"Every button has a purpose."
This is most of the info that the coy and minimal Steam page for The Button Effect is willing to give away in terms of actual puzzle mechanics. Thankfully the very enticing trailer and screenshots make up for it with a tasteful and sleek visual style that brings to mind such classic first-person experiences as Antichamber and The Witness, the latter of which has been cited as a direct influence for this upcoming experiment-and-learn-about-your-surroundings type of puzzle game.
You'll be exploring a museum over the course of this relatively short experience, discovering "hidden connections and spatial insights," seemingly centered around the titular mode of interaction: pressing buttons and observing what effects they produce. Many different mysterious contraptions and button arrangements appear in the trailer, offering barely any concrete hints at their puzzle functions. It's got a vaguely philosophical aesthetic reminiscent of many of these first-person puzzle games that aspire to get you wondering and thinking on some higher levels.
My cautious hope when an intriguing-looking game like this comes along is that the mechanics will follow through and deliver that special experience of finding your own way and slowly decoding a puzzle-language like some of the famous first-person predecessors have accomplished, but only time will tell if the puzzles of The Button Effect will live up to the very pretty first impressions we have so far.
No release window has yet been announced, but you can wishlist the game on Steam to keep up with any developments.
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