card-spread-72dpi.jpgIt’s been nine months since Perplex City opened its doors to the public, asking for assistance in finding the Receda Cube. Now, with the third wave of playing cards available, players have more clues to help them in their search for the cube — and with it, the $200,000 reward that accompanies its safe return. Players were also treated to a visually stunning redesign of the Perplex City web site in the past week, which has added some valuable resources that open the door for people interested in getting involved with PXC for the first time.

“The world of Perplex City is deeper and more complex than anyone imagined,” stated Michael Smith, CEO of Mind Candy Design, in a press statement released this past week. You don’t have to look very hard to get a sense of what Smith is talking about, as one of the hot new features of the newly renovated web site is the new “Story So Far” section. In this part of the site, information is given that allows all players, whether new to the game or not, a chance to catch up on the events that have taken place so far. It is large in scale and loaded with content, showing that Perplex City isn’t just puzzle cards and blogs.


Some players have been very happy with the changes and with the new re-cap section. “For new players it’s quite hard to join in and bacome part of the already formed community. You can only read the wiki if you know it’s there, but this gives new players what they need where they need it,” remarked Marc McGinley, an avid player or the game since December. Cassandra, who has been following along since March of 2005, thinks that the new section is “aesthetically unpleasing but a must-read for players looking to dive into the plot.” And longtime player Jamie Dempster says that it is “well organised, eye catching, and with an entire Richard Adams’ novel full of rabbitholes.”

Other players feel that there might be too much in the content to digest. “Basically, it has everything now, which is great, but it also includes all the bits that were maybe a bit superfluous to the actual plot,” offers Matthew Turnbull, who was kind enough to report in on one of the first PXC live events. Unfiction community member MasterCheese expands on this idea: “The sheer amount of information given in each of the “chapters” could be enough to confuse anything, and there are very few, if any, things to link it all together. It’s basically just repeating all the blog entries, etc., from throughout the game without any explanation. I think they could have maybe explained some of the events, or have a larger summary of each ‘chapter’ to help the newer players understand some of the events. Or maybe even include some links to [UnFiction Forum] threads to help a little.”

However players feel about the new features on the site, one thing is certain — Perplex City isn’t going anywhere for a long time. They have a strong, dedicated player base, and what appears to be a solid, creative plan. The last wave of cards for this part of the Perplex City experience is set to be released this summer, and the world will be watching as the game heads towards an end to its first campaign.