N Step Steve: Part 2

N Step Steve: part 2 is a grid-based puzzle game where the titular Steve, a cosmonaut cat, has to reunite his dispersed crew after an unplanned landing on a remote planet. But Steve cannot move freely: when his move counter reaches zero, the level freezes, so he needs to refresh the counter frequently by stepping on numbered flags. Despite featuring a limited set of items, the game makes the most out of their interactions, with complex challenges leading to unexpected places.

The core mechanic of the N Step Steve series is the step counter: it decreases by one every time you move on the grid, but it refreshes to a small value (usually between 1 and 9) when you step on a flag. If you reach zero before you’re able to catch a new flag, the level freezes and needs to be reset, with Steve respawning at the most recent flag you stepped on. That is, if you were able to reach at least one flag since entering the level. Otherwise, you respawn right where you entered the level. This if condition, while fairly simple in itself, can give you a taste of the surprising corner cases and interactions the game revels in. Progressing through N Step Steve requires a strong understanding (and frequent tinkering) of its abstract logical systems.

The step counter and the flags are combined with various other classic turn-based mechanics, like pushable boulders, conveyor belts, slippery ice, and a few more. The resulting setups usually call for precise, not-a-single-step-left solutions. Most of the mechanics were actually introduced in N Step Steve: part 1, and since part 2 dives deep into their functioning, you might want to play part 1 first. It is shorter than part 2, but already quite challenging! (Note that N Step Steve is itself a sequel to 5 Step Steve, but 5 Step Steve had a somewhat distinct set of rules, so playing it is not as much of a requirement.)

Although the game sports lo-fi aesthetics and lighthearted humor, it definitely ranks among the hardest of the genre. While the main objective is to find your kitten crew stranded all around the planet you crash-landed on, the game also features numerous stars to collect, which involve finding trickier solutions to the puzzles you already cleared. The planet works as an open world segmented into interconnected areas, so if you want to go deep, prepare yourself for some mind-boggling, boundary-breaking meta-puzzles across multiple rooms…

The whole experience is packaged with multiple quality-of-life elements: unlimited undos, a world map, fast travel between central places, wormholes to skip previously completed rooms, etc. That’s more than enough reasons for N Step Steve: part 2 to be declared Best Free Game at the 2024 Thinky Awards!

This description was written by Oriane Tury and edited by Oriane Tury.