# Stephen's Sausage Roll

21 Hacker News commenters recommended Stephen's Sausage Roll and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Praised for elegant, tightly designed puzzles that build to a satisfying eureka moment and a story. Critics find it very hard and frustrating.

## Why people recommend it

- Tight, elegant puzzle design (3 comments): "held it out as a standard of excellence in puzzle game design" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47857968)) "the puzzle design is incredibly tight" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47854402)) "It's elegant but sooo hard." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50124648))
- Deep play from simple mechanics (2 comments): "pushes its basic mechanics to the absolute limits and made me think significantly harder" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47860600)) "it explores fewer mechanics but with greater depth" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47854243))
- Influential standard for puzzle design (2 comments): "he has credited it as an inspiration for what's possible within the Sokoban format" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47856241)) "held it out as a standard of excellence in puzzle game design" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47857968))
- Story grows more poignant (2 comments): "increase in poignancy and frequency as the game winds to a close" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47854155)) "i feel bad even spoiling that there is a story. play it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47854641))

## What people warn about

- Very hard and frustrating (2 comments): "it was so hard and frustrating I could not play it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47855213)) "It's elegant but sooo hard." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50124648))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Outer Wilds](https://hackerapproved.com/p/outer-wilds.md): 65 recommend
- [enclose.horse](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enclose-horse.md): 64 recommend
- [The Witness](https://hackerapproved.com/p/witness.md): 60 recommend
- [Braid](https://hackerapproved.com/p/braid.md): 36 recommend
- [Blue Prince](https://hackerapproved.com/p/blue-prince.md): 30 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.increpare.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Stephen's Sausage Roll", https://hackerapproved.com/p/stephen-s-sausage-roll/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).