Fugue takes an interesting idea for a puzzle game and unfortunately, fails to fully utilize it. While the core idea to use music as a puzzle is great, it is executed in a rather generic way.
The most obvious missed opportunity was not making the solutions pleasing to listen to. I think the game would have been interesting had the developer started from a piece of music that already sounds good, then worked backwards on each puzzle. They could have incorporated the audio of the solution as a hint to what your final answer should sound like. Instead, each piece of music in Fugue is boring and uninteresting. Most answers are just a few scattered notes repeated twice. As for the puzzles themselves, I think that was another missed opportunity.
The puzzle mechanics in the game have very little to do with music or music notation. The game consists of math puzzles that are just basic mathematical functions (addition, multiplication, etc.) with sound effects. This is mostly a critique of the math puzzle genre itself, but it makes the game very niche. Math puzzle games are usually too complex for most people, or too basic for most people. For Fugue, it is too simplistic to appeal to most people. Even the last puzzle in the game, while complex, is still primarily made up of addition and subtraction. Fugue is an okay game with a specific audience it will appeal to. Not recommended unless you are at least a moderate fan of the genre.
