This may be the most obscure gem of the indie game’s catalogue I’ve yet found. It’s so obscure that it doesn’t even have a ranking yet (due to lack of votes) on the Dashboard. That game is “This Way That Way”, and it’s awesome.
The gameplay is simple enough, but like the best puzzle games the permutations get more complicated as you climb up through the levels. Once you choose a direction to move, you must move the other three directions before you can move that first direction again. You can move entirely across the screen without changing direction, so choosing which order to move each direction in, and how far you need to move each time, really becomes interesting. Once you hit a barrier you are required to move another direction, but you don’t need to go right up to the next wall or barrier before changing direction. Once you finally think you’ve mastered it all, the game throws in bottomless pits, moveable boxes, and roving enemies to ramp up the difficulty. This is an unmissable purchase for 80 Microsoft Points, and I’m frankly blown away that it’s flying so far under the radar it doesn’t even have an x-out-of-5 rating yet. Seriously, go download the trial people!
Here’s what the developer (murphwich) has to say about the game:
“Learn to think in a whole new way as you zig and zag through 101 puzzles filled with obstacles. Try to reduce your moves and reach target scores to unlock additional characters. Get your brain ready, while the puzzles start out simple every new element presents a new challenge.”
Writings of Mass Deduction 