The initial comparisons between Magrunner and a certain popular puzzle game involving portals are obvious to see even at a glance. If you’re going to make a first person puzzle game it’s worth looking to the best. That’s not to say Portal’s intellectual property has been blatantly stolen, just that Magrunner appears similar. And that’s not at all a bad thing.

From the word go Magrunner looks pretty. A brief cutscene introduces the concepts of Magrunner and explains why you’re in a sci-fi world using magnetic technology to overcome a series of puzzle-like obstacle courses. The early game see’s you solving puzzles in a clinical ultra sci-fi environment. It’s slick and incredibly shiny surfaces make for a great looking first few levels as the game introduces you to the different ways to accomplish your various tasks.

But inevitably things start to go wrong and soon your environments become half destroyed gritty variants of their sterile predecessors. The narrative is delivered through a series of holographic communiqués from the games’ various characters and isn’t really all that inspired. Surprisingly Magrunner takes on a very dark tone and at times could reasonably be described as a horror title. At first the intrigue of what may have gone wrong at the facility is appealing but soon I found myself wondering if the horror inspired environments where necessary to the game. The plot attempts to be clever and keep you hooked but in reality you are still challenged with the same puzzles in a new environment.

It’s rare I ask for less in a game but I can’t help but think Magrunner would have been better off if it had stuck to it’s early game ideas. The plot and sudden, stark alteration in atmosphere just don’t add anything to the game. If Magrunner had stuck with the plot and format of the early game it would have been very different but I believe it would have complemented the game much better. There’s nothing wrong with the clean, shiny environments and there would be no need to explain why a destroyed area has conveniently formed a puzzle very similar to that of the room before it fell apart. It’s a puzzle game with or without a deep twisting narrative and it should be the puzzles that keep me coming back.

Fortunately, the puzzles are definitely Magrunner’s strongpoint. The basic premise is that you have a glove that allows you to charge certain objects with either positive or negative magnetic charge. Two positively charged objects will attract one another and visa versa. Objects are then cunningly placed so that they can be used to solve whatever challenge presents itself. Puzzles are clever and well designed with enough features to keep them fresh for a little while. There is a little too much variation in the difficulty with some levels taking quite a long time to solve and others taking almost none. Although likelihood is a decent challenge is never too far away you can’t help but feel as you instantly solve an area when you first see it that some levels didn’t have the same devotion as others.

A good looking and sometimes clever puzzle game that looses focus by trying to be a lengthy, narrative driven horror puzzler. Instead I wish Magrunner had stuck to your character as an underdog completing challenges to achieve greatness in a glossy white, sci-fi world driven by a harsh class system. Although the horror themed environments are well designed and atmospheric they where ultimately out of place and unnecessary.

Supposedly free formed and destroyed areas fall neatly into puzzles removing any sense of realism that may have existed. Before the facility enters turmoil the rooms form puzzles because they where designed to. There isn’t anything fortunate about the way the environments are, they are puzzles to character and gamer alike. Strip off the drama and disengaged narrative elements, along with some of the easier puzzles, and Magrunner would be a much more streamlined experience. As it stands Magrunner is a clever, good looking and at times challenging puzzler in the middle of an identity crisis.

Reviewed on PC.