Hole in Won

Its a puzzle-themed golf game, or a golf-themed puzzle game... because golf is not hard enough--whenever I play, I'm always thinking, "I wish I could be solving riddles while I do this".

Game is honestly fine, it's not that bad, but the campaign's final slew of missions are pretty disappointing. Some puzzles are intuitive and fun, but a few were just annoying.

This game is about as "hard neutral" as they come, so I'll err on the side of a positive review. The game was okay and I enjoyed parts of it, but some parts were terribly irritating.

The idea of the game is fine: isometric block golf puzzles, with new types of blocks and mechanics introduced every 10 levels. In each batch of 10 levels, they start out easy to teach you how the new blocks work, and then they get progressively. That's all good.

But there are several things I really hate about this game. For one thing, you have to place the blocks in the order that they appear in the stack, so if the block you want is at the bottom, you have to place all other blocks first. This does not add to the puzzles at all, so it's just incredibly annoying and results in a ton of backtracking, forcing you to memorize the exact locations you placed all the blocks. Also, you can only place blocks adjacent to existing blocks, which again can make it frustrating to place the blocks how you want. These two poor design features make large puzzles with a lot of blocks a huge pain.

And then there's the insane physics of the game. Instead of behaving consistently, the ball will sometimes get erratic and go wild. This actually makes the game much easier because you can beat a lot of levels "accidentally." But since that's not how games like this are supposed to work, I'm going to say that's a minus point.

I also think it's stupid that one of the achievements is to upload your own level, which results in people uploading easy fake levels just to get the achievement.

So... the game is okay if you want a casual little puzzle game, but be warned that it's poorly designed in certain ways, which can make it unnecessarily frustrating.

A lovely physics puzzle game. I ended up with a few solutions that I don't think were intended, which was great to stumble into for the harder levels.

Would I recommend Hole in Won? Sadly no. I completed it, and while puzzle games usually aren't replayed, I also don't have fond memories of it. The core idea is solid, but the execution is rough around the edges, with selective realism in the physics and a few easily bypassed challenges. It has its own repository of user-built levels, but that one isn't enough to draw me back in. It's good for an hour or two, and then wanders to the shelf to collect dust.

I have a love for minimalist puzzle games, and Hole in Won isn't even the first minigolf-themed one I tried out. But sadly, this one didn't convince me, with the main reason being inconsistency.

What are the first things you expect of a puzzle game? Clear rules, and an intuitive way to figure out the solution. And Hole in Won delivers, for the most part. When a new aspect (like guard rails or ramps) is introduced, it happens through a series of 2 or 3 levels where the placement of the new element can easily be guessed. Then follow a few levels challenging that new understanding, and even mixing it up with some of the previous elements. That on its own is great, and I appreciate the thought put into the level design from that side.

Though in the later levels, cracks start to show. For one, I barely had any instance where I was truly stumped by a level, as most were either easy to solve, or would go down to a short session of trial-and-error. The only level I looked up the solution for was the final one, because it in my eyes drove the trial-and-error to its peak, without enough hints to guide towards the correct solution.

Speaking of 'correct solution': It happened several times that I found a solution that was clearly not intended. The most obvious giveaways were not using up all tiles I could place, or not using all pre-placed elements on the smaller levels. Some of the alternative solutions made me think: "How did they not see this shortcut?", while others were just brute-force directing the ball to the goal without regard for any sophisticated approach. That latter method was greatly helped by the surprisingly accurate physics this game uses.

One part of the 'clear rules' aspect of good puzzle games is an easy and predictable physics simulation. Either the game is arcade-y, with very restrictive and less realistic movements, which are easy to learn due to their simplicity, or it goes for a realistic approach to call upon experiences from real life and other realistic games. Hole in Won however tries a mix of both. Collisions are calculated accurately, which shows especially on the round peg obstacles, and will lead to greatly increased possibilities due to the Butterfly Effect. At the same time, the ball's spin and its friction against rails it is following are seemingly ignored, giving perfect bounces from walls and perfectly straight exits from railed sections. But that doesn't mean there isn't friction at all. The ball is always subtly slowing down, too little to notice on the smaller levels. There is even one level playing on that aspect, where the ball has to do two laps around the course to finish, because on the first time it jumps over the goal, just to roll the entire lap again to do the same jump at a sliiiightly lower speed and finally finish. All in all, the physics are frustrating to work with, where if you deviate a little from the intended path you end up with more of a pinball machine than a minigolf course.

