Recursed on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
A puzzle game where the rooms are items and the items are rooms. Get to the goal by moving, rearranging and duplicating rooms and altering the structure of the world.
Recursed is a indie, puzzle and 2d game
developed by Portponky
and published by Shambles Software.
Released on September 30th 2016 is available on Windows, MacOS and Linux
in 9 languages: English, French, German, Czech, Spanish - Spain, Polish, Russian, Korean and Portuguese - Brazil.
It has received 567 reviews of which 557 were positive and 10 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.1 out of 10. 😍
The game is currently priced at 7.79€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Recursed into these genres:
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows 7
- Processor: Yes
- Memory: 100 MB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 3.1
- Storage: 80 MB available space
MacOS
- OS: 10.9
- Processor: 64 bit
- Memory: 100 MB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 3.1
- Storage: 80 MB available space
Linux
- OS: Debian 8 / Ubuntu 14.04 or above
- Processor: 64 bit
- Memory: 100 MB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 3.1
- Storage: 80 MB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
This is a tough puzzle platformer game. And when I mean tough, I mean almost impossible to complete without hints or some guidance. Graphics, controls, and music departments are really good. You won't notice anything out of place. A very small tutorial will show you the basic controls but then you are basically on your own. Bear in mind that there's a hidden move that is almost mandatory and the tutorial omits, down + jump to get down from cubes and thin floors. You have to understand and deduce how the world components interact with each other, and as the title implies, expect a lot of recursion as game mechanic. Recursion sounds like a fun puzzle idea, but in reality it gets very easy out of control. Advanced levels tend to combine every possible mechanic, where you will have to remember how many recursion levels are you in, what items are in each, different "parallel" worlds, and other gameplay features. One mistake can immediately make the level unbeatable. There's a raven that appears when the level is unwinnable to signal that you have to restart, but that only seems to work on the easier first puzzles. I beat the game, but unfortunately I had to recur to hints. A lot of hints, I manage to beat most puzzle games without them, but this one is definitely something else. The game also has hidden diamonds and rubies that are the ultimate challenge. You need to bend the rules to even get access to the puzzles that contain those. There are hints of a plot though audio logs but in the end that's just a red herring that just stop after the main puzzle games are done. There's also custom puzzle packs made by the community, so that's a nice feature if you really love the game and want more. To summarize, I really enjoyed the first 3 worlds. Game mechanics and world complexity will escalate fast.
Read more
Difficulty: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Quality: ★★★★★★★★★☆ Recursed is a very unmemorable game. There are very few "aha" moments where the solution suddenly clicks and you feel like you're having a brainblast, and the puzzle solutions get incredibly complex and lengthy. It also has very bad QoL, with no undo, and no ability to see any rooms other than the one you're in. ...this game is brilliant because all of these sins somehow cancel each other out and turn into a game that's incredibly fun, radically different from any other puzzle game I've played, and extremely important to me. When I first played the game, I was pretty bad at puzzles and just fumbled around randomly. Because there were no aha moments, I didn't get much reward out of playing it and didn't find it fun. Eventually I hit a brick wall. However, at that point I realized the aforementioned design choices meant I was forced to plan out the entire solutions to each puzzle in my head before executing them, so I'd know exactly what to do. So I tried to start planning my solutions, and as I solved more puzzles, I noticed I started developing this godlike power to look at the puzzle, imprint the whole thing into my short-term memory, use logic to deduce the solution step by step, and watch the magic happen. This obviously didn't mean I got the puzzles first try, but I could use feedback the game gave on my failed attempts to alter my logic until getting the solution. A lot of puzzle games try to trick the player into thinking exactly what the developer wants them to think at every point in the game, so it feels like the game is reading your mind. I applaud that too, but this is the complete opposite. These incredibly intricate solutions truly felt like I created them entirely within my own brain, with the game only serving as a helping hand at certain points. It felt like I was having a brainblast while playing it. So yeah this game basically taught me how to plan, and thus get good at puzzles. I hope it will do the same to you, and offer the same feeling of sheer power over the solutions you will truly have invented.
Read more
Objectively a very well made puzzle game, but the levels get really convoluted and you can softlock yourself with one misinput. As someone who is bad at complex puzzles and hates redoing steps over and over, I really wish it had a Baba is You style undo button.
