Has it been a while since your last dive deep into a mysterious science facility? Do you have a craving for unlocking doors by pushing crates and lasers around, and slowly finding out what's really going on in this research complex? Today's your lucky day.
The sarcastic and meta-humor-filled Lab Rat and the mini-monster-expedition The Electrifying Incident both release today, April 15th, and both of them drop you into vaguely Portal-esque lab environments you'll need to puzzle your way out of. But beyond that surface level similarity, the tones and vibes they're going for appear to be wildly different.
First up is Lab Rat: a game that developer Chump squad has been working on for at least a few years now. You're the latest test subject at the whims of the very GLaDOS-esque AI presence "SARA", a machine learning algorithm obsessed with measuring your metrics and extracting data from you through the primary vein of puzzle solving. (It must have been interesting working in this thematic territory over the last few years...)
It's clear the game has a very tongue-in-cheek approach to all this survey/data/test-subject stuff, and it looks like things will get pretty meta-layered along the way. Despite the comedic touch, I have no doubt Lab Rat is also pulling its weight in the department of truly challenging logic dilemmas: Chump Squad previously made the unique puzzle game Kine about getting a band together, and on the team this time around is Lucas LeSlo, someone I consider one of my personal favorite puzzle designers who's interesting and cryptic games we've featured on the site several times in the past.
Your 2nd new laboratory outing today is The Electrifying Incident, which I've covered a few times recently because a new polished release from the masters at Draknek & Friends is always an event in our scene. This is a "Monster Mini-Expedition"; a smaller, bite-sized game featuring the titular character from the much larger A Monster's Expedition.
Equipped with a shiny new mechanical-grabber-claw, you'll guide the monster deep into the facilities of a reactor that has stopped functioning and needs its electrical circuitry rearranged a bit. I don't see any of Lab Rat's sarcastic tones here: as with most of the monster's adventures, there's a playful, bouncy and lighthearted feel to it all (reinforced by the very charming song made for the game's trailer.) Although, mirroring my comments about the previous game, I have no doubt that a puzzle game with Alan Hazelden's mark on it gets quite challenging before the credits roll.
You can get both Lab Rat and The Electrifying Incident on Steam today. Go do some science.
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