Beglitched

I love the pixel style and the premise is genuinely so unique! I also think it's a very innovative way to use the general Mine Sweeper mechanics! If you enjoy experimental indie pixel art games, then this is most likely up your alley!

If you like lighthearted match-3 type situations and you're not a leftclicker that's scared of cute graphics, this is a fun little romp through cyberspace.

Very fun but frustrating game.. Failure in this game brings you aaaaaaall the way back to the beginning of a level. I’ve been attempting to save cat pictures for 2 hours now. It’s given me more trauma than any horror game I’ve played, and when I’m done I won’t even be able to look at a cat.

Take a break, take a break, and don’t destroy your real life computer.

Do better than me.

A really cute and challenging match-3 with a cute plot and colorblind-friendly graphics. Weirdly deep gameplay and a lot of existential questions.

Beglitched is a fantastic indie game. It's kind of like a combination of Bejeweled and Minesweeper.

It's challenging, but just the right amount.

Aesthetic is also 100/10!

Beglitched reminds me why I fell for indie games. Clever twists on a gameplay trope executed beautifully. Every level was a joy to work through, both aesthetically and in gameplay. Also super adorable. Leaves you with a full heart - keep an eye on these creators!

This is such a sweet little game. I've never particularly cared for Minesweeper or Match-3 type games, and I admittedly probably wouldn't have bought this if not for a friend, but I'm glad I-- well it was still gifted to me. Ish.

Anyway! This game has a very nice aesthetic. Very nice music too, and even very nice writing! The gameplay, once you figure it out, is fun. Honestly the only mark down I'd give it just that the mechanics can be a bit obfuscated sometimes. But it's fun to figure things out on your own. Just play around! It's really not bad at all. Rather lovely even!

I had lots of fun with this game. Nobody will heed my word. Friends, listen: it's a great game. It's almost too clever, asking the player to think outside the box and grasp onto new concepts at a fairly speedy pace. It's almost too cute, giving you a pink laptop, cartoon avis with puns, and a match-3 puzzler that is anything but casual.

It's a high-concept cocktail of genres, that doesnn't bother to explain, or answer for the flavors. Beglitched all takes place on the pink computer I just mentioned, given to you, your character, by a talented, precocious - maybe genius - hacker who left a long shadow. You are exploring it because you were entrusted to it, and it should be fun. It has two interfaces, one a Bejeweled-like "fight," where you have to use one of several pieces to track down how far, and in what direction a certain enemy is hiding, before you blow them up. Outside of battle, you are a cat avi, traveling through a varying grid of computer screens which you can dive in, digging into more. This is the "adventure" mode aspect, where you get from one point to another over a longer period of time, with battles intermittently. It plays like Minesweeper, where spoils of certain computer screens are only revealed by their neighbors, so you deduce the "mines" from the desirables. Once you dive into a screen to the next level, it blurs and makes a quick "dial-up" sound. Which never gets old.

On a third, "menu" screen, you are simply clicking icons on Glitch Witch's desktop to travel into her files, where you can read her poetry and journal entries, or travel through a lost woods of folders that reset once you hit a wrong "turn." It has a voyeuristic thrill, except of course Glitch Witch always feels one step ahead of your nameless protagonist.

All this minesweeping and Bejewling is a metaphor, for something that goes over my head, but never bores with its ambient buzz. You meet other hackers, other speaking animals who are all happy to see the "Glitch Witch" again. Based on her old "forum" buddies, you can start to build a portrait of what kind of person she was, an early 4chan type who had experiments and potential with trickster trolls, fortune hunters, and others who didn't develop the sense of responsibility with their skills. The side characters are likeable and funny but slightly forgettable. Building your concept of the past Glitch Witch, and her vague present challenges the player in a way, and packs narrative as much as a short story might.

Eventually, after a difficulty curve, the new mechanics in each level are also explained in journal pieces as metaphors for what she was thinking when she created certain programs, or possibly even "spells." The "glitch" part is taken to the extreme as outside of the box thinking forces you to push the limits of what is given to you on the screen. Also, probably a metaphor, of course.

