The Turing Test

The Turing Test is a puzzle game played from a first-person perspective in a futuristic environment. It is set on Europa, Jupiter's moon. The main character, Ava Turing, works as an engineer for the International Space Agency (ISA). She is awoken prematurely from a cryogenic sleep in the space ship as communication was lost with the ground crew working on the moon below. In the interactive prologue she descends to the space station with a lander. There she discovers the modular base has been rearranged completely. The modular design was meant to withstand seismic activity, but the disappeared ground crew have manipulated the design to turn them into testing chambers based on the principle of the Turing test which tests a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human.

The game is divided into multiple chapters with sets of levels for each one. Each room requires careful observation and manipulation of objects to progress. It combines pure logic with some action or reflex based elements also incorporating physics. Ava can move around and jump, but most interactions are done using the EMT (Energy Manipulation Tool), a white device resembling a gun to transfer energy between machines. Rooms usually have several types of slots that require an energy source to become active. Energy sources are either boxes that are carried around or up to three charges that are absorbed in and then launched from the EMT. Energy sources are scarce, so they often need to be re-used, taking them along after opening one door to use it at another. There are also levers that re-route energy streams, charges that constantly switch on and off with different rhythms, pressure plates, retractable bridges, magnetic devices, platforms that can be raised and lowered, delayed closing or disappearance of doors or electric bridges, controlling security cameras, operating machines and so on. New elements are introduced gradually by progressing. It is not possible to die or to get stuck in a way that a room can no longer be solved.

At the same time there is an investigation and story layer to the game as Ava needs to find out what has happened to the crew. Many items in the environment can be examined and there are e-mails, logs and diaries to read. Picked up items are not stored or carried along, but they can be rotated and are shown up close. Ava is guided through the levels by Tom, the station's AI. Some locations are merely meant to explore, such as the crew's quarters or a command station. Usually Ava and Tom constantly talk during the game. Next to the main puzzles there are optional side puzzles as additional challenges in separate rooms. These require entirely new strategies and out-of-the-box thinking. When solved these rooms usually provide access to a computer where a type of test or experience can be started.