket staring up at you since certain plugs will only fit into their corresponding outlets.
So, yes, it’s essentially a game about fiddly organisation and ignoring multiple fire hazard red flags squeezed into puzzles that only last a minute or so each - you can probably power through the entire demo in well under an hour. But unSAME complicates the initially simple formula with new, gimmicky, elongated plugs that also have their own sockets attached to them, meaning you’ll eventually be stacking a Tim Burton-ish tower that’s poking out from all sides. A daisy chain of electrical appliances, if you will.
The premise is easy to understand. The vibes are effortlessly cutesy. The deep click when you’ve finally cracked a case is oh-so satisfying. And I’m a sucker for minimalist puzzle games that turn real-world chores into bite-sized toys, so of course I had fun with Plug It In’s demo, though the wires that awkwardly sit at right angles at the end of each level weren’t the only things that irked me here.
Plug It In is already a pretty chill, laid-back experience, but there were times when the puzzling was almost on auto-pilot mode. When you drag a plug over a corresponding socket, the game will automatically rotate the object until it finds an angle it can fit into. I’d definitely recommend turning this feature off in the settings since it can often feel like Plug It In is completing the puzzles for you, and all you need to do is trial-and-error your way through.
My only hope now is that Plug It In can build on its great ideas with slightly harder headscratchers. Right now, it’s a very original game with a neat presentation - and an even neater head-bopping tune in the background- but I’m not sure how long the appeal of zig-zagging plugs can last without more involved puzzling. The collection of levels on offer in the demo only stumped me once when it wasn’t totally clear why a certain plug wouldn’t jig into place, and apart from that, there’s a lack of friction on offer that I think might end up hiring Plug It In in the long run. Hey, maybe plugging plugs into sockets is really that simple. How complicated could it be? But the few clever gimmicks that unSAME chucks into the demo are enough to convince me that there is enough energy in this concept to fuel an entire game - it just isn’t totally obvious based on the short ‘n’ sweet slice that I played.
I should note that Plug It In now has a level editor, too, letting you create your own plugs and sockets before stamping them with holes or tugging on their sides to stretch them. It’s incredibly tactile, and even if the game itself might lack some challenge, I’m sure someone on the internet will create an organisational torture chamber that’ll keep me scratching my head for ages. Take inspiration from your own household bundle of wires and extensions - I know it’ll make for a horrific level.
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