The tutorial is left out: it assumes the player can pick up how to play. This may rankle some, but please others, who don't like to be pulled down by tutorials. I didn't have a problem, because I like to get my hands dirty first; the game doesn't punish you for failing until after you've grasped the concept. But it is hard not to see it as a crafty cop out of making something that eases the player in more, to shove the tutorial to a later part of the game (when it becomes a gag or easter egg).

Unfortunately, I didn't catch on to the story elements until it was past time to reflect on the first half of the game, so I may go back to clear things up. The ending, however challenging, still teases that I haven't completed the game, and there is a techno hole in the pink laptop that I still can only speculate about, like he playfully cryptic journal entries.

Beglitched is a computer within a computer, to show how some people lived online, even before the dawn of social media. As a cultural artifcact, younger players may come to understand better the life of a nerdy person in the 90's or mid 2000's. Not many games help you view games, casual genres, or the world in a different way, so it's cool to Beglitched deliver.

I wasn't entirely sure I'd enjoy this game a lot, as the few negative reviews said it was prohibitively difficult. You do have to replay certain portions multiple times to complete a section, but it's somewhat randomized, so it's not the exact same thing. Also I feel like there's a good amount of depth to the game, so you can try multiple different strategies for completing an area, so it hasn't gotten boring or overly frustrating to me. Overall I think it's great if you like puzzle games or roguelike-type games.

After finishing it, I still felt like I really enjoyed it. There were a few touches that gave it more of a personal feel in a way that provided an interesting contrast to the rest of the game. The only thing I felt iffy about is that for one of the bosses it really just felt like I was just lucky and there wasn't a clear strategy to beat it, but maybe i just missed it.

Beglitched is a genuine point of interest in how it manages its systems.

It's a puzzle game about being a hacker, but not in a complex web of newfangled problems. Instead it mixes the logic and feel of old computer games, ones you might find on Windows 95 or in the GAMES section of a Nokia. And that's where it's at its most clever. It borrows without shame, without trickery, in such a way that forms together into one much larger puzzle.

WORLD MAP = Windows Desktop
DUNGEON MAP = Minesweeper + Dungeon Crawler
BATTLE = Bejeweled + Hide & Seek + Resource Management

One warning I should get out of the way is perception. What you might feel in the first parts of the game are misleading.

Beglitched has "dungeons" that you "crawl' through and fight of enemies. This feels like a sort of RPG, or Dungeon Crawler. When you complete the first fight, you think you'll level up, or get a health upgrade. When you get money, you think you can buy better Skills or Permanent Upgrades. When you die you wonder if it's possible to grind.

But no. Get that out of your head right now. This is a puzzle game.

Every "dungeon" is like a level of Mario or Portal. You get better by playing, not by grinding enemies into statistics.

Each dungeon has its own logic. It demands you move and fight in different ways. This is for you to solve. This is where the joy comes from. But you have to fight an urge. You have to realize that attacking an enemy isn't usually the best solution. More often than not, the puzzle is how to AVOID enemy encounters. And when you fight, the puzzle isn't always about winning. Rather, it's about minimizing long-term damage, analyzing how enemies work in that area, and setting up your grid for the next fight if you have to fight it.

The systems explain themselves. Solving how they can be worked around, however, is the fun.

And it's very nice fun. It's light fun. And none of the puzzle outstay their welcome. The concepts used in the SPAM level and the concepts in the CAT level are very different, barely ever bleeding over.

You're given a toolbox of ideas, and each level crafts a way to make you exploit that toolbox differently.

If any of this sounds like your bag of tea, get it! Support these guys! It's a good experience, and worth supporting the devs.

At first glance Beglitched looks like a simple match-3 game with colorful visuals and cutesy sprites, when in fact, is so much more than that.

Beglitched is a puzzle game where you play as the "stranger" who found the "Glitch Witch's" Laptop from a super sekrit hiding place. Congrats. Now you start your adventure by taking the place of the Glitch Witch to bomb hackers, fix forums, run away from dogs and deliver cat pictures, all while learning the secrets of the Glitch Witch in the process.

The "how to play the game" is simple.

You travel around computer networks to dig up for items/rabbits/coins, Minesweeper style.

