“The puzzle aspect is unrivaled, and the audacity of some of the out-of-the-box solutions you can come up with (because you get many discrete small processes rather than one big abstraction) is thrilling”

I want to hear more about this. Or make comparisons to game experiences I know and see which is closer.

Sort of a sandbox procedurally generated story esque-kind of game? Could you call it a crunchy version of the Quiet Year?

With the victory points and many avenues, seems deeper than scythe and possibly more complicated than a COIN game but also more generalized? Caverna might be close?

Though the idea that 8 hours flew by does just remind me of dnd 3.5 and the Magic-esque thrill of assembling a character for combat. I guess the bonus of this game is the game does all the heavy lifting of creating an ‘encounter’ and I would get to be a player.

The way you came up with personal goals though it reminds most like minecraft or something…

/ramble