Patrick's Parabox is the kind of game you have to play to truly understand. This brain-bending puzzler deftly reinvents itself dozens of times over without deviating from its very simple, programmatic rules revolving around infinitude and recursion.

Chances are, you've heard of this premise before: push an object around a grid-like playing field and try to figure out how to navigate obstacles. Think along the lines of the puzzles you'd find in an icy cave in a Pokémon game. You have to plan every single move just right to get yourself, a box, or both, into the right spots. Chances are just as high, however, that you haven't seen the Patrick's Parabox's take on this puzzle. Instead of just pushing around a box to solve a puzzle, the game tasks you with navigating infinitely recurring boxes while also pushing boxes into place.

Sometimes, the box you push around is the box you're in as well. Others, you can see another version of Patrick mirroring your every move in the reality next to yours. Others still, you might find yourself stranded in an endless void if you make the wrong moves. Patrick's Parabox trades in effortlessly introducing complex logic equations by slowly easing you into infinity. Instead of continually building on one specific mechanic over and over again, each hub world starts you off by introducing a theme — stuff like "Eat," "Wall," or "Open." These introductions serve as a welcome reset in the game's complex mechanics and difficulty that gets you ready for the challenges to come in the rest of the level.

It's a masterclass in pacing which allows Patrick's Parabox to really stretch its wings and explore different mechanics within its own rules. Some levels and mechanics might click with you, while others leave you scratching your head and wondering where you went wrong. Thankfully, it never makes you feel like you're wrong or dumb. You can easily reset a puzzle or undo a fatal misstep at any time at the press of a button and give the puzzle another shot.

This structure really encourages and rewards play in really fun ways. Being able to reset yourself out of an infinite loop or a tight spot makes messing around with the game's deep systems all the more rewarding as you try to guide Patrick into the next level. Patrick's Parabox doubles down on this approachable take to solving puzzles by allowing you to skip a certain amount of puzzles to progress. Each hub level requires you to solve a certain amount of puzzles but doesn't specify which ones. That means you can usually move on if a specific level set or mechanic doesn't click with you. On the other side of the coin, Patrick's Parabox is absolutely packed with extra challenge levels. Some are definitely more doable than others, but these levels give hardcore puzzle fans a little something extra to chew on.

The only real problem here comes part-in-parcel with the game's structure and the lack of a hint system. Thanks to the game's relatively contained scope, this is understandable, but the game definitely suffers for it. While introductory levels are great at introducing a new layer to the gameplay, the levels that follow don't always help to fully round out an explanation of what you're capable of in any given level. Showing how to access solutions in a more holistic way that doesn't involve looking up a guide to fully learn a new mechanic would've been nice.

Patrick's Parabox is the rare game that's both highly challenging and highly approachable in equal measure without once dropping a beat. This is a must-play for fans of the genre — especially more logic-driven puzzlers like Baba Is You. Even if you're not the most hardened puzzle veteran, Patrick's Parabox does a great job of teaching you to solve even its most difficult puzzles thanks to a clever level structure and approachable progression system.