Battle Mechanic(Match-3):
Activate Computer nodes to find the enemy location. Then blow up the enemy with a bomb.
Sounds easy right?
Now comes in the Energy and Cycle Management.
Each time you move a tile or activate a node/bomb, you consume 1 cycle.
When activating nodes or triggering a bomb, you spend energy.
You lose health when you activated a node with the enemy inside it or when everytime the cycle ends.
I won't go in-depth on this because all these are demonstrated/stated in the tutorial.

All of these become more complex through the course of the game. Complex Puzzles that really make you think. You'll encounter enemies immune to bombs, glitchy computer networks that doesn't seem to have any entry/exit. A bit frustrating at times, but very satisfying when you solve the puzzles, which, I think, is how puzzle games should be.

Another thing worth the praise are the Glitch Witch's secret notes. It tells you how the Glitch Witch spends her free time. From being fascinated from the flushing sound of the toilet, to her opinions about lies in life. This gets you immersed in the story and wonders who the Glitch Witch is, which motivates you to try and attempt to uncover where the Glitch Witch is, and why did she give her job to someone else.

Overall, this is an excellent puzzle game.
Low Replayability. Good soundtracks. Cutesy Visuals.
One of the indie games that, for me, feels "fresh".
Recommended to anyone who likes puzzles or just plain want to try something new. Give it a try.

I'm really on the fence about this. Giving it a positive review only because most people are probably better at this type of game than I am.

I love basically everything about this game. The match-3 is great and for some reason I enjoyed the total confusion at the beginning. It makes sense in terms of the "backstory", if you can call it that. The aesthetic is amazing and the soudtrack is amazing. The retro sound effects are great too.

However, I feel like I'm too dumb to play this game. While I love match-3 I'm not good at the ones where you actually have to think ahead about things. The soundtrack doesn't make me want to be contemplative and strategic, it makes me want to match quickly without planning. I'm stuck on OwlNet, CatNet, and SpamNet all at the same time. I think for each I was able to get to what felt like a "final boss" at least once, but I'd have such low health or my cats would be at the bottom of the board. Then I inevitably die after spending ten-fifteen minutes getting through the level. I've gone through all three of those levels at least six times each and it's insanely frustrating to start over. Especially the cats, who thought of that hell? How are you supposed to keep them from being matched when the pieces on the board generally MOVE DOWNWARD NO MATTER WHAT and you get an enemy that moves them together? I spent every fight just moving the cats away so they don't get matched, and then the enemy moves it straight back. Then we do this over and over again until I run out of health.

I can recommend if you are not an idiot like I am. I can also recommend if you want to feel bad about yourself (in a good way). I wish the game gave some tips about how to "plan out" your board so that it wouldn't feel like I'm missing something here. I don't feel like I can get better at this game, because so many elements of match-3 are essentially random. So, I don't think I'll play this again but it's a cheap game and worth the experience. Probably.

I thought I was halfway in, and suddenly everything expanded again. I really am in love with the aire of mystery there is in this game, and how much it reminds me of my first PC. (Well, Apple Plus 2, but still) The puzzles are chewy, and even when I thought I had it figured out, there's just another twist to look forward to story and mechanics wise.

This definitely isn't meant to be as mindless as something like Bejeweled, like some reviewers were expecting: you really have to strategize and think your way through some of the battles. Sometimes it can be frustrating because if you run out of health you have to start the level over entirely (which leads to doing a lot of the same battles over and over again). I'd enjoy an easy mode to just be able to appreciate the storyline more, but that's really a testament to what a cute world they've created here! Overall, the unique style and playfulness far outweighs the occasional frustration, and I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a quirky little puzzle game.

I bought this game for my birthday, and I haven't been able to put it down since!

Beglitched mixes challenging logic puzzles with a fun "hacking" twist on the dungeon crawler setting, and wraps it all up in a big, pink, glittery bow. I know it might seem from previews like its just another match-3 game, but dont be fooled! It combines so many unexpected genres and mechanics, in fact, that it's hard to sum up easily--it's a unique type of puzzle all on its own, with match-3 rules making up a fraction of the whole system.

