The Bermuda Triangle is one of those topics that the History Channel could milk for conspiracy theory shows forever. Up there with Roswell, Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, the Bermuda Triangle evokes the fear of the unknown. Boats and planes tend to vanish in the section of the Atlantic known as the Bermuda Triangle. I don’t know what causes those vehicles to vanish in mysterious ways, but I do know that the developers of Down in Bermuda have done a wonderful job building a game that explores the lost mysteries of that spooky triangle.
It’s just a shame that like many of the planes and boats that vanished in the triangle, the majority of the game is missing as well.
Down in Bermuda released as an incomplete game.
It frustrates me that I have to say that upfront like that. Down in Bermuda, the three levels of it that do exist, is a wonderful light-puzzle adventure staring an endearing old man. If The Witness and Pixar’s Up had a baby, it would be similar to Down in Bermuda. It’s that charming and that polished.
With only three levels to play through, Down in Bermuda —as it currently exists— can be beaten in around an hour. The game is broken up into island levels. Each island features unique characters and puzzles to solve. There are cross-level keys that can be found and used in another level to unlock even more sections of that island.
Down in Bermuda’s islands are not simply one big puzzle. Each island scene has light orbs scattered throughout it that the player can find if they’re looking to be completionists. Finding the orbs involves interacting with the environment in different ways. From opening clam shells to literally flipping over rocks, hunting down the orbs was surprisingly fun. I attribute that enjoyment to the level designs.
Each level is vibrant and packed with tiny details I kept zooming in to inspect. The camera controls took some getting used to and there were times I wished I could zoom out for a wider picture of a larger area, or that I could scroll around the map faster, but I got used to it eventually.
Some of the puzzles are gadget-like, which I absolutely loved. It was mentally satisfying to me to flip switches, shift levers and push in pop-up buttons to trigger the different aspects of each puzzle.
As I mentioned, each island contains a cross-level key. After completing Down in Bermuda, the game shows that there are 4 more keys to get (7 keys in total). Bermuda promises more levels soon, but only having access to three wasn’t enough for me. It’s not my place to tell a developer how to make their game or how long it should be, but with less than half of the full game available to play at release, the experience felt more like an extended demo rather than a full game.
Bermuda would be a near-flawless recommendation from me, had there been a bit more content for me to work with. I trust that the developers will deliver more quality levels soon, but for now I can say that Bermuda is a well-polished, incomplete game that casual puzzle fans will devour with delight.
Down in Bermuda was reviewed using an Apple Arcade subscription maintained by Epic Brew.
