The Bridge is the fever-dream of a child stuck in a dentist’s officer staring at an M.C. Escher drawing, trying to cling to some sort of reality. The player takes control of a bearded professorial character walking through various puzzles and mental games inspired by the works of M.C. Escher. While the game is aesthetically pleasing, it does also provide a decent challenge for newcomers to puzzle games while also challenging to those familiar to the genre. A game that’s friendly to newcomers and somewhat challenging to older players, the Bridge does little to innovate puzzle games, but is still a fun time walking through and piecing together the puzzle in a unique artform.
Graphics & Sound
It’s a 2D puzzle platformer inspired by the art of M.C. Escher and the art style is absolutely unique. Using the impossible constructs by Escher in a hand drawn aesthetic, with impressive use of shading to account for lack of color, the art design is probably the highlight of this title. If you are a fan of this style of art, you will not be disappointed especially if you are a fan of Escher’s work. The music however is a similar variation, if not the same exact, song that doesn’t particularly add anything to the gameplay, but isn’t annoying like some other titles where you beg for any sort of peace of mind. While I would of appreciated more variety, its not distracting and doesn’t take anything away from the experience.
Gameplay
Completing puzzles unlocks little snippets of what we could call a story, but more like hints or journal entries that would belong to an academic. But a lack of coherent story is not really a downside for this title. With several chapters with anywhere from 5 to 8 puzzles in chapter, there’s a decent variety of puzzles involving walking, collecting keys, avoiding menaces, rotating the map, and unlocking doors. Each chapter has a certain feature you will learn such as inversion and vortexes which mix up the  core gameplay and will show up later in other puzzles in other chapters. Simple, but when you add in the art style of Escher, certainly a bit challenging but not so much you have to bang your head against the wall.
Summary
The Bridge serves as a fun puzzle game that challenges your perception more than your mind, while a bit refreshing, but doesn’t do too much to define the genre. While a bit bland at first, the bridge knows how to do a decent amount with only a little, and thats a sign of good game design. If you want a good puzzle game to introduce yourself to the genre, or just enjoy crazy impossible art, go pick up The Bridge from the store today.