One finaly point I want to shed light on is UI and controls. The UI clearly looks mobile-friendly, with buttons that on my monitor are as big as the palm of my hand, all with this generic, bubbly look and typeface. It is honestly so forgettable that I am already questioning whether I remember it correctly. The one thing I do remember is the fullscreen popup about unlocking a new cosmetic, coming up literally every 5 levels, as you unlock something every 5 levels.

About the controls, while the video on the store page shows controller bindings at the bottom, all the screenshots have mouse and keyboard controls on them. Kudos for allowing both. I myself played with mouse and keyboard, and was a little surprised that I actually needed both mouse and keyboard for this game, especially after seeing the mobile-y UI. You need a mouse to place tiles, but then you also need to hit the spacebar to try your solution. The big button below the tile stack is a stand-in for the undo key, but I didn't find a replacement for hitting space to start. I would've wished for mouse-only play being possible, and I am not sure if I overlooked something in that regard.

In the end, I needed a good 80 minutes to just about 100% this game. All 100 official levels have been solved, 10 user levels have been added on top, and I just refrained from making my own level for that final achievement. I had my eye on this game for a while, and playing it left me a little disappointed. It was short, challenging at times, and frustrating at others. A good idea, with quite a few cracks here and there. It doesn't make me think fondly of what it is, but mourn over what it could have been.

Great puzzler. Will this game bring you to some epiphany that leads to curing cancer? Probably not. Casual, chill game that is a nice palate cleanser. Enjoy!

Hole in Won looks like a neat minimalist logic puzzle about creating minigolf courses. Unfortunately, it's actually a cautionary tale of why one should never base puzzle mechanics on standard physics engines. *Wow* did this game annoy me.

By level 20-ish, it becomes apparent that the game uses a physics engine, e.g. the ball loses speed over time, and eventually starts moving erratically (presumably due to floating point errors). This turns the game from a logic puzzle into a puzzle about wondering how its dubious physics engine interacts with its logic puzzle elements. E.g.: If the ball reaches the hole tile with sufficiently low speed, it's sucked in. The physics engine is somehow even asymmetric: e.g. I had a straightforward solution for level 63 that didn't work because the physics engine behaved differently for a ball going from A -> B than for B -> A.

The game later on even introduces diagonal shots (lvl 70); the corresponding tiles are some of the most unintuitive obstacles I've seen in a puzzle game. And then there's another type of bizarre tile, a kind of smooth hill (lvl 80).

The result is a bizarre and awkard combination of a deterministic logic puzzle, plus a physics engine with unpredictable albeit repeatable outcomes. As a whole, the game design doesn't really work.

To get a sense of what I mean, just look at later level solutions in the Steam walkthrough guides: Some levels can be trivialized via insane physics engine nonsense, so their bizarre solutions only require a fraction of the level's tiles; and some solutions look like straight-up gibberish.

And while it's neat that there's a level editor (though without Steam Workshop support), if your puzzle game features bizarre physics behavior, then that incentivizes equally bizarre level design by the community.

My overall impression here is that during the game's design phase, the devs fell in love with the weird physics behavior and embraced it wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, it just doesn't mesh well with the deterministic logic puzzle aspect of the game.

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Apart from that overall insanity related to the physics engine, the game also has some other issues.

In particular, it's annoying that tiles must be placed in a fixed order, and can't be rearranged. This mechanic has like 1% gameplay justification, since tiles can only be placed next to existing tiles; but it mostly makes it much more annoying to plan solutions for puzzles where you must place lots of tiles.

Also, level progression is linear, so if you're stuck in a level, you're stuck, period. Why are we still doing this? There are sooo many better ways to implement level progression in a puzzle game =(.

