Playing Device 6 (and the rest of the Simogo Legacy Collection) for the first time
For a long time I have had a strong notion of Device 6 being an incredible game, prehaps Simogo's best, but I've deliberately not looked up anything about it. I think I first heard it described on a podcast a long time ago but given it was an iOS only game I had no way of playing it. I somehow got it into my head that it was a run-based puzzle kind of game like Triple Town or Threes - probably my favourite genre of mobile game since it's great to pick up and put down.
Earlier this year I had to make a reasonably long train journey and so decided to pick up the Simogo Legacy Collection that came out earlier this year - it's all their mobile games from the early 2010s, including Device 6. I've never played any of them because they only released on iOS (except Year Walk, which was released on Steam and I played a bit of years ago). I installed the collection on my Steam Deck ready for the journey.
Given that the collection is made up of games explicitly designed for a touch screen it recommends rotating the screen into portrait mode which feels a bit weird with a Steam Deck due to the size but is playable.
I played through all the games in the collection for 5-10 minutes each, skipping Device 6, the penultimate one, for now, to play SPL-T which is very much one of those run-based puzzle games in the Triple Town mould.
It's good! It takes me a few moves to figure out how it works, but then it clicks, and I finish my run. Time for Device 6.
It quickly dawns on me as I start playing that the distant memory of someone on a podcast talking about the cool Simogo game was actually SPL-T and Device 6 is something else entirely. If you haven't played it before go play it now because I think it's worth going in blind. I'll leave some space so you're not tempted to read on without having played it.
As you now know because you've played it, Device 6 is actually an adventure game in the old LucasArts/Sierra style but with a hell of a lot of style and designed explicitly for the iPhone at a time that touchscreens were new and exciting. Lots of the puzzles make excellent use of sound and you're constantly rotating the screen in every orientation (this was a little awkward on the Steam Deck).
The art and music are gorgeous, and the game is very reminiscent of The Prisoner, the classic 60s TV show as well as that era of Bond movies. I have since gone back and played SPL-T a bit but Device 6 is really the standout of the collection and worth the asking price on its own.