Long story short: if you're a fan of puzzle games, logic games, strategy/resource gathering, or any type of game that gives your brain a workout, you'll LOVE Beglitched. I heartily HEARTILY recommend it! <3 <3

I'm giving this more of a mixed-to-positive recommend.

Writing this at about 4-5 hours in. I like the dense-ness of the ideas: most battles and stages don't feel wasted, there's a bunch of neat twists and small additions to the gameplay with each level. The interface for the level select is neat, as is the ways in which the overworld and in-battle statuses interact. Graphics are clear and mostly understandable, there's a lot of nice graphical polish all over the place here.

That being said, I don't find the handling of difficulty scaling to work particularly well: some levels are fairly unforgiving - think a one-life Mega Man stage, which will completely restart you even if you're 20-30 minutes in and die. It does not help that sometimes new ideas are introduced at the end of stages, giving you one chance to mess up before losing all of your progress. Some of the ideas in the later levels felt obtuse in their more difficult iterations (SquidNet and Egg(?)Net come to mind) - I wasn't sure whether I was winning by luck or not.

I think checkpoints or even mid-stage saves could have helped a lot in this respect: the game seems to be turning into more about learning about these neat tricks and using them, but the context in which they pop up is extremely stressful and so I think that diminishes the game in that respect.

Being able to mark nodes on the maps (not the battle screen) would have been very nice: I think you're really at a disadvantage with this game if you're unable to store a lot of visual information in your head.

Battles become stressful at times because of the aforementioned, the music can become grating at these moments (though for the most part it's fitting).

I can't help but wonder if a keyboard interface for the game would have worked - I find myself wishing I could navigate level selects and battles by using keys rather than having to mouse and click all the time, and it got annoying when replaying stages to have to keep clicking for dialogue to pass.

I really love this game! It's adorable and funny, with a really unique battle system and a super dope world. It feels a little frustratingly hard at points (I kind of wish I didn't have to replay networks from the beginning when I lose a battle), but I've been coming back to it to see all the ways the mechanics get experimented with (the battle system seems simple enough on the surface, but gets explored in a bunch of different ways -- becoming more and more like a puzzle and even meta puzzle) and I've also been coming back to see the new characters and get to the bottom of who the dang glitch witch even is -- the art and writing carry it a long way. Highly recommend the game -- so unique and challenging.

It's a super cute, super fun puzzle game that combines minesweeper and bejweled. It's not particularily challenging but it makes up for it by being so unwieldingly charming that you end up loving it anyway.

If you like puzzle games and horrible but actually kinda clever puns, I wholeheartedly reccomend this!

Cute and fun, love the internet witch/cyberpink aesthetic. I want to say it's got sort of match-three and minesweeper and battleship mechanics, but it's not really any of those. Although it's gradually increasing the complexity of the puzzles, so far (about an hour in) it still feels very relaxing and calming, as it's all turn-based so you can take as long as you need.

Also, it is entirely mouse-based, so there is no official controller support, but it is perfect for a touch screen, steam controller, or any other controller mapped to the mouse (ie with joy2key or controller companion)

I was following this game waiting for its release.

I love the style and colors, the theme is solid.
The game play is split into two styles that keep the flow going, you aren't doing one thing for too long.

I like that I am able to move pieces without a match to setup a better match, I have never liked being locked in like that.

I truely hope that Hexecutable will make some more games!

10/10
1. Came in expecting some lame-o Bejeweled clone that I might get a refund later.
2. Nope, no refund needed. Asides from the match-3 mechanic, this game is nothing like Bejeweled.
3. It's match-3 plus grid-based tactic, plus a little JRPG, plus cutesy graphic.
4. Oh and did I mention boss fights? Its boss fights are one of a kind,
5. I've only just beaten OWLNET ( 4th stage ) so far, but the level design really made me go through every single corner of the areas and grind the items I need in order to ( successfully ) beat the end-boss.
6. That feeling when you finally did it after 10+ rounds, is just like when you beaten a Dark Souls boss where, they didn't make it intentionally hard, but you can beat it if you know exactly what you're doing.
7. My only complain was that it didn't have controller support.