Environmental puzzle games are some of the most underappreciated and undertalked about experiences in the video game industry. From the The Adventures of Lolo, to Pikmin, to Cadence of Hyrule, these titles stimulate your mind in ways no other medium can. Add Filament to that list.

The premise is simple: wind your cord around pillars to light them up and return to the entrance. It's such an elegant system that it's challenging to elaborate on without sounding pandering, but Filament's incredibly clever level design mixes brilliantly with it's sophisticated soundtrack to emboss a mental state that's so peaceful to be in that you may as well forgot about the real world.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't peek at some reviews to hear what other gamers thought of Filament. In defense of the voice acting, it's not always the voice artist that's the limiting agent. Sometimes the voices need audio processing to melt with the game, which is something Filament could use to be a more cohesive experience-- a little transistor artifacts, maybe some spacecraft reverb, or hollowed out robotic noise. As someone who hates cutscenes, cinematics, and slog, I can confidently claim that none of the story got in the way of this wonderful environmental puzzle experience.