Also, the puzzles are so non-tight (partly due to the physics engine stuff) that I beat lots of levels while skipping multiple tiles and even parts of the level.

And there are annoying level editor achievements: one for uploading a level, and one for beating 10 levels. So naturally, a significant fraction of the uploaded levels are non-puzzles where you just win with one click.

Final verdict: Not recommended.

You can solve many levels in ridiculous completely unintended ways. The level editor rocks too!

Cheap, simple puzzler based around minigolf. The isometric angle of viewing the courses doesn't help with trying to calculate some of the bounce angles, but there's sometimes multiple ways to achieve the end goal without too much fretting. Surprised I have so few hours in this, I thought I took longer to complete it... Well, it works out at less than a pound an hour, so that's still not a terrible deal and it'd be even better value when it's on sale. Now to finish the achievements, that'll probably get me to the 3 hour mark :D

An excellent physics based golf puzzle game with beautiful graphics.

Hole in Won is developed by Bright Corners LLC.

During the 100 levels, you will be placing tiles (which can be rotated) from a pile in order for the ball to go into the hole. As you progress, you will unlock different colour themes for both the sky and the tiles (11 different colours for each).

The tiles increase in variance as you progress and include flat, poles, bumpers (straight and angled), little arrows that will change the direction of the ball, as well as hills.

Levels become more difficult as you progress and sometimes not all tiles are required to be placed in order to succeed. Other times, you will have to place tiles that will not be in play, just to access the tiles in the deck that you require. There are a few larger puzzles in the very late game.

There is full screen as well as windowed mode. Sliders for both music and sound effects. The music is quite pleasant tranquil synth with birds whistling in the background.

The game also features a Level Editor where you are able to create your own course and upload it to the Arcade area for other people to play.

Pros:
* Colourful graphics with ability to change to preferred colours as you progress
* Enjoyable game play
* Replayability with the arcade area
* Great price
* Achievements

Cons:
* The tiles must be placed in order from the stack which makes testing a little difficult

Easily recommended for people who enjoy puzzle games and golf.

9/10

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This review was submitted for Elite Giveaways, where every game deserves a review.
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Cute golf-themed puzzle game - not done yet, but difficulty isn't very high in the first 50 levels or so.

If you checked out the preview video, you should know what you are in for. I play on Steam Deck and it took me a few min to get the control scheme down, but I then started to enjoy the game. It's not like golf to me, because I hate golf. I think this is more akin to billiards, but ultimately a puzzle game with a sport theme - get the ball in the hole.

Actually a fun game. Do not assume it is just easy and simple, as it does get hard, at higher levels. Both relaxing, and mentally stimulating.

Fairly short campaign, but well worth the price. The campaign introduces new piece mechanics at a perfect pace so you never feel bored, or that the game is too easy. Looking forward to the arcade puzzles!

it's really quite shrimple

you hit the ball into the hole (Hole) in (in) one (Won)

The golf physics are immaculate! There are many puzzles of varying difficulty to choose from, as well as a custom level editor. Great for a relaxing evening.

This is a pretty simple puzzle golf game but also a fun one to play that's worth the very cheap value with plenty of mind cracking potential. You learn how different various pieces work with the 100 level Campaign. I sometimes get a Hole In 1 using the game's... interesting physics. It is worth the few hours to unlock all colour options for the sky and the pallet colour swaps for the course itself. The sound effects are satisfying for one very peaceful mini golf puzzle game. The great thing is that if you want to play more of Hole in Won (very clever title indeed), there's a whole pole-thora's worth of other levels to play in its Arcade mode created by different players in the Community and the excellent thing is, it is very easy to make levels with the use of the game's Level Editor. All of the levels that you've seen in the Campaign have been created using the same Level Editor that we use. The ramps, the J-Bends and all of that. You can share your created levels and they pop up in the Arcade too for everyone to play! Who knows, you might get a VERY special with likes and play counts higher than FORE!!!!

