Overhaul Review

Overhaul is a puzzle roguelite title in which you play as Ikalee, a member of the Sol-Kin tribe who ventures into a building that's been abandoned for years in order to reach its core, get the energy from it, and bring it back to his tribe.

The story in Overhaul isn't very present, but it doesn't need to be, considering this is a gameplay-heavy title. Realistically, throughout my experience with the title, I didn't get to interact with any of the characters, but despite all of that, I grew really fond of Ikalee. Overhaul borrows many of its mechanics and ideas from Hades, as Ikalee talks a lot between puzzles, though it’s often one sentence of self-encouragement. Surprisingly, this added a lot of depth to the character, and it made me fond of our protagonist surprisingly quickly; despite not having a lot of lines, I got to know more of him than I do most other protagonists. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing him talk as we moved on to the next puzzle.

The gameplay is incredibly unique in Overhaul, and I can confidently say that you haven't played a game quite like this one — the mixture of roguelite elements with puzzle-focused gameplay is one I absolutely adored and never knew I needed. Each puzzle features a simpler version of Sudoku, with puzzles ranging from 2x2 grids (only in boss fights, more on that later) all the way to 5x5 ones. You have different seeds you need to plant in each tile, but for every row and column, you can only have one of each. This sounds complex, but it's far simpler than Sudoku, and I'm grateful for that — Overhaul would be nowhere near as fun as it is with Sudoku's level of difficulty and complexity. Trying to complete the puzzles won’t be your only obstacle, however, as some of the more challenging levels include enemies (in the form of plants) that you'll have to avoid since Ikalee isn't particularly adept at combat.

This sounds — and looks — far more frustrating than it actually is. Ikalee doesn't fight, and you'll often find yourself trying to run from these traps, but they are just that: traps. Some you can pull out to temporarily disable, and others never activate unless you do something (such as getting too close). Individually, these plants aren't difficult to manage, but how they mesh together in higher complexity rooms is what starts making them deadly. Still, I never found myself struggling too much with one and, although sometimes I did perish to these, it just meant I managed to pick up the next run and use the Watts I'd gathered (which you get by completing puzzles) to unlock more things.

You get different amounts of Watts per difficulty room you select, ranging from a rating of 1–4. Although you're not allowed to choose the difficulty of the room every time, it's nice being able to, mostly, decide when you want to tackle harder rooms. At first, I adamantly chose rooms with a difficulty rating of three, and although I'm alright at Sudoku puzzles, I found myself struggling after the third room; the more I played, however, the better I got, and I found myself tackling six or more difficulty-four rooms. 

Each room has its own gimmick that you quickly learn to recognise; either it has plants that synergise to spell doom or layouts that are particularly tricky to piece together. These were predominantly easy and enjoyable, though I'll always have a special hatred for timed levels!

This is the way the core (hah, get it?) gameplay loop in Overhaul works — you start a run, go through rooms, complete puzzles, reach the core, and then restart. This simplicity made Overhaul a joy to just pick up and play, especially since you're mostly able to choose which level of difficulty you tackle. Once you've reached the core a few times, you'll unlock the boss battle at the end. This four-stage boss battle took me a couple of tries to complete and was a bit frustrating in some parts, especially the second stage, because you get a tiny window to actually make any moves. Thankfully, the boss is actually optional; although it helps with giving a lot of Watts to progress faster, killing it was never a necessity, and that took away my singular quarrel with fighting it; without it being a necessity, it's rather enjoyable.

Overhaul is likely the most unique roguelite title I've played, and it's a phenomenal one. It has taken a special place in my heart, and I cannot wait to have the pleasure of jumping to clear more rooms. Its accessibility, allowing you to choose the difficulty of the puzzle you enter, lets you gradually get better, making it a newcomer-friendly experience. Though, if you're not a fan of Sudoku-esque puzzles, perhaps consider skipping out on this one.