Remember when you were a baby, and someone would cover their face with their hands, thusly disappearing entirely from existence, only to return and scream at you? This is to do with something called object permanence, an idea of understanding that even when you can’t see something, it still exists, something that babies genuinely do struggle with. So how about a game that puts this to the test? Enter Object Impermanence, a puzzle game where nothing exists unless you look at it.

Let’s put this into perspective. Object Impermanence appears to have gone to the Portal School of Puzzle Design. By that I mean, there are objects you have to hold and place in particular places in order to make doors open, for example. In this case, it’s alien looking balls (the whole game takes place on a planet you and your science expedition have been sent to take a look at when, uh oh, you crash land on it, so you investigate the ruins of a seemingly long dead society).

These balls need to be placed in certain spots, but the only thing is, if they disappear out of your view, they stop existing. Say in one instance, you’re rolling a ball through a pipe. If you don’t attempt to look at it through the gaps in the pipe, it won’t roll anymore. This titular object impermanence exists to other things in the world too, like a sewer grate that you can’t get through… unless you turn around so you can’t see it any more and just walk backwards.

It’s all quite clever, and even a bit tense at times; there’s a moment in the trailer where a train car almost crashes into you, but if look away quick enough and just like that, no more train car. I’m curious to see what other kinds of tricks (and treats) await in Object Impermanence, which has a rough release window of Q4, 2026. You can wishlist it on Steam, and try out its demo, right here.