Info about Thermo Sudoku:

Official game description:
Presented by Cracking The Cryptic, YouTube’s most popular Sudoku channel, comes a new game featuring one of the most popular puzzle types: Thermo Sudoku.  
How does Thermo Sudoku work? Well each sudoku grid contains thermometer shapes (often drawn to create themes) and digits on thermometers must increase as one moves further from the bulb end. The interactions between the thermometers leads to new logical ideas and patterns that completely refreshes the standard sudoku solving experience.  
As with their other games (‘Classic Sudoku’, ‘Sandwich Sudoku’ and ‘Chess Sudoku’), Simon Anthony and Mark Goodliffe (the hosts of Cracking The Cryptic) have personally crafted the hints for the puzzles. So you know that every puzzle has been play-tested by a human being to ensure that the sudoku is interesting and fun to solve.  
In Cracking The Cryptic’s games, players start with zero stars and earn stars by solving puzzles. The more puzzles you solve, the more stars you earn and the more puzzles you get to play. Only the most dedicated (and cleverest) sudoku players will finish all the puzzles. Of course the difficulty is carefully calibrated to ensure lots of puzzles at every level (from easy through to extreme). Anyone familiar with their YouTube channel will know that Simon and Mark take pride in teaching viewers to be better solvers and, in these games, they always craft the puzzles with the mindset of trying to help solvers improve their skills.  
Mark and Simon have both represented the UK many times at the World Sudoku Championship and you can find more of their puzzles (and lots of others) on the internet’s biggest sudoku channel Cracking The Cryptic.  
Features:  
*   40 beautiful puzzles on launch  
*   100 puzzles in all with regular updates to reach this total in the first year post launch.  
*   Hints crafted by Simon and Mark!

Release date: May 25, 2020

Categories: Puzzle Solving, Logic-based Gameplay, Single-player, Progressive Difficulty, Hand-crafted Puzzles, Educational Game


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $3.00 - $5.00
  - Reasoning: The majority of reviews express that the game is worth its price, with one explicitly stating the $5 price tag is fair. A single review from a different region argues that the equivalent price (22 yuan) is too high and suggests a much lower price. Given the substantial content (400+ puzzles and more planned), the community fair price range is likely between $3 and $5, with $5 being the upper bound as it is directly endorsed. The lower bound is set to $3 to account for the dissenting view while still reflecting the overall positive sentiment.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 27.0h
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The two concrete playtime reports for completing the initial 40 launch puzzles are 23 and 31 hours. Averaging these gives 27 hours as the game completion time. The third quote is an estimate of 15-20 hours, which is lower and not based on an actual playthrough, so it is treated as less reliable. No evidence supports story completion, session length, or endgame metrics.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game starts with hand-holding puzzles that quickly ramp up to challenging ones, and most players find it becomes fun as they learn advanced logic and appreciate the handcrafted design. However, players not invested in Sudoku may find it repetitive over time.
  - Stance: Clicks after
  - Anchor: The ramp-up to challenging puzzles
  - Time to anchor: N/A
  - Friction: hand-holding early puzzles; learning curve for logic steps
  - Unlock drivers: ramp-up in difficulty; introduction of advanced reasoning techniques; handcrafted puzzle design; guidance
  - Conditions: player's prior interest in Sudoku; player's puzzle-solving skill level; appreciation for handcrafted puzzles; willingness to learn logic steps
- Player Archetypes:
  - The CTC Disciple (buy)
    - Motivation: Learning Sudoku techniques and appreciating puzzle art through the CTC community.
    - Playstyle: Uses hints and follows channel teachings, likely plays with guidance.
    - Experience: newcomer
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: Sudoku noob
    - Reference games: N/A
  - The Logic Puzzle Enthusiast (buy)
    - Motivation: Enjoyment of logic puzzles and a high-quality interface.
    - Playstyle: Plays a variety of puzzle types, uses options and hints as needed.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A
  - The Sudoku Fanatic (buy)
    - Motivation: Seeking challenging Sudoku puzzles and the best platform for them.
    - Playstyle: Plays challenging puzzles, likely uses hints sparingly, enjoys variations.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: sudoku fans
    - Reference games: N/A


