Co-Decode: Sub Terra

We may have been the very last team to play Sub Terra in its original location; Co-Decode will be relocating to a more central spot in Swindon, and it’s not yet certain whether Sub Terra will be rebuilt there in quite the same form, or at all. But if you haven’t played it, you should be hoping it returns so that you can. [Edit: And I think it’s now confirmed that it’s coming back!]

The plot line has you entering a mine, supposedly abandoned but actually in use by a dubious corporation. Your job is to gather data on their activities and activate the transmitter to send it out. To officially win, you only need to secure one piece of data, as well as activate the transmitter; getting the remaining pieces of data then becomes a set of optional bonus objectives. The venue’s original game provided different difficulty levels and let you pick one before starting; Sub Terra’s approach is a more elegant solution to the same problem, providing a decent challenge for experienced players while keeping victory achievable by beginners.

Although that does make it very approachable for all levels of experience, in style this is a game for enthusiasts. The mine decor is high quality, particularly with a couple of stand-out points, but it’s in a relatively small space, clean and (thankfully) well lit, and it puts more emphasis on giving you an interesting and fun puzzle challenge than on immersing you in an illusion of an underground mine shaft.

And it’s the puzzles that are the heart and the appeal of this game. One after another is smart, original and/or pretty – some in design, some in implementation, some in both. They consistently fit the theme while being interesting in their own right.

While playing it I thought it followed a mostly linear structure; in retrospect I realise that’s not true, and only seemed that way because of something we’d missed. But even without efficient parallel solving, for a fairly fast team it’s entirely achievable to solve all the bonus objectives – which is good, because I’d have hated to miss out on any section of it.

Some games I admire more than I enjoy, or vice versa, but not here; I thought Sub Terra was great and I had a ball playing it. Fingers crossed it reappears in the new location!