You're Pulleying My
Leg

You're Pulleying My Leg (2014) is a running around puzzle game where you move mirrors to reflect a beam of light down into a mine, destroying blocks and letting you reach the secret within. While it sounds simple, it requires a great deal of persistence, patience and determination as the solution is not as simple as it first appears.

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You start at the entrance to a deep mine, and must move the angled mirrors to guide a beam of sunlight down into the mine. You use a series of pulleys and lifts to move them vertically, and push them horizontally. If the beam of sunlight hits one of the squares that blocks your path, it is destroyed, allowing you to access new areas or unlocking alternate pathways that allow you to push mirrors in new directions.

While it's a simple concept, and indeed is straightforward to understand, the solution to the puzzle is far more opaque; often one approach seems like it's working, only for it to suddenly leave you stuck halfway through with no recourse but to restart. This leads to a unique iterative gameplay process, where in each new attempt you learn from the past and do things differently, each time getting steadily closer to the end.

It's a unique game that challenges you to solve its difficult puzzle by a process of trial and improvement, as you gradually come to understand the simple mechanics and the clever ways you can use them better with each subsequent attempt.

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Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked You're Pulleying My Leg 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 20 months ago.