Tametsi

Tametsi is an abstract logic puzzle game about finding concealed mines within grids of cells. There are a wide variety of levels, with a minimal set of rules but very different layouts and cell shapes. Unlike classic Minesweeper, the levels are designed so that they can always be solved using deduction alone.

Tametsi’s gameplay will be familiar to anyone who has played Minesweeper. Each level is a grid of clickable tiles, some of which conceal mines. When you click on a tile, it is either revealed as a mine, or it indicates the number of adjacent mines (if any). You can also right-click a tile to flag it as a mine—but the game won’t validate your guess until you’ve gone over the whole grid. Your goal is to flag all the mines without left-clicking on any. In-game drawing tools are provided to help you track your logical hypotheses.

Tametsi has been praised for the unusual design of its levels. Some of them feature square cells, but others use hexagons, rectangles, squares of different sizes, or even more surprising tiling patterns. The overall grid layouts also change from one level to the next, providing rhythm to the solving process. Additionally, some levels include nonogram-like numbers which tell how many mines are contained in a specific line of cells, or in a subset of cells marked with a specific color.

A significant difference from classic Minesweeper is that you never have to guess. Levels are not randomly generated; they are individually designed and the mines are positioned so that they can all be located based on available information. One side consequence is limited replayability: if you reveal a mine by mistake, you’ll have that information forever, so it’s better to think through your moves carefully. Overall, however, there is no penalty for mistakes. You can simply undo your move and continue playing.

Tametsi is minimalist in presentation. The visuals are made of clean lines and flat-colored shapes, and there’s no music. It keeps the focus on pure logic and brainteasing puzzles.

This description was written by Gwen C. Katz.