It feels like Bruce Lee is a man who has, in my lifetime, gone beyond simply being human straight into a mythological figure. He’s idolized around the globe, and for good reason: a terrifying martial artist who epitomizes discipline, strength and intelligence. Plus, he made yellow jumpsuits look awesome. He’s often been quoted, and the one that always sticks out is “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” It’s safe to say that Bruce Lee would fear MotionRec, the indie puzzle game from HANDSUM and Playism. For, though there isn’t a huge arsenal of tools at your disposal, the player must become a fearsome technician of the one mechanism available to reach your goal, and it may take you ten thousand times to get it right.

You’re a little robot, awakened into a world you don’t fully understand with no real direction on where to go, but a general idea that you should move forward. That’s not an admonishment on your life, it’s just how MotionRec kicks off. Very shortly, you find out that your movements are limited: you can’t jump particularly high or far, and your movement speed is plodding at best. However, your little robot dude has an incredible trick up their sleeve: the ability to record and replay movements of any kind. You can record yourself jumping up platforms and then play that back where there are no platforms, resulting in a phantom climb to places you otherwise could not reach. As the lightbulb above your head goes off, it becomes exceedingly clear that the way out is to retrace your steps, and, inexplicably, advance through repetition.

When you first start using the abilities of MotionRec, it takes a bit to get used to the concept. You can record for a set amount of time, and you have to understand that the motions will be replayed regardless of what’s in front of/behind/above you. So, for example, if you have a recording of walking forward ten paces, but there’s a wall in front of you eight paces in, you’ll just collide with the wall and keep trying to push through (to no avail). In the same motion, though, if there’s a gap in the floor where you might plummet to your doom, your robot will take a page from Wile E. Coyote and simply keep strutting, oblivious to gravity and other silly laws. It’s like being a sovereign citizen, only you’re actually independent and not just a deadbeat trying to avoid paying child support.

Once this finally settles in, the beauty and excitement of MotionRec sets in. I often avoid puzzle games because they tend to be monotonous and rely on putting you in identical but slightly different situations again and again. Things like Freshly Frosted and Stitch are fun enough in small doses over time, and I would never knock those who like them, but it’s a fenced in garden with nothing else to do. Once you understand the purpose, even the most puzzling Picross levels are the same ideas again and again. They’re great for relaxing, but it doesn’t always scratch the “game” itch because I don’t feel like I’m really progressing. I’m just doing another puzzle, and the puzzle is encapsulated, and now it’s done and so is the episode of Boston Public that I loaded up because I’m nostalgic for trauma.

By comparison, MotionRec does two things right in the crafting of the gameplay elements. The first is that there’s a legitimate exploration/adventure angle that keeps players on their toes as they progress deeper and deeper into the world. Not only do the biomes change over time, but there are also mysterious music notes that can be seen in the different rooms, and some of them are deliberately out of reach and absolutely worthless to the main channel of the game. The only reason you’d find them and work to get them is your curiosity and your own sense of completionism, which is a constant and delightful plague upon my character. Are they important? Who knows, but it’s shiny and somewhat inaccessible! Sure, I could have finished this game two hours ago, but this music note is slightly out of my path and I need this. 

Secondly, the shifting biomes give both a variety to the approach while also keeping the core elements cohesive and relevant. For example, different machines will appear to create additional wrinkles, like looping your movements or playing them back in reverse. Instead of reinventing the wheel, HANDSUM has made a game where you have to think how to use the wheel differently while still maintaining the central action. Now you’re considering your movement and how it’ll resonate twice, or what the path you take will look like played backwards. Each of these areas gives you just enough of these new ideas to get you comfortable and cocky, then moves you on to something else so you can find a new way to do an old trick.

I am an aesthetics person. When I look at a game, I love beautiful and detailed graphics, but I also want what I’m seeing to give me a sense of tone and emotion. So when I see that something has been rendered in such a specific way and given the proper depth to capture the emotion and feeling that the developer wanted, I am over the moon in my joy. MotionRec is delightfully monochromatic, dealing almost exclusively in whites and blacks with just the motion trails of our robo hero having any semblance of color. This entire sensation is heightened by the fact that you can turn on a filter to emulate a particular kind of sensation within the game and it barely changes the overall display, but the difference is immediately noticeable.

