The best demo on Steam?

Turn off the metal detectors. Recall the sniffer dogs. Put down the machetes. I think I’ve just stumbled upon Steam’s most entertaining free trial.

Sorry for not noticing you sooner, Tricky Machines. If, at any point during the past three years, I had realised that one of my favourite PC puzzle games had spawned a test-driveable £5 sequel, I’d have mentioned it ASAP. At the very least, TM’s hugely entertaining twenty-mission taster would have topped the bill on a Demo Disc.

Essentially, Tricky Machines is Tricky Truck with bigger, wetter, knobblier maps, and more vehicle types. As before, your objective is generally to get a wheeled something from A to B in as short a time as possible. Peter Soltesz’s blue-chip physics and a legion of fiendishly inventive mapmakers (most puzzles are crafted by users) conspire to make these journeys gloriously sweaty, thought-provoking, and tactile.

Amongst the choice puzzles available to trialists is ‘Big and Small’, a challenge involving two vehicles, both of which must be utilised in order to reach the finish, ‘Sleepy Driver’, a hand-eye test in which finishing without your dozing rag-doll driver aboard means failure, and ‘Ladder Sport’, a cargo run that seems awfully straightforward until you realise you must transport both box and ladder to the destination.

(The following trailer contains tips/spoilers)