To be honest, for a well polished and simply amazing value of a simple golf puzzle game, there's not really much criticism I can make out of it. I would pretty much want to see more of this game. Maybe add in some interesting course elements like height elevations with a goal for some of the puzzles to get your ball into a very high or low placed flag pole. Maybe implement some bounce pads, some doors, enemies, coins, bunkers, objects that you go through like windmills, teleporters and even holes that get you to different spots... yeah. It's great and simple as it is, but it can be amazing with a bit more potential. Props for the developers for releasing this game near the beginning of 2023.

Easy game. Simple Golf life. Easy start but annoying as it progresses towards the end not knowing where each tile goes where. Needs more levels, customization, and most importantly better Mouse controls! No one wants to use both hands when playing a relaxing game, Put every interaction on the Mouse so its one handed. Let me use one hand on my adjusted on my chin and feel like an intellectual while playing with the other hand. Would play Hole in Won 2

hole in won is a physics-based mini-golf puzzler. you're building courses with the tiles provided, then testing them to see if they work. a fail state doesn't reset the level, just undo whatever needs to be undone and try again.

100-level campaign, each stage unlocked one by one, every 5th also unlocks more of the 2 types of customization, sky/background color and color palette for the tiles. there's a level editor with extra tiles not seen in the campaign and the arcade lets you play user-made levels with GIGANTIC 'thumbnails' leading to days of scrolling just to see what's on offer. couldn't be more mobiley, the opposite of a compliment for a pc game that doesn't even have a mobile version as far as I know.

user-made levels could add longevity, but it's always a big if. not only does the game need a bunch of players, it also needs enough creative ones to pump out decent content, but instead it has achievements for uploading and playing custom levels, so you can bet your ass achievement whores will ruin the arcade pretty fast, happens every time.

tiles can only be placed next to other tiles and they have to be dealt with in the order they appear on the right. all of them are visible, so you can plan ahead, but selecting them in any order would've been preferable and mouseover zoom on tile selection is unnecessarily obnoxious. no mechanics besides 'it's mini-golf', but there are many ways to redirect the ball, ramps and humps, a bit of bouncing around, etc. I had to keep rotating those narrow redirectors, always placed them wrong the first time, and the angled tiles introduced around level 70 turned the whole thing into tedious trial & error, for me anyway. I accidentally (and later less accidentally) cheesed a couple of levels too, abusing physics ftw!

controls are mouse-based, there are hotkeys but nothing is rebindable. wasd or holding the middle mouse button pans the camera, q/e and the wheel zooms, left click places tiles, right click or 'r' rotates the current piece, 'f' is undo (why?) or you can click the only button on the right. space or clicking the putter lets you try your solution, partial or full. had to find out about the putter from the developer, didn't think to try it, so a dedicated ui button would be good too, or at least highlighting this on the first few levels. space/clicking the putter also stops the current goings-on, but you can't mess with the level (it's stop, not pause), it just lets you skip watching the whole thing play out if you realize it's not gonna work.

I would've liked a simple mouse action other than clicking a button on the side to undo stuff. options are nice but nobody's gonna use zooming or panning here (except on levels 90 and 91), everything is so big my dead grandma could make them out. rotate with the wheel, undo with right click (or vice versa), hotkeys would still zoom/pan.

graphics are functional for the most part, some of the buttons and menus are a bit basic-looking and way too big and mobiley. nice ambience, unintrusive and unmemorable music and sfx, on-screen level numbers. settings aren't available while playing, and besides the colors there are resolutions, windowed mode and separate volumes. good enough for something like this.

it's a mostly fun little thing for a good price. dead easy at the beginning, very little challenge until level 70 and the angled crap might not be problematic for others either, but it soiled the experience for me on multiple occasions and I called it quits a few levels before the end, close enough.

Very fun puzzle game. Polished, simple, soothing, satisfying. Strongly recommend

Really nice game. Clever levels and gameplay feels polished!

Fun game.

I finished some levels by accident with probably cheese and now I'm making cancerous custom levels by bouncing balls at oblique angles. What more can I ask for from golf?