Panda Go

Panda Go is a turn-based puzzle game in which you simply have to reach the exit.
It looks cheap and judging by the cover, you may think this game has the same depth as a random garbage mobile game (I won’t lie, I also had my doubts).
But Panda Go is so much more than that.

On the grid, there are guards and traps blocking the way and items you have to use.
Each guard covers a certain space where you can’t go: for example, the dragon covers the square in front of it and also moves one square straight once you have moved, the turret covers every squares in front of it etc.
You can kill them if they are not covered by another guard, but you’ll usually have to dodge them and set them up correctly before.
Trying things and studying the levels is mandatory, especially for the harder ones requiring very precise setups (the undo button is your friend).

There are currently 10 chapters, each with an A-side (acting as a tutorial) and a B-side (a LOT harder, and features more levels).
There are also C-sides and D-sides but they are randomly generated levels and not part of the main game.

The Steam page doesn’t lie, the game gets harder past chapter 3A and crazy past chapter 5B. Each chapter adds a new guard/trap/item on top of all the previous ones and explores everything you can do with it, resulting in a perfect difficulty curve with a very good level design.

The game is massive and my playtime is not inflated, completing it takes between 120 and 150 hours. The vast majority of the levels are in the B-sides and you’ll struggle on a lot of them.

There’s also a star rating, you need to complete the levels in a certain number of turns. Getting the minimum number can be extremely hard, but is fortunately not important. Getting the 3 stars is what really counts, and it’s usually not hard once you’ve figured out the solution.

I only have three small things to really complain about :
– I don’t see the point of locking the levels, people already play in order so just make them all available
– The music is nice but only one track for a game that long is clearly insufficient
– 7B-48 shouldn’t exist (I’m joking but what a nightmare).

Apart from that, Panda Go is a very good game and I hope to see more chapters in the future (chapter 10 was an incredible addition to the game).

Highly recommended.

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Developer: Phoenix
Publisher: Phoenix
Platform: Steam – Windows
Release Date: January 17, 2024