Thank you Ratalaika Games for providing us with a review code!

When someone tells you to not touch that button, it just makes you want to touch it all the more, no? In real life, touching buttons both physical or metaphorical, can have dire consequences. Luckily, 9 Eyes Game Studio created a game where you can indulge in the morbid curiosity of touching buttons you’re not supposed to.

The main goal of Don’t Touch This Button! Is to progress through 66 levels where you must touch the button to progress—at the computer’s protest. This computer with a pretty funny frown on its monitor really doesn’t want you to move forward. The computer will lie to you constantly to halt your movement. In every level, the monitor will display some words telling you what (not) to do. Since the computer is a liar, it’s best to do the opposite of what it says. If it tells you to push that left button, you should press the right one. There’s nice lighthearted humor when it comes to the wording spread throughout levels, and you can almost feel a hint of sarcasm from the computer as you move onward.

Controls are very simple with the left and right triggers to run and jump. The control stick is to aim around and the cross button to throw items picked up with the square button. There are block-pushing puzzles, platforming puzzles, and puzzles that use math. There’s a good chunk of variety with the puzzles and I did find myself stuck for some time on a few of them. Not all puzzles are created equal and there will be some for players that will zip right through them, while others will halt your journey like a stone wall.

Every room in DTTB is white and green. The blocks that can be pushed around are black, with traces of green in them. The color pallet is very sterile, almost like a doctor’s office. There are windows you can look out of, but the only things you’ll see are the vastness of space, and maybe the next room ahead. The plainness of the world captures a sense of isolation that not many horror games can capture. Given the tone, the loneliness isn’t scary as there’s humor to be found in every level.

Accompanying the sterile visuals, a simple piano plays throughout, except for the final level where the music picks up in intensity. Like the visuals, the simplistic music works for the tone they’re trying to set. It’s low and subtle enough to not get annoying either. In contrast, the sound effects are more of a dematerializing like in a typical sci-fi show or a solid click when a button is pressed. Throwing blocks at the vases scattered throughout the levels leave a shattering sound, despite the vases bursting into pixels and float away.

There are a few morality concerns with DTTB. In some levels, there are spikes and lasers on some levels. If touched, they will reset you to your starting position. You can also throw blocks at the monitors and vases in the later levels to smash them.

For the price of admission, Don’t Touch This Button! is a nice experience that will last one to three hours depending on how your brain processes puzzles. The minimalist approach in visuals and sound design works in its favor. There’s not a whole lot in terms of replay value besides getting some achievements you might have missed in the first playthrough. With only a few moral concerns, there’s a wide audience for this experience, and is worth checking out if puzzles are your thing. Young kids may even find it to be as hilarious as the classic "The Monster at the End of This Book."