Each and every pixel of MotionRec feels intentional and placed with care and consideration as to how the game will appear on screens across the world. The detail, when necessary, is incredible, like when you discover rooms with televisions as waypoints, or the curious elevators that transport you to the next world. But there are moments where simplicity does all the heavy lifting. Water is little more than a wavy line, spikes are just two thirds of a triangle on the ground. The artistic direction shows you that it has the capabilities of designing something elaborate when necessary, but the minimalism of most of the game is to help keep you in the moment without distracting with extra details. It’s a game that looks simple, is crazily complex, and does a magnificent job of keeping all the work beneath the surface so the player enjoys without over analyzing.

As a major supporter of Pico8, I strongly recommend the filter of the same name, as it makes the screen more crisp if you’re rocking an older display like I am. Not only does it make the blacks and the whites have stronger contrast, but it also polarizes everything in a stark manner that makes the game feel more alive. The default appearance of MotionRec has a bit of a washed out feeling to the general blackness, but the filter pops and brings everything to the forefront. It’s entirely possible that the default looks best on the monitors and screens over at HANDSUM, but I am one of those freaks who insists on playing games on my television even though I’m using a computer. The result is, if you also have a television that is pre-smart TV era, you might benefit the most from using either the Pico8 or 1bit filters for the ultimate viewing experience.

And the soundtrack! MotionRec has an incredible scoring of dreamy, dissociative electronics that is deliberately sparse and unhurried, crafting a soundscape of almost unconscious vibrations to direct the player forward. There is so much of an ethereal element to the music that you often forget its playing because it doesn’t draw focus or make you keenly aware of the tonal shift. Instead, it puts you in this trance of moving through the world, trying to be in the clever headspace of the robot and being largely unbothered by the situation you find yourself in. Despite the fact that you wake up in what amounts to a forest and then just move into a world that’s steel and pain, you’re unbothered and in the moment, and the music – that beautiful, spartan soundtrack – makes this possible.

What I like the best about MotionRec is the ability to keep players coming back and succeeding. For many puzzle games, I need to take a step back, breathe, and then return only to find myself in the same headspace. The result is brute force until the solution reveals itself. But, for MotionRec, there were multiple times that putting down the controller and doing something else for a minute reset my perception. I could come back, look and say “of course!” before solving the puzzle and going to the next room or rooms. That seems like a magic trick, but it’s just excellent game craftsmanship. To allow a player to take a beat and reward them with a lightning bolt moment without feeding them the answer is marvelous, and I have yet to encounter that elsewhere.

MotionRec is an absolute delight that both crafts an incredible experience while keeping players happy with actual gameplay. It kept me coming back again and again, and, in spite of some very difficult Notes to find, I was enthralled from start to finish. I personally am hoping to either see a Switch port in the future or find some other way to play this on the go, because this could easily be a contender for the indie title of the winter. It’s clever, it’s fluid and it hits all the right spots for appeasing a puzzler who wants a bit more than just brain teasers. The mascot is adorable, the music is a revelation and the graphical design reminds me why games are art. Don’t waste time questioning why or why not: go grab the demo immediately from Steam and see what poetry in motion is all about.

Graphics: 9.0 Stellar pixel design is everything a retro enthusiast would want or need in a game. Stark coloring perfectly captures the game’s mission statement, and everything is where it should be. I am in love.	Gameplay: 8.5 Puzzle planning is straightforward and you pick up the ideas very quickly. New mechanics never overshadow the original, and the cyclic nature keeps some elements coming in and out of fashion. Some music notes are simply too hard to get, at least if you want to play in a relaxed fashion.
Sound: 9.5 So beautiful. It kept my mind alight with low fidelity beeps and boops, which left me locked into the MotionRec world without a care in the world. I really wish I could get this soundtrack outside of Steam.	Fun Factor: 9.0 Positively delightful from start to finish, I was never wanting for anything except for more game. Narrative is deliberately unclear which makes the throughline obscure but enjoyable. Well worth my time.
Final Verdict: 9.0

MotionRec is available now on PC.

Reviewed on PC.

A copy of MotionRec was provided by the publisher.