Stephen's Sausage Roll

 PC
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 99 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 48 out of 99
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 99
  3. Negative: 42 out of 99

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. yamaci17
    Jul 20, 2023
    8
    some of the most unique and creative puzzles ever created in any genre. game is insanely hard, even right from the get go and has insane difficulty spikes. the joy of finally figuring out a way to solve the puzzles overcame any frustration possible
  2. B00tador
    Dec 5, 2021
    5
    The puzzles are incredible, but this isn't a fun game to play. At all. It's too hard!
  3. Superbeef
    Feb 6, 2019
    10
    It is one of the greatest puzzle games of all time. And by best puzzle game, I don't mean that it earned its place on some "puzzle" best-seller list that includes Tetris and Puyo Puyo and Dr. Mario (all on the same list). This is not "The room" or ", 1000000. If you're looking for something like World of Goo or Fez then keep on walking. Those are great games, but they're not what we'reIt is one of the greatest puzzle games of all time. And by best puzzle game, I don't mean that it earned its place on some "puzzle" best-seller list that includes Tetris and Puyo Puyo and Dr. Mario (all on the same list). This is not "The room" or ", 1000000. If you're looking for something like World of Goo or Fez then keep on walking. Those are great games, but they're not what we're discussing here.

    This is more in the vein of Jonathan Blow, Zachtronics, DROD, Saira, Tetrabot, Great Permutator, or English Country Tune. Games that are about the mental struggle and the escalation of that challenge to ridiculous but still-achievable heights. Spatial thinking and reverse engineering solutions. Eliminating false paths and reasoning about your goals in high level concepts and then breaking down solutions to individual steps. If anyone ever composes a list of top puzzle games and doesn't include at least a few of those titles on the list you know they're talking about a different sort of game entirely.

    Stephen's Sausage Roll with its seemingly insurmountable challenges and the way you gradually learn, practice, and master the mechanics is so very satisfying. And each time you learn something new about the system, the game throws a new twist at you. And it does so for 40 straight hours, never ever repeating itself, and never wasting your time. It is terse and brutal and the game stands confidently among the greats.

    I wish I could forget I ever played it so I could do it all again.    … Expand
  4. Did-
    Mar 23, 2018
    9
    It's over, I cooked my last sausage. I feel complete. I feel empty.

    Stephen doesn't care about the game design best practices. No tutorial here, no gradual learning curve, you're thrown into an unknown world, with the first puzzles already being hard. You're a stranger to this world, don't expect it to be easy and welcoming. I left my first play session with a bitter taste in my mouth,    It's over, I cooked my last sausage. I feel complete. I feel empty.

    Stephen doesn't care about the game design best practices. No tutorial here, no gradual learning curve, you're thrown into an unknown world, with the first puzzles already being hard. You're a stranger to this world, don't expect it to be easy and welcoming. I left my first play session with a bitter taste in my mouth, hesitating to come back. This game is more expensive than it appears to be worth, and I just spent a precious time of my life cooking sausages with a ridiculously hard to control character. But I went back, passed the first island, and discovered a new game mechanic. But this mechanic wasn't brought by a new item to obtain, no, it was here all along, but the environment was just not exposing it. I feel there are other mechanics, hidden, just waiting for me to discover them. I continue, eager to explore to find these mechanics, and there are a lot, and the puzzles are ingeniously crafted to extract the last bit of juice each mechanic can offer. And when you think you're finished, Stephen reveals yet another mechanic, pulling it from the bottom of the sea right to your face, promising you more hours of frustrating puzzles. But no, the end is near, you feel it, and you must prove to yourself you're better than these sausages, you're alive, and you must complete this game. And I finished it, I waited so long for the end to come, I wanted to say "I did it!", but now I feel empty. These puzzles were mind-bending, always pushing me to the limits, forcing me to explore new ideas, making me go further, extending my brain capacity to think outside of the box. And this is it, every sausage is cooked, and I won't benefit from another brilliant sausage-based puzzle until the day I'll be cooked myself.    … Expand
  5. Justin-bauce
    Sep 22, 2017
    2
    This metascore rating is the reason why I only pay attention to the user score.

    This game is a good puzzle game.. but so is kickle cubicle. This really shouldn't be on the first page of top rated games of all time.
  6. afender7
    Jul 4, 2017
    10
    The best video game ever created.

    The rules of the game are completely non-abstract; they are just simplified versions of real-world physics. The rules also never change: they are only revealed, through perfect level design. The sheer number of unique, orthogonal and surprising consequences of these rules that the game manages to pull out of its hat flattens me every time I even think    The best video game ever created.

