The latest from the Kyf Edition studio, Behind is a hybrid game between investigation game, puzzle solving and puzzle. With three scenarios included in the (superb) box, Behind arrives with a certain freshness, with mechanics that had never been assembled like this before. Does it work? All you have to do is read my review of Behind.
Behind
Successfully complete the three Behind paintings by ordering on Le Décompte! Warm up your brain and turn over the tiles of these tables to see how great you are…or not!
Buy on Le Décompte
My review will be particularly short, because it is impossible for me to explain everything to you without major spoilers. So I’m not going to divulge anything, as our Quebec friends say!
Behind the box: a publishing favorite
Behind comes in a small box sold for around €20. The cover is an illustration by Maud Chalmel, and it is a superb creation: typography, colors, character. It immediately makes you want to open this door and make tiles…
Inside, three paintings/adventures/puzzles concocted by the author Cédric Millet await you:
- The flight, illustrated by Piero
- The Professor, illustrated by Martin Vidberg
- Imhotep, illustrated by Maud Chalmel
Three hermetically separated compartments house the tiles that make up each of these three tables, as well as some clue cards. The tiles and cards are functional and readable, and are illustrated on both sides:
- an enigma side, which will help you solve the proposed challenge
- an illustration side, which you reveal at the end of your investigation, simply by turning over all the tiles.
Regarding the illustrations, there is certainly a matter of taste that applies, but I found Maud Chalmel’s painting very successful. In her ability to immerse me in a world-picture, in its finesse and depth, I was largely convinced by the illustrator’s work.
If the other two paintings do the job well, I find myself imagining a Behind 2 with other artists, other formats…I believe that Kyf Edition has developed a proposal that we will find regularly!
Dream Puzzle: the mechanics
It was the original title of the game imagined by Cédric Millet, and it explains a lot of the mechanics of Behind: doing a puzzle, which will make you dream at the end. That’s basically what you do in Behind: you’ll group tiles together to form a coherent picture. By relying on visual associations, solving puzzles, understanding the proposed logic. A couple of tiles becomes a trio, then you put two big pieces together, then three, then you switch everything around.
A sudden understanding of something makes you change everything, then you start again, you get angry and bam suddenly it makes sense: the tiles are all arranged coherently, you understand the picture. Stuck? No problem, at each table you will have 6 clues to help you move forward, to unlock a mechanic.
Now comes the long-awaited phase: turn all the tiles onto their backs, and admire the table thus composed…no error or inversion? Congratulations, you have succeeded!
That’s all I can tell you about the mechanics of Behind, because telling you more would reveal concepts present in the tables, and I’m going to avoid it!
Backdoor
Although I found Behind’s tables a little uneven (I think Imhotep is so good that he overshadows the other two a bit, but since we do him last, it works well), I found this proposal very interesting and promising. Of course, the game is not replayable, but for €21, you have 4 to 5 hours of play, to play solo or with several brains.
Behind is also very well edited, with its small compartments appreciated by verticalists, an online demo… It is also easy to access because the rules fit on two lines. In terms of difficulty, I find it to be in the sweet spot: complex enough to wring your brain, but also not impossible like an escape game that makes you go anywhere to artificially increase its duration.
And it is the characteristic of investigation games to offer outward journeys without return. It contributes to the intensity of the experience. I have the impression that Behind has a bright future ahead of it, if sales are there and the Kyf team is still exploring these mechanics. I imagine paintings in other forms, with triangular tiles or hexagons, with superpositions or perspectives…
The concept is strong, and in my opinion even stronger if the chosen artist produces an epic, grandiose, dreamlike illustration.
The rating of an investigation game is always a little biased by the investigation format which in essence is not replayable, so I give it an arbitrary rating so that the final rating is consistent with the other games rated on Campustech.
Behind
Successfully complete the three Behind paintings by ordering on Le Décompte! Warm up your brain and turn over the tiles of these tables to see how great you are…or not!
Buy on Le Décompte