Read more
This game is a flawed gem. If I could give a neutral rating, I would. There's a lot of janky garbage, only having a restart for the entire level results in a lot of brutal tedium, the art for dynamic objects is bad, the effect for beating a level is a hard cut to black on a cymbal crash which is INCREDIBLY jarring (I thought I died the first few times!), the music doesn't fit and starts to grate about the fifth play, the bird that detects unsolvable situations showed up one (1) time in my playthrough (and I bricked a level WAY more than once), and some of the levels are trash (some endgame levels throw random precision-platformer challenges at you for some god-forsaken reason). That said, this game has some brilliant puzzles and I think it's worth digging through the muck to get to them. One of the things I like about this game is how the (good) puzzles are structured. Most games will present you with a convoluted Gordian's Knot setup, and then task you with using the puzzle rules to unravel the challenge and fulfill the require restraints. (That sort of level is present, with varying quality.) The best levels in this game take the opposite approach: you're given a limited number of objects, and you have to construct the convoluted level topology through the recursive chests that lets you solve the level. Truly mind-bending challenges, and worth the other struggles. Overall, I'm a big fan of the good parts of the game. I hope that Recursed 2 does away with the BS levels, gets a new coat of paint, and adds an undo/rewind button because only restart is just BRUTAL. Seriously, some of the endgame levels take 5 minutes of platforming and juggling just to get to the point where I bricked the level last time.
Read more
The game doesn't look like much, and it doesn't seem to have received the level of attention of certain other puzzle games with which it shares a niche, but I feel that a lot of love and craftsmanship has gone into it. The rules of the game are simple enough, once you figure them out, but it can take a while to realise the ways you can use them to achieve your objective. For example, it took me some trial and error before I realised that you can, in fact, exit an enchanted chest containing itself that you have removed from its original room, but only if you jump inside first and you can only exit as many times as you have entered before you're banished to the shadow realm. Puzzles that appear impossible can have deceptively simple solutions, but realising such a solution can require you hold more in your head than a human brain can comfortably accommodate. There's something I find very pleasing about the soundtrack. It's simple, but it sets a cheerful tone that goes some way to offsetting the headache I feel as I try to figure out which chest I am supposed to be taking into the other chest so I can take a jar-clone of the chest outside of the chest outside of the chest. One complaint I have is that once or twice a level seems to call for user interactions that aren't natural (eg dropping an item off an edge without falling off yourself, so that you can take another item down, when the controls mostly restrict you to either dropping an item at your feet or yeeting it across the room). My other complaint is that the volume level for the dialogue (monologue?) is set too low, and doesn't have a separate volume slider, so it's either loud sound effects or quiet voice acting. I hope this game gets more appreciation, and I hope the developer has spent the 8(!) years since it was released further honing his skills. I'm definitely interested to see what else he's worked on.
Read more
Similar games
View all
Camera Obscura
An ancient tower in a forgotten land. A lone photographer on a desperate search. Facing dangerous animals, crumbling architecture, and perilous pitfalls, can you reach the summit of the Tower, and perhaps, redemption?
Super Magbot
A precise 2D platformer with a twist. NO JUMPING. Master your magnetic powers to beat each level with speed and skill. Enjoy classic 16-bit gaming vibes, tackle challenging achievements and compete for global leaderboard supremacy along the way.
Out There Somewhere
You play an explorer stranded on a dangerous alien planet. Low on fuel, your only hope for escape is to find the planet’s core in this incredibly clever action-puzzle-platformer.
La-Mulana
LA-MULANA is an “Archaeological Ruin Exploration Action Game,” bringing the classic appeal of adventure with the punishing difficulty of retro-inspired gaming. Search inside ancient ruins, seeking out the “Secret Treasure of Life” – which sleeps in the sprawling ruins of “LA-MULANA” and is said to be the beginning of all civilization.
La-Mulana 2
The long-awaited sequel to La-Mulana, La-Mulana 2 follows Lumisa Kosugi as she explores the ancient ruins of La-Mulana. Desperate to find the cause of the recent slew of monsters appearing from the ruins, Lumisa discovers the "other" La-Mulana: the ruins known as Eg-Lana.
ibb & obb
ibb & obb is a two player cooperative game set in a puzzle filled world where gravity goes both up and down. You can only succeed by working closely together. Find a friend for some true local co-op couch fun or match up online.
Evan's Remains
Years after a boy genius named Evan disappears, a bizarre letter arrives. Evan wants a girl named Dysis to come find him. As Dysis, you’ll need to solve an intricate series of puzzles to unravel the entire mystery—and bring Evan home.
BirdGut
BirdGut is a hand-drawn 2d puzzle-platformer from the perspective of an outcast bee who gets eaten by a bird, and discovers that the bird's internal organs are not organs at all, but facilities in which the consumed insects are brainwashed and enslaved. Experience this bizarre one-man project for yourself.
Teleportals. I swear it's a nice game
I swear it's a nice puzzle game.
Iconoclasts
Join renegade mechanic Robin and uncover the secrets of a dying planet. Explore a big world filled with intricate puzzles, interesting characters and menacing bosses in a beautiful platform adventure that tells a personal story about faith, purpose and the challenge of helping people.Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 26 March 2025 08:07 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 02 April 2025 16:41 |
| Steam price | 02 April 2025 20:44 |
| Steam reviews | 01 April 2025 19:45 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Recursed, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Recursed
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Recursed concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Recursed compatibility
Online players
2
Developer
Portponky
Publisher
Shambles Software
Release
30 Sep 2016
Platforms