    The rules of the game are completely non-abstract; they are just simplified versions of real-world physics. The rules also never change: they are only revealed, through perfect level design. The sheer number of unique, orthogonal and surprising consequences of these rules that the game manages to pull out of its hat flattens me every time I even think about it. Stephen's Sausage Roll truly is a tour de force in pure level design, and is the strongest case for level design as an art form.

    If you are even remotely tilted towards puzzle games, please, please ignore its low visual fidelity, price tag, and so on, because you may just be missing out on an incredible experience.

    In some sense, it's like a beautiful work of pixel art: every single pixel is placed exactly where it is, and has the exact colour values it does, for a specific purpose: so that they can all come together to create something truly beautiful.    … Expand
  7. Niall79
    Jul 18, 2016
    9
    I know what you're thinking: 'not *another* sausage rolling game!' But Stephen's Sausage Roll packs enough innovation and fresh ideas that it revitalises the overcrowded and rather jaded Sausage Rolling Puzzler genre.

    The basic mechanic is deceptively simple, yet the puzzles are devilishly tricky, despite the fact that many are confined to tight spaces and options are limited. Each area    I know what you're thinking: 'not *another* sausage rolling game!' But Stephen's Sausage Roll packs enough innovation and fresh ideas that it revitalises the overcrowded and rather jaded Sausage Rolling Puzzler genre.

    The basic mechanic is deceptively simple, yet the puzzles are devilishly tricky, despite the fact that many are confined to tight spaces and options are limited. Each area of the world (and it is all set in an unexpectedly coherent world) introduces a new mechanic, cleverly building on what has gone before, so it never feels repetitive (though it can at time feel overwhelming).

    If you buy only one sausage rolling adventure this year, make sure it's this one.    … Expand
  8. Kompre
    Jul 14, 2016
    10
    Amazing logic. Truly a great game that reveals itself slowly but steadily. After 5h of gameplay you should already be obsessed. And finding out there is actually a sense is all this sausage rolling left me speechless. But for that you need to get to the end. And good luck with that!
  9. kingplain
    Jul 1, 2016
    4
    This game is a spiritual successor of the puzzle game Sokoban, a puzzle game where you push boxes. Do you remember it? No. How about the mediocre Boxxel on the gameboy? No? Well you can see why I'm surprised when a game like Stephen's Sausage Roll lands 10/10 on numerous review sites.

    Yes, for a game about pushing boxes (or sausages in this case) it's well made. Possibly game of the    This game is a spiritual successor of the puzzle game Sokoban, a puzzle game where you push boxes. Do you remember it? No. How about the mediocre Boxxel on the gameboy? No? Well you can see why I'm surprised when a game like Stephen's Sausage Roll lands 10/10 on numerous review sites.

    Yes, for a game about pushing boxes (or sausages in this case) it's well made. Possibly game of the year for "Box pushing puzzle games fanatics monthly" Magazine. Outside that narrow niche, next to other games given a perfect 10, it's laughable. Is it Super Metroid? Is it FF7? Is it even Cave Story?

    There's not much depth. There's no story. The levels are all similar. It's ugly. The feeling of progress and reward isn't there. Well-designed learning curve aside, it's nothing special. It's a good take on something inherently mediocre (.8 x .5 = .4).

    I tried reading other reviews for a taste of what's going on. What I pulled away with was this games the perfect storm of overrated. It's an indie developer creates a piece of "art" that appeals to your intellect. Another reviewer even mentioned how smart the game was and how smart he felt for playing along.

    Video game journalism, everyone.

    If you like puzzles games and have hours to devote to intellectual validation, go for it. You'll get your money worth. Just know I think you're dumb spending $30 on a back-patting machine.    … Expand
  10. busterbeam
    Jun 2, 2016
    0
    2000s browser game-tier experience shilled by The Guardian and other big name journos because the dev is roommates with the creator of VVVVV and Super Hexagon
  11. winterriver
    May 28, 2016
    9
    This game looks crappy. Trust me.
    But that doesn't matter at all. Stephen's Sausage Roll is the most challenging puzzle game I ever felt motivated to play to completion. Each level is a piece of art. At various points in the game, new mechanics are introduced that feel natural in regards to the premise of the game (in particular, you will never need more controls than those introduced in    This game looks crappy. Trust me.
    But that doesn't matter at all. Stephen's Sausage Roll is the most challenging puzzle game I ever felt motivated to play to completion. Each level is a piece of art. At various points in the game, new mechanics are introduced that feel natural in regards to the premise of the game (in particular, you will never need more controls than those introduced in the very beginning).
    The game has a (completely optional) background story that stems from the games mechanics (rather than the other way around).
    The game has a fixed set of rules (some of them might seem a bit odd at first, when compared to real world physics). I cannot remember any other game that explores its rules to the fullest extend possible as much as this game does.
    The game is not quite cheap, but considering that I spent ~30 hours enjoying the perfectly designed levels of this puzzle game, it was well worth its money.    … Expand
  12. eys
    May 2, 2016
    10
    I'm not finished with the game yet. Seems people are reporting an average of 40-60 hour play times if that is of interest though.

