Indie Spotlight – Parallel Experiment comes with a comic noir puzzle mystery designed for two

Eleven Puzzles is gearing up to launch their co-op puzzle title, Parallel Experiment, on Android, iOS, and Steam on June 5, 2025.

In this 2-player indie title, you can play with your friend as detectives who are often separated, each with different clues, and must work together to solve puzzles. This well-crafted title is finally making its way to mobile, promising mind-twisting challenges and fun.

Game Overview

Parallel Experiment, from Eleven Puzzles, is a 2-player co-op puzzle title with escape room-like elements that invites you to experience a noir-inspired adventure with a comic book art style. You and your friend or partner can play as detectives Ally and Old Dog, and solve the Cryptic Killer’s codes.

The exciting factor is that the game separates you both, providing different items and clues, so you’ve to rely on your communication skills and work together to solve over 80 well-designed puzzles. Moreover, you can explore various retro-inspired mini-games with a co-op twist if you want a break from puzzles.

With its variety of puzzles, nearly 100 comic book pages, collaborative conversations, dynamic NPC response, hand-drawn environments, annoy co-op partners, and more, Parallel Experiment delivers a well-rounded, dynamic, and exciting gameplay experience for modern gamers.

Why you should play Parallel Experiment

• An intriguing 2-player puzzle title with escape room mechanics and noir comic flair.
• Packed with over 10 hours of gameplay, including over 80 puzzles and 100 comic book pages.
• Features hand-drawn art, dynamic NPCs, cooperative dialogues, and beautiful cutscenes.
• Includes retro-inspired mini-games, sketching options, and fun ways to mess with your partners.

From concept to creation: Developer Insights

In a conversation with GamingonPhone, Adrian Olczyk, CEO and co-founder at Eleven Puzzles, shared valuable details about Parallel Experiment. He opened up about the game’s early development, inspiration, challenges, and more.

While talking about how the studio started and himself, he said that he is “one of the co-founders of Eleven Puzzles—alongside my wife, Karolina,” and that they began the studio out of their “shared passion for escape rooms.”

From a passion project to everything

Mr. Adrian added that Eleven Puzzles is a “fully remote studio with eight team members”, and all are scattered across Poland. He said they “thrive on the flexibility remote work offers“, which sparks their creativity, and lets everyone work together in whatever ways suit them best.

The goal, he shared, was simple: “to build the kind of puzzle games that we ourselves would love to play.” He revealed that they launched the studio in November 2020 during the height of the pandemic. “With real-world escape rooms closed, we missed the thrill of solving puzzles together,” he noted.

So they decided to recreate the experience digitally. He expressed how what began as a passion project quickly turned into something larger, as their “first game was a hit among friends, so we kept going.” With each new game, they strive to create more immersive and creative co-op puzzles.

Challenges and birth of Parallel Experiment

While asked about the development journey, Mr. Adrian revealed that the idea for Parallel Experiment began with something very basic. “We began with a very simple concept—just a game set in a laboratory,” he shared.

But as they developed the story, shaped character motivations, and built their relationships, the project “naturally blossomed into something far more ambitious.” Moreover, they initially called it Parallel Labs, but changed the name once the plot deepened with “deeper conflicts and hidden truths.“

He explained how the narrative focuses on “two estranged brothers caught up in a secret trial tied to their missing parents,” with supernatural themes inspired by their X-Files binge. He then gave a gist of the plot, and we moved on the challenges the studio faced while developing the game.

According to Mr. Adrian, the biggest challenge was achieving balance. “If one side of a puzzle lagged or felt too easy, the tension melted away,” he noted. They solved this through rigorous playtesting and constant iterations, by “tweaking and reworking until every puzzle kept both players fully engaged.”

Why blending mystery and co-op as a genre felt right

I was curious to know how they decided to mix noir-inspired storytelling and co-op puzzle-solving, to which he replied, “Everything started with the idea to make cooperative games that we’d love to play ourselves.“

It was nice knowing that just like me, even Mr. Adrian and his wife spent a good amount of time gaming. Although they played everything from online escape games to board games like the EXIT and Unlock! series.

During this part, he answered another question, “We simply love mystery novels, comic books, and adoring playing together,” explaining that’s how all this began and why they chose this genre.

