A Virus Named Tom cover art

A Virus Named Tom

Tests circuit-puzzle solving while dodging patrolling hazards in real time.

Here's the argument for where this game sits - disagree freely.
Match your experience?
EXECUTION5 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE1 /10OPTIMIZATION7 /10

the cheat-test profile

The four axes - the argument

Each axis is rated on its own - how far one cheat would trivialize the game here. They don't trade off; low on all four means the game is an experience, not a contest.

  1. Execution

    cheat: Aimbot - perfect inputs

    5/10

    Dodging anti-virus drones while rotating tiles under pressure

  2. Reads

    cheat: Out-predict an adaptive opponent

    0/10

    Drones patrol on fixed visible routes

  3. Variance

    cheat: See what's hidden / map the RNG

    1/10

    Puzzles are fixed circuits, nothing rolled

  4. Optimization

    cheat: A perfect solver / coach

    7/10

    Solving circuit rotations efficiently is the heart of it

How to read this

Each axis is named by the cheat that would break the game along it. Execution is the hands. Reads is out-thinking an adaptive opponent. Variance is hidden information & RNG. Optimization is the solvable systems layer. A game's region is the top one or two axes.

These four aren't one rating split four ways - they're independent 0-10 questions. A 9 on one axis takes nothing from the others, and a game low on all four isn't missing data: it's telling you there's no skill here to cheat.

The basis is how the majority actually plays this game - not a niche mode or a personal run. For a game with very different modes (a story campaign versus ranked multiplayer), that's the version most people mean.

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Game details

Released
2012
Developer
Misfits Attic
Platforms
Linux, PC, Mac, Vita
Modes
Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative
IGDB users
45/100
PuzzleStrategyIndieArcadeActionScience fiction