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Thermo sudoku is a favorite (weight 0.45): The thermometer mechanic is a standout feature, with many reviewers citing it as their favorite sudoku type and praising the added twist.
- UI is user-friendly (weight 0.42): The interface is described as easy to use, intuitive, and smooth, contributing to a positive overall experience.
- Hand-crafted puzzles are valued (weight 0.35): Reviewers appreciate the hand-crafted nature of the puzzles, noting they are well-constructed and superior to generated ones.
- Game is highly praised (weight 0.34): Reviewers consistently describe the game as great, fun, and high quality, with many expressing strong enjoyment and value for money.
- Puzzles are clever and well-designed (weight 0.31): The puzzles are frequently highlighted as stunningly clever, well-crafted, and unique, providing a satisfying mental challenge.
- Sudoku variant is refreshing (weight 0.27): The game offers a pleasant twist on classic sudoku, making it more fun and differentiating it from vanilla sudoku.
- Hints are helpful (weight 0.27): The hint system is praised for being useful and handcrafted, providing logical guidance and teaching techniques.
- Good puzzle variety and difficulty (weight 0.23): The game offers a solid range of puzzles with varying difficulty levels, ensuring a good amount of content for players.
- Challenging and tricky puzzles (weight 0.19): The puzzles are seen as challenging and sometimes tricky, providing a new and engaging form of sudoku.
- Difficulty progression is balanced (weight 0.14): The difficulty ramps up gradually and is carefully balanced, allowing players to progress smoothly.
- App is well-made (weight 0.14): The app is described as elegant, smooth, and fantastic, indicating high production quality.
- Great value for money (weight 0.1): The game is considered totally worth the price, with hand-crafted puzzles adding to its value.
- Cracking the Cryptic content is excellent (weight 0.1): The game is recognized as a favorite from the Cracking the Cryptic collection, with reviewers praising the content quality.
- Educational for sudoku learning (weight 0.1): The game is seen as a learning tool that teaches sudoku well and helps players improve their solving skills.

Common complaints:
- High CPU and battery drain (weight 0.3): The game uses excessive CPU, causing laptops to overheat and batteries to drain rapidly. This is a significant issue for mobile users.
- Difficulty curve is inconsistent (weight 0.28): Early puzzles are sometimes harder than expected, while later ones can be either too easy or extremely difficult. This inconsistency frustrates players of varying skill levels.
- Input handling is awkward (weight 0.28): Multiple input issues exist, such as double-clicking to clear, escape exiting the game, and tool deselection problems. These disrupt the gameplay flow.
- Progress saving is problematic (weight 0.27): Crashes can delete all progress, and there is no cloud save. Transferring progress between devices requires manual code entry, which is inconvenient and error-prone.
- Settings changes are confusing (weight 0.18): Configuration options are cryptic and not easily accessible from the main grid. Changing settings can also alter previously selected tools.
- Thermometer mechanic is superficial (weight 0.15): The thermometer twist does not add meaningful depth to the sudoku puzzles and feels unnecessary. Reviewers felt it did not justify the game's price.
- Puzzle updates are slow (weight 0.15): The promised 100 puzzles within the first year have not been delivered, and updates have stalled. Players run out of content quickly and must wait for new puzzles.
- Price too high for content (weight 0.11): The game offers little beyond what free sudoku versions provide, and the content is not substantial enough for the asking price. This is a common complaint among reviewers.
- Lack of background music (weight 0.11): The game has no background music or sound effects, making the experience feel empty and less immersive. This was noted by multiple reviewers.
- Hints are not context-sensitive (weight 0.11): Hints provided do not relate to the current puzzle state, making them less helpful. Some hints are cryptic and require multiple readings.
- Gameplay lacks variety (weight 0.11): There are no additional modes or variations to diversify the experience, and the core gameplay can become repetitive for non-enthusiasts.
- Display ambiguity in numbers (weight 0.1): There is visual confusion between the numbers 5 and 6, and side notes can be misleading. This affects puzzle readability.
- No end-of-game reward (weight 0.09): Completing all puzzles yields no congratulatory message or special acknowledgment, making the ending feel anticlimactic.
- Unity engine is overkill (weight 0.06): Using the Unity engine for a simple sudoku game is excessive and contributes to performance issues. Reviewers see it as unnecessary bloat.
- Guessing required in puzzles (weight 0.06): Some puzzles require guessing to find contradictions, which is not preferred by players who enjoy logical deduction. This can be frustrating.
- Resolution changes break UI (weight 0.06): Changing resolution shifts clickable areas and UI response, making the game unplayable at certain settings. This is a technical bug.
- Tutorials are text-heavy (weight 0.06): Tutorials are presented as large blocks of text, which is not engaging. Players may find them tedious to read.
- Thermos cannot be toggled (weight 0.06): The thermometer feature cannot be turned off, and it distracts in normal sudoku mode. This limits player control over the game experience.
- Color scheme options are limited (weight 0.05): The available color schemes are not to everyone's taste, and there are too many options that are hard to track. This affects visual customization.

Gameplay feedback:
- Thermo Sudoku variant game (weight 0.97): The game is a Sudoku variant that adds a thermometer mechanic, where numbers along a thermometer must increase from bulb to end. This twist on classic Sudoku is the core gameplay feature.
- Handcrafted puzzle quality (weight 0.33): The puzzles are handcrafted, ensuring high quality and thoughtful design. This is a notable positive aspect mentioned across multiple clusters.
- Progressive difficulty levels (weight 0.26): Difficulty ramps up progressively, ranging from beginner to expert. Players note that later puzzles become quite challenging, especially above 6-star difficulty.
- Customizable interface options (weight 0.22): The game offers customizable interface options, including multi-select and wrong cell marking. Settings allow toggling assistance tools and error prevention features.
- Helpful hint system (weight 0.19): The game includes a hint system that teaches solving techniques rather than just giving answers. Hints are available in English and assist players in learning.
- Advanced techniques required (weight 0.14): Higher difficulty puzzles require knowledge of advanced Sudoku techniques such as naked pairs, hidden pairs, Y-wings, and hidden triples. The thermo rule alone may not suffice for the hardest puzzles.
- Cracking the Cryptic team (weight 0.13): The app is developed by the team behind Cracking the Cryptic, a well-known Sudoku community. It shares architecture with other variants in the collection.
- Learning tools included (weight 0.11): The game provides learning tools and note-taking features to help players improve. These tools support number entry and pencil marks for solving.
- Engaging logic mechanics (weight 0.1): The thermometer mechanic provides engaging logic challenges, making the puzzles interesting. The added constraints reduce given numbers for a more intriguing experience.
- Large puzzle collection (weight 0.07): The game includes over 400 puzzles, providing extensive content for players. This large number of handcrafted puzzles offers long-term replayability.
- Basic chains involved (weight 0.05): The game involves basic chains as part of its puzzle-solving logic. This adds another layer of complexity to the gameplay.
- Bulbs extension feature (weight 0.04): There is a feature related to bulbs extension, likely referring to the thermometer bulb mechanics. This may be an additional gameplay element.

Performance notes:
- Game crashes frequently (weight 0.07): One review mentions that the game crashes, which is a critical stability issue that can disrupt gameplay and frustrate users. This is a high-priority bug to address.
- UI overlaps at non-fullscreen resolutions (weight 0.07): On macOS, UI elements overlap when the game is not in fullscreen mode, causing usability problems. This is a specific interface bug that needs fixing for better compatibility.

Recommendations:
- Recommended for Sudoku fans (weight 0.34): Multiple reviews strongly recommend this game to Sudoku enthusiasts, highlighting its variant puzzles and challenging nature. It is described as the best place for Sudoku fans to play.
- Good value for money (weight 0.22): Reviews mention the game is worth its price and a good investment, with one noting it offers excellent value for puzzle lovers. This suggests the pricing is considered fair.
- Appeals to logic puzzle fans (weight 0.14): The game is recommended for players who enjoy logic puzzles and problem-solving, with one review noting it helps gradually master complex systems. This broad appeal is noted across clusters.
- Prefer human-made puzzles (weight 0.06): One review recommends human-made puzzles over generic or randomly generated collections, suggesting a preference for curated content. This is a niche but specific point.
- CTC bundle recommended (weight 0.05): A single review recommends the entire CTC bundle, indicating the game is part of a larger valued collection. This is a specific but low-frequency endorsement.
- Consider free alternatives (weight 0.04): One review recommends going with other free versions of Sudoku instead of this game, suggesting cost concerns. This is an isolated negative recommendation.

Other player notes:
- Cracking the Cryptic association (weight 0.61): The game is widely recognized as part of the Cracking the Cryptic collection, developed by the team behind the popular YouTube channel. Reviewers frequently mention this connection as a key reason for their interest.
- Puzzle count and updates (weight 0.44): The game launches with 40 puzzles and is promised to receive regular updates to reach 100 puzzles within the first year. Some reviewers note that this promise has not been fulfilled for other titles in the series.
- Part of larger bundle (weight 0.3): The game is part of a larger CTC bundle and package with other sudoku apps, and some reviewers purchased the entire package. It is also compared to the Chess collection and other series entries.
- Studio Goya development (weight 0.25): The game is developed and published by Studio Goya, and reviewers compare it favorably to other games from the same developer. The quality is considered consistent with previous Goya releases.
- Sync issues on Steam (weight 0.19): The game lacks proper cloud sync on Steam, requiring manual code entry to sync progress between devices. This is a notable drawback for a Steam title and is a recurring issue in other Cracking the Cryptic apps.
- Platform-specific issues (weight 0.17): The game has issues on macOS and works much better on a Windows desktop. The interface is also noted to be sparse and makes it difficult to return to paper-based solving.
- Interface and features (weight 0.13): The interface includes a setting to mark wrong cells in red, enabled by default, but the star system's mechanics are unclear. Hints are provided in English only.
- Completion and difficulty (weight 0.13): One reviewer completed all puzzles, and the hardest puzzle is identified as number 39. The game has levels to progress through.
- Switch release requested (weight 0.05): A reviewer expressed interest in seeing the game released on the Nintendo Switch platform. This suggests potential demand for broader platform availability.
- Steam Play Anywhere (weight 0.05): The game can be streamed using Steam Play Anywhere, which is a positive feature for some users. This provides flexibility in how the game can be played.
- Purchase difficulties (weight 0.04): One reviewer experienced difficulty purchasing the game because the Steam store went offline during the purchase process. This is an isolated incident but affected the user experience.

