Déjà Vu isn’t quite a game where you end up doing the same thing over and over, like one might imagine with that sort of name. Instead, it’s a simple looking block puzzle game, where you play a cube looking to get to an exit goal, filled with a lot of challenges.
And at first, that is very easy! Push a block to a button, wait for the door to open, go through the door. Easy as pie. Until, suddenly, there are lasers and challenges, and tons of obstacles. Suddenly, you can die in the game.
Luckily, you can restart the level in Déjà Vu, but that doesn’t make the puzzles less complex. Some boxes just straight up block lasers, while others fill up dots on themselves before projecting the laser in the direction of their arrow. These lasers can be used to push buttons, but you’ll need to be careful as it’s very easy to get burned.
In Déjà Vu, unlike other block pushing games, these blocks slide a bit, and can easily get stuck in a corner. It feels sort of like there is gravity around, and you’re not very good at walking yet. So you can end up pushing the cube right into any small space or cravus. This can make for a big challenge, as you really need to watch what you are doing.
Over time you do get clones of yourself to move around, which is very helpful, but at the same time, they can also die, which will end your round. Deja Vu is a simple looking game, but the puzzles themselves do not feel simple at all, especially when you add in how the gravity does work with the movement, and how slidy all of the other blocks are.
You can find Déjà Vu on Xbox and PC.