    So far it's great. As many people have already said, the design is where it shines. The game never tells you what or how to do anything. You begin pushing and rolling sausages to fully cook them around and while it seems like a simple premise, you are    I'm not finished with the game yet. Seems people are reporting an average of 40-60 hour play times if that is of interest though.

    So far it's great. As many people have already said, the design is where it shines. The game never tells you what or how to do anything. You begin pushing and rolling sausages to fully cook them around and while it seems like a simple premise, you are constantly learning new things and playing the game in a much different way than you were before so it never feels repetitive. Often I get stuck and then realize, "Oh wow I can do that?" While being designed in a way where I naturally stumbled upon it by trying things that seemed possible. I have never thought, "Oh how was I suppose to think of that?" You can undo every move you make too so trying new things is encouraged.

    But don't be fooled by its funny name or silly premise. This is one of the hardest puzzle games out there. Think of something like Snakebird, another extremely hard game that looks all cute and innocent on the outside. Of course I still have much to do so it's just going to get even more difficult.

    I can see why Jonathan Blow (Braid/The Witness) has cited this game as one of the greatest puzzle games of all time. Alexander Bruce (Antichamber) has given the game high praise as well.

    The developer Increpare has created English Country Tune and a multitude of other small little games. Games I would also recommend checking out. He's mostly known among devs and people who actually watch out for these lesser known games. But I hope more and more outlets begin to review/cover this game.

    Stephen's Sausage Roll deserves it.    … Collapse
  13. eys
    May 2, 2016
    10
    I'm not finished with the game yet. Seems people are reporting an average of 40-60 hour play times if that is of interest though.

    So far it's great. As many people have already said, the design is where it shines. The game never tells you what or how to do anything. You begin pushing and rolling sausages to fully cook them around and while it seems like a simple premise, you are    I'm not finished with the game yet. Seems people are reporting an average of 40-60 hour play times if that is of interest though.

    So far it's great. As many people have already said, the design is where it shines. The game never tells you what or how to do anything. You begin pushing and rolling sausages to fully cook them around and while it seems like a simple premise, you are constantly learning new things and playing the game in a much different way than you were before so it never feels repetitive. Often I get stuck and then realize, "Oh wow I can do that?" While being designed in a way where I naturally stumbled upon it by trying things that seemed possible. I have never thought, "Oh how was I suppose to think of that?" You can undo every move you make too so trying new things is encouraged.

    But don't be fooled by its funny name or silly premise. This is one of the hardest puzzle games out there. Think of something like Snakebird, another extremely hard game that looks all cute and innocent on the outside. Of course I still have much to do so it's just going to get even more difficult.

    I can see why Jonathan Blow (Braid/The Witness) has cited this game as one of the greatest puzzle games of all time. Alexander Bruce (Antichamber) has given the game high praise as well.

    The developer Increpare has created English Country Tune and a multitude of other small little games. Games I would also recommend checking out. He's mostly known among devs and people who actually watch out for these lesser known games. But I hope more and more outlets begin to review/cover this game.

    Stephen's Sausage Roll deserves it.    … Collapse

Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best PC Game of 2016
98
#98 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. Edge Magazine
    Jul 5, 2016
    90
    It's a game you'll come back to the next day, having faced constant defeat in levels that are surely impossible, and find yourself beating them. [July 2016, p.120]
  2. Brash Games
    May 31, 2016
    100
    This isn’t a game for everybody. It’s brutally difficult and requires incredible patience and lateral thinking. However for puzzle aficionados interested in a casual but challenging experience, Stephen’s Sausage Roll is one of the best puzzlers available.
    Read full review
  3. GameSpew
    May 4, 2016
    90
    It’s worth every penny.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »