Coincidence has a hard time as a developer. Known for creating Zach-like games as a sub-genre of engineering puzzle games, they will have their previous successes looming as inspiration and a curse. If they try something easier, vocal hardcore fans wobble. If they go hardcore, it’s too close to previous efforts and risks locking new gamers out. With U.V.S. Nirmana, their latest game, Coincidence tries to straddle the middle. The marketing pitches the game as a “medium-difficulty pilgrimage”. In many ways, it’s a success.
There is a lot of high-concept theming around U.V.S. Nirmana, to the point that it actually got in the way of me learning the mechanics of the game. Concepts like social disorder, the economy, medicine, and sight are translated into a pipe network that players must construct to recreate certain output patterns in the (sometimes social) engineering machine. I actually love the concept, but it wasn’t until I saw others playing the game that a few of the concepts actually clicked. I recommend you de-theme the game and turn it into a pipe builder puzzle.
Each of the 30 levels presents inputs and outputs, with a grid to place unlimited pipes inside, so long as you have room. There are 12 tools to tweak the pipes and the energy currents running through them. Some mix or demix elements, others turn off or on pipes depending on certain sensors. As timing is a huge component in creating the output patterns (like a mix of a seismograph, Morse code, and a line chart), there are delays and relays that can be added to a control matrix at the bottom of the screen. It was the control matrix I struggled to understand in the tutorial, and it took me a lot of trial and error to feel like I understood its capabilities.
Like previous Coincidence and Zachtronics games, players are judged on efficiency, but as the world is tighter in U.V.S. Nirmana, I found that you couldn’t make extravagant solutions like you could in Kaizen. If you can keep your solution narrow, you’ll often do well, and the histograms of other players’ solutions suggest most of us are arriving at similar solutions. It’s one of the few features that feels like a step back from previous games.
Eternal Solitaire is this game’s bonus minigame. It’s Mancala as solitaire on a circular board, and it is well done. Players will find more fun after they’ve completed the decently sized campaign, as that’s when custom puzzles come into play. Building your own, sharing them, watching others solve yours, and you solving other people’s is a great addition. There are some limitations around how many of the different pieces you can use in a level design, which prevents anyone from building complete montrosities. If anything, this is a “how do I fit it all in” puzzler, and once you answer that question, you’ll be able to solve puzzles and build your own.
Whilst U.V.S. Nirmana scratches that engineering itch once again, I think Kaizen: A Factory Story does a better job at bringing players along on a learning journey, and allows for more open-ended solutions. If you want to work more with righter constraints, then U.V.S. Nirmana may be a better pick. Both are worth your time, though. Just stick with it and watch some early game solutions if the tutorial doesn’t click with you either!
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