He added that this mix worked really well: “detectives solving an unsolved case,” then finding yourselves “targets of the very killer they’ve been hunting for years.” According to him, this blend of suspense and teamwork is “exactly the thrilling experience we wanted to create.“

Designing with clarity, challenge, and co-op at heart

According to Mr. Adrian, the studio’s development process follows a clear pattern. “Our process is highly iterative,” he explained, with three major steps, pitching mechanics and ideas as a team, quickly prototyping puzzles with placeholder art, and rigorous playtesting with feedback.

He noted that, “If the puzzle is still fun in that raw form, we know it has promise.” Moreover, design rules help them keep things focused. He emphasized that there’s “no inventory system,” “no backtracking“, and each puzzle spans “exactly two screens.”

As all interactions must be clearly describable, communication stays at the center of your gameplay. To avoid overload, they added “just a few puzzles” in each level. He also noted that the game includes “Self-contained levels” with each level having “defined goals“, giving you a sense of direction.

Ending this part, he revealed that they reimagined “classic adventure tropes for two-player cooperation“. The goal, he said, is to “fill a gap in the genre and give cooperative puzzling the attention it deserves.“

Lighthearted co-op mini-games add a fun break from the intense puzzles

Knowing the game includes lighthearted mini-games, I asked Mr. Adrian how the studio managed to integrate them into the overall game. “We divided Parallel Experiment into four chapters,” he answered, each separated by a police station. Between investigations, you can relax by “playing darts, pool, or retro arcade games.“

He also highlighted the “playful Annoy Each Other mechanic,” which lets you poke at your partner’s screen or shake it to lighten up the mood. He further pointed out that they “estimate over 10 hours of gameplay,” emphasizing this time is packed with value, “no fillers, no reused puzzles.”

Each level, he said, was “carefully calibrated for pacing, puzzle density, and difficulty.” The studio worked hard to bring the right mix of “challenging puzzles, narrative beats, lighthearted diversions, and emotional payoffs”

Immersive experience through hand-drawn storytelling

Continuing our conversation, we talked about the game’s visuals. When it came to visuals, the team made sure the art style complemented the gameplay, which is “clear, intuitive, and accessible to players of all backgrounds.” The comic book look also helps to immerse you in their noir tone.

He shared that their “lead artist, Adam, whose love of comics goes back to childhood,” has helped shape the game’s visuals. However, when Robert joined the team, he “refined the palette and linework” to heighten the noir feel.

It was nice knowing that the team treated each cutscene as “a standalone comic page—nearly 100 in total” that helps to deepen immersion and narrative flow without interrupting your puzzle-solving.

What’s next for the Studio after this highly anticipated release

As for what’s next, he shared that the team’s “immediate focus is a Nintendo Switch port.” He added that their earlier titles, Unsolved Case and Unboxing the Cryptic Killer, will also come to Switch. While the game won’t receive DLCs, there are hints of a secret ending that might reveal the upcoming title.

As we were coming to an end to our conversation, the focus of our topic shifted to how the studio managed funding and managing. Regarding funding, he revealed that “We’re a fully self-funded studio“, which helped them to stay true to their creative goals.

And for marketing, he said, is minimal and mainly about “community-building and organic engagement.” He also stressed that most of the outreach is fan-focused, relying on word of mouth and social media.

He ended the conversation by stating, “We believe that when you make something genuinely great, people naturally want to talk about it.“

Final Verdict from the Editor

With pre-registration now open, I am really excited about Parallel Experiment, which is shaping up to be an intriguing co-op puzzle title, designed for two players. Personally, the ability to mess with your partner, whether it’s poking them or shaking their screen, adds a fun twist I’m eager to try.

With its noir-inspired comic book art and hand-drawn environments, a wide variety of puzzles, retro-inspired mini-games like Match Three, Claw Machine, and a lot of immersive content, it’s a must-try title for fans of escape room-style challenges and cooperative brain teasers.

If you want to play this sequel, then you have to wait until June 5th, 2025, to experience it on Android, iOS, and PC. Unfortunately, Nintendo Switch players will have to wait a bit more as it’s slated to release on the platform later this year.

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