Magrunner: Dark Pulse is a puzzle platformer that plays like Portal, but your gun changes magnetic polarity which can push and pulls objects to help you solve puzzles. Mechanics are solid, it's fun to figure out what will happen if you do a polarity change when three or more items are nearby. Puzzles can be brutal in Act 2, but there's a nice walkthrough in the guides section if you get stuck.

My only major criticism stems from the stage The Deep which just seems out of place. You are stuck in an underground passage where you just ride platforms in a maze. If you fall off the platform you die. There's no hint at what the exit is suppose to look like, or if you are going the right way. After being lost for a while, I began to look for unconventional exits including a few light sources that had a perfectly square shape I thought I could launch myself through. In the end there was no puzzle elements in that stage and all it did was pad my playtime by 30 minutes trying every possible path.

A few of the stages have sharp reflex requirements which was disappointing, but these are in the minority and most have pure puzzle solutions. Overall if you enjoyed Portal, Magrunner will be right up your alley.

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