If I could describe the remastered version of the Wii U exclusive puzzle game Factotum—now called Factotum 90 for its Xbox One release from the one man studio TACS Games—I would call it the most relaxing, fun and rewarding puzzle game out in the market, a game that needs to be played by everyone.
Factotum 90 takes you to the interior of a recently crashed space station that has its life support systems damaged. It’s in here that you are presented with the twin spider-looking robots called Walkers. Your point of view—what you see as the game UI—is the point of view similar to the one used by security cameras.
Your objective is to reach the exit through the elevator platform at the end of each level. To help you in this sci-fi kind of adventure, you can count on TACS, an on board worker that will guide you with general instructions and tips about how to navigate the various levels in the environment. For you to reach your goal, you will need to use the robots as a team by pressing switches, redirecting light beams, carrying weighted boxes that can be used to activate switches or bombs to clear obstacles, and going through teleporting portals. You are only able to control one of the robots at a time, which can be reset to the starting point at any time.
All the levels also have a data collectible kind of secret bonus that, with just a little bit of effort, can be easily found on each level. When you reach the end of the game you will, hopefully, have restored the ship’s life support systems and found out what was the cause of it.
The controls of the game are pretty intuitive and easy to pick up. The Walkers’ movement is similar to that of a tank, meaning that there is no strafing, just basic rotation and direction control. The camera behavior is also adjusted accordingly as there is no 360° rotation.
You can’t control the two robots at the same time but switching between them is simple, fast and easy as you just have to press the Y button. The A button is used to activate small terminals and the X button allows you to pick up boxes. If you end up getting your robot stuck, you can just hit the B button and it will be automatically respawn at the start position of the level. You can also move the Walkers either with the left analog stick or D-pad, and use the triggers to walk faster or slower. Pretty simple, right?
As for graphics and sound, Factotum 90 doesn’t really stand out. The levels always look the same as well as their sound. I haven’t really played the Wii U version and just saw some videos from the trailers back then, but the visuals had a greenish monochromatic look. This has of course been corrected in the Xbox One version and the levels are all colored up. The quality isn’t the best out there but for Factotum that can be put aside since its objective is for you to focus on the puzzles and not on the graphics and detail of the levels.
The soundtrack of Factotum 90 is full of beeps and bloops that grant it a sci-fi robotic tune. The only problem is the fact that the sound is too short and quickly becomes repetitive. The Walkers also have a funny feature where they have their own conversations in a funny language each time they cross paths with one another.
Factotum 90 is probably the simplest and easiest puzzle game that I’ve ever played. You don’t have any kind of time limit needed to beat each level so that frustration is completely put aside. To be honest, it took me about 6 hours to fully complete all the 30 levels. I even managed to find all the data secrets on the first run. I also got all 12 achievements featured in the game. So if you’re looking for an easy game to add to your 100% complete list and give a little kick in your gamerscore, then Factotum 90 is a good choice.
Summary
In my opinion Factotum 90 can be enjoyed by everyone, from puzzle game enthusiasts to casual gamers. The game has some flaws, yes, but even so it’s a pretty decent and playable title. It’s super easy to get familiar with the controls and once that happens you will feel like spending more than a couple of minutes on each level. Factotum is definitely a game that I recommend to everyone for various reasons—like easy gameplay and easy achievements—besides the few flaws in the soundtrack, dim graphics and similarity of levels.
João is a games journalist, Senior Editor at XDA Developers. They contributed 156 articles to ICXM between 2015–2017, focused on game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: previously reported for Neowin before joining XDA Developers in 2021, where he leads coverage of Windows, Microsoft, and hardware.