It sometimes takes a lot of walking to reach the puzzles. Locations are varied, ranging from the office (to which you will return several times during the game), to an abandoned oil field in the desert, a marine minefield and a space rocket. You can die at times, but the game restores to preset checkpoints within each location. Whenever you try to do something that is not possible, Solo will shake his head and utter a melancholy 'mmm mmm'. For example, you cannot use a payphone to call a cab before you find a coin with which to activate it. They have to be completed in a certain order. I felt that while not all the puzzles made sense, they are still quite logical within the boundaries of the game's universe. There is an occasional timed puzzle, but these are not too annoying, and the game seems to be quite patient about them. There are some mazes to navigate (among them is a shark-infested one, and one or two inspired by the works of Escher). In one or two instances objects can be combined (for example attaching hooks to a fishing rod), but it's mostly 'take it and use it somewhere nearby'. When picking up an object, Solo will keep it until the time it is needed. Not all the objects are in plain sight, which requires some pixel hunting. There is a lot of object-fetching from point A, to be used in point B. Almost none of them feel like they're there purely for puzzle's sake. Puzzles in TPE stem from the locations themselves. Though there are almost no actual people around, there are plenty of signs of their presence, from ominous dark silhouettes secretly watching Solo at the office, to stores, factories, laboratories and the like. Environments are bleak, sometimes desolate. Each chapter takes place in a different location, sometimes hinted at in its title. The first, a prologue titled 'The Office', serves as a tutorial. They help set the overall gloomy, melancholic tone of the game. Colour palette is monochromatic, with lots of black, white, and shades of gray, with the occasional colour tint. Graphics are stark and stylized, reminiscent of early German Expressionist films of the 1920s. The game is presented in an isometric view. You can switch between the modes at will during gameplay, which is a very convenient feature. 'Guided' mode comes pretty close to a hint book. In 'narrative hint', the game will show an icon wherever there is something to be done, but will not disclose what is the required action. In 'normal' mode, the game lets you solve the puzzles by yourself. You can play in three difficulty levels: 'normal', 'narrative hint' and 'guided'. In other words, reality is messed up, and Solo has a long and complicated journey ahead of him. However, there appears to be a mysterious disturbance in the electromagnetic fabric of life. He has just finished his day at work, and all he wants is simply to go back home to his loving family. It tells the story of Solo, a nondescript worker in an unnamed office in an unnamed city of a futuristic, dystopian world. The Plane Effect is a game developed by Innovina Interactive and Studio Kiku, published by Pqube in 2021.

The plane effect switch