Cypher is a cryptography puzzle game from
Matthew Brown.
A name you might not know but his games you
might recognize if you’re into puzzle games.
He’s also the creator of the cell series
of games, Hexcells, Crosscells, and Squarecells.
Cypher follows much in the same way with a
simple graphics style including lots of white
and smooth piano music.
You probably know that cryptography is a technique
of secure messages.
Think ROT13 or an enigma machine.
It’s a way to code a message so that only
the sender and receiver can decipher it.
Some of these are obviously better at hiding
the message than others.
Cypher includes over forty puzzles from all
different areas of cryptography.
For example the first section that is unlocked
has steganography puzzles.
It’s a very simple ways to conceal a message
in plain sight.
The order of the text or way the message is
written hides the true message.
It’s a great introduction to the game.
Cypher breaks each of these types into different
rooms that contain several puzzles.
The amount of puzzles vary room to room, but
generally it’s around four to eight.
With one of the puzzles being a challenge
one that’s much more difficult.
On the way into the room you’re greeted
with a name and description about the area
of cryptography that the room covers.
While the paragraph is great at introducing
it might not help you solve all the puzzles.
There’s limited room to fit text on a wall
so outside sources, like wikipedia, might
be required to further understand how the
puzzles work.
Although I was always interested in the topic
I’m a newbie so your results may vary.
For me it’s not a negative to have to go
read about cryptography though.
If you’re considering this game you should
have a healthy interest in the topic.
Learning and solving these puzzles is a lot
of fun.
More fun than many other puzzle games because
you feel like you’re getting smarter.
Cypher is a learning experience.
If you were at all curious about cryptography
then this game is a good way to get into it.
The level of difficultly of the puzzles is
on point and introduces you to the theme of
the room.
If you can solve the challenge puzzle at the
end then you must have a good grasp how it
works as that last puzzle is quite tricky.
So you’ll learn how to solve these puzzles
but also about different cryptography methods.
Which ones are more secure and how potential
messages could be in any text.
What you will want to do is bring a pencil
and some paper.
These puzzles are pretty tough and definitely
require writing down ciphers or translations
of the puzzles.
Really just bring a lot of paper.
One thing to note is that it’s not required
to solve all the puzzles to progress.
The rooms will open up after completing only
some puzzles which is great because you’re
going to get stuck.
Sometimes it’s good to move on and work
on a different problem.
You can always come back to it later after
you’ve learned more.
Overall if you can enjoy a game from purely
a puzzle experience than Cypher should be
something you’re interested in.
Any passing interest you have in cryptography
would be further fueled by the puzzles in
this game.
They’re pretty difficult and well made.
Be prepared to be challenged and learn.
