Image: Artless

Okay, so, not ME specifically, but someone out there has been waiting a long time for a heavyweight, math-centric alien language translation puzzler, only for two to come along at once. Following hot on the heels of the somewhat more accessible The Message From Deep Space back in July, Message From Aliens launched yesterday, and despite the store page featuring nothing but esoteric glyphs, it has seen surprising success on Steam.

See, this is one of those games that I can appreciate for its sheer intelligence and commitment to the bit, and also be utterly intimidated by and know that I will make absolutely zero headway in. Developed by prolific puzzlesmith Artless Games (the name is accurate - their games are all raw text, symbols, and the occasional cube), your goal here - if I understand it properly - is to respond to questions and prompts from an alien intelligence using an interface entirely in their language.

Everything here is in the alien language, from the button in the top-right that quits the game, to the options screen and the panel that changes your UI color scheme. And underneath every button and glyph is a little question mark that you can click to fill in what you think it means. It will not tell you if you're right or wrong, but it's the first step in piecing together what you're looking at.

At least it's easy enough to figure out numbers. As the game's store page reassures, the alien's logograms are designed to be more logical than most human languages. At least counting to six - just count the number of lines. The rules change a bit when you get to seven. But I digress.

Even the trailer is written in this alien language. Which actually helps, because you've got context there. You can intuit the words from 'Message From Aliens' from it. And possibly 'Steam', too. Every little bit of information feels vital in providing the foundation you need to figure out the rules and fill in the blanks. The first thing I did was try to put words to the game's own options menu.

It feels like the deepest of threats on the store page that the game's final chapter involves alien poetry and jokes, if I'm struggling badly enough to count to ten. Still, there's a good number of players that are obviously much smarter than me, and enjoying the game. And to them, I say 'good for you', and I hope that they put those incredible minds to use to make the world a better place.

Message From Aliens is out now for £6.69/$10, and also available in a bundle with all of Artless' other games, which are mostly less baffling to look at. There is also an extensive demo, and I highly recommend you try that first unless you are VERY confident in your puzzling.