Semblature: A Deduction Game

A semblature is a magical assembly of parts that only works when each unit sits in the right order. You run a shop that diagnoses and fixes them using a magical workbench.

Work out which statements are true or false, and move them to the correct positions.

Every unit looks identical from the outside. Some are broken. Some are hosting a Shade, an elusive creature that has unwelcomely moved in and will complicate your deductions. Your workbench provides what data it can to get you started, and the rest is up to you.

• Read each statement. Every unit displays a statement, and its light shows whether that statement is currently true. A broken unit displays the opposite of its real condition, so in the aligned position its statement reads false. A hosted unit's statement is accurate, but its light shows the reverse.

• Label every unit. Working or broken, hosted or clear.

• Set the order. Move and swap units until the arrangement stands. Moving them is also how you find out what they are.

AI tools were used in many aspects of making this game by a solo developer. Every use is itemized in the AI disclosure section further down this page.

You will never be required to guess

This is a design guarantee, not a difficulty setting. Every semblature has exactly one solution, and the information provided is always enough to reach it. There is no RNG and guessing is never necessary.

Play it the way you want to

The Guide is free and unlimited. It first points you toward evidence you have not used yet, but if you ever get stuck, it will give you a clear move. Nothing marks you down for asking, and 100% of the Steam achievements are reachable whether you used the Guide or not.

If you want it harder, there is room for that too. Later semblatures award a mark for a clean deduction in the fewest possible moves, and the most complex semblatures are for those who seek them out.

It is meant to be cozy rather than frustrating. No timers, no failure states, no lost progress, no forced replay. The puzzles are the point, and the story is a bonus. About five hours to the end of the main story.

Robust Accessibility options at launch

• No information is carried by colour alone.

• Motion can be switched off, and text size adjusts.

• Sound, music and effects each have their own volume slider.

• A 2D game that runs on modest hardware, including the Steam Deck. Windows and Linux.