Emotions:
- Enjoyment (weight 0.17): Players consistently report that the Thermo Sudoku variant adds a fun and interesting twist to classic sudoku, making puzzles more engaging and enjoyable. The handcrafted puzzles, lovely interface, and varied content contribute to a highly positive experience, with many noting it as one of their favorite sudoku variants.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.16): The game delivers a rewarding and intellectually satisfying experience through its handcrafted puzzles, intuitive UI, and smooth controls. Players appreciate the well-tuned difficulty curve and the way additional constraints provide more information, making each solve feel great and the overall experience fluid and high-quality.
- Frustration (weight 0.12): Frustration stems from several usability and technical issues, including crashes that delete progress, lack of cloud sync requiring manual code entry, and input handling problems like needing to click twice or the game closing on Esc. Additionally, some players find the early puzzles too hard for beginners, and the game can cause laptop overheating or lack challenging content for advanced solvers.
- Appreciation (weight 0.09): Players appreciate the game's user experience, handcrafted puzzles, and the engaging, approachable logic that the thermo variant provides. The sleek presentation, helpful hints, and intuitive interface are valued, along with the game's role in teaching sudoku to beginners and supporting the Cracking the Cryptic community.
- Disappointment (weight 0.06): Disappointment arises from unmet promises, such as the 100-puzzle update not being delivered, and the lack of cloud sync causing progress loss when switching devices. Some players also find the variant superficial, the final puzzle not the hardest, and the color scheme options unappealing, with nothing special happening upon completing all puzzles.
- Positive (weight 0.06): The game is praised for its clean, simple, and flexible design, with a clear and intuitive interface that offers customization options and a good number of puzzles. Players enjoy the handcrafted sudokus and the thermo variant, which makes the game a great way to enjoy challenges and easy to get used to.
- Admiration (weight 0.04): Admiration is directed at the app's excellent craftsmanship, featuring incredible handcrafted puzzles and a fantastic thermo variant ruleset. Players find the puzzles stunningly clever and appreciate the symmetrical layout of many levels, making the app truly well made.
- Love (weight 0.04): Players love the game for its beautiful and logical puzzles, which are very well designed and provide a refreshing sudoku variant. The excellent quality and the great Thermo variant make it a standout experience that players genuinely enjoy.
- Excitement (weight 0.03): Excitement is driven by the challenging variation on Sudoku and the addition of thermometers, which players find awesome. The anticipation of upcoming content and the inclusion of favorite mechanics like thermos generate enthusiasm for the game.
- Annoyance (weight 0.02): Annoyance is caused by specific UI quirks, such as thermos being a distraction in normal sudoku mode, settings changes resetting previously selected tools, and the 'tap to click' feature marking all hovered fields. These issues interrupt the solving experience and are seen as unnecessary hindrances.
- Anticipation (weight 0.02): Players are looking forward to updates that add more puzzles, and fans of the Cracking the Cryptic YouTube channel are excited about the game. The expectation of future content and improvements keeps anticipation high.
- Pride (weight 0.02): Pride comes from solving the last puzzle without using hints and completing handcrafted puzzles, which makes players feel like geniuses. The sense of accomplishment from overcoming challenging logic is a key source of this emotion.
- Frustrated (weight 0.02): Frustration is reported due to the extreme difficulty of the last five puzzles, with one instance of cryptic hints, and technical issues like battery drain and overheating on a MacBook Pro. These factors detract from the overall experience.
- Gratitude (weight 0.02): Gratitude is expressed for the release of the final 20 puzzles, which restored faith in the developers, and for the positive impact of the developers' videos. Players appreciate the developers' accomplishments and the value they bring to the community.
- Engagement (weight 0.01): The evolution of puzzle layouts keeps the experience engaging, as players find the variety and progression of designs compelling. This continuous change maintains interest and involvement in the game.
- Regret (weight 0.01): One player regrets purchasing the game, indicating dissatisfaction with the product. This negative sentiment likely stems from unmet expectations or issues encountered during play.
- Encouragement (weight 0.01): The reviewer expresses a wish for the player to have fun, indicating a positive and supportive attitude toward the game. This encouragement reflects a desire for others to enjoy the experience as they did.
- Liking (weight 0.01): The reviewer likes the game and appreciates its lack of hand holding, which allows for a more independent and challenging experience. This preference for minimal guidance contributes to a positive view of the game.
- Interest (weight 0.01): The thermometer mechanic is found to be interesting, adding a novel element to the sudoku puzzles. This unique feature sparks curiosity and engagement among players.
- Accomplished (weight 0.01): Players feel accomplished when spotting the trick in some of the really pretty logic-wise puzzles. The satisfaction of solving cleverly designed puzzles contributes to this sense of achievement.}