In the beautiful and dreamlike puzzle game Gorogoa, unravel a tale told entirely in images by manipulating the panels of a comic strip come to life. As you rearrange, disassemble and recombine the images, the game continually subverts your expectations, playing with time, space and geometry, all within a two-by-two grid.

As engrossing as Gorogoa may be, it doesn’t always make progressing onto the scene easy. Here are some tips to help ease your journey through this extraordinary world.

Recognise clues
Few objects in Gorogoa’s lushly illustrated scenes are purely decorative. Early on, zooming in on a cushion’s design depicts the steps you took to secure one of the game’s first objectives (a red fruit). This speaks to one of the keys to solving the mystery: details (and a keen eye) are important.

As you proceed through the story, you’ll encounter paintings you can enter, books and thought balloons that suggest next steps, and tips carved into a wardrobe door. Commit them to memory – or snap a screenshot as a reminder.

Take the hints
Some games delight in stumping you. Not Gorogoa. Its careful pace and thoughtful design manage to immerse you in the story while making you feel like a genius each time you solve a stage.

To keep the narrative flowing, the game sometimes animates certain objects to draw your attention. Don’t ignore these. If you click a panel and something glows or an arrow appears, chances are you should try to interact with it.

Learn the world
Mastering Gorogoa requires you to figure out connections, so it’s important to understand the world around you – and what sits within it at any given time.

As you enter a new area, don’t focus on solving the puzzle at hand. Look around and build a mental map of your surroundings. You might even jot down pathways between items that look like they will be useful. When you eventually have an aha moment and realise what to do next, you’ll know exactly where everything is and where to head.

Make a match
Although Gorogoa’s puzzles get more inventive and complex as you progress, the basic mechanics you learn at the start remain essential. One of the most important: spotting matching elements.

For example, if you see an unlit lamp, chances are you’ll need to figure out how to light it. (Try moving it over another panel with a bright star in the same location.) If two panels depict a shelf in an office, zoom in until the shelves line up to unlock the next challenge. Keep this strategy in mind throughout the game.

Remember science
At times you’ll need to directly manipulate objects within the panels. When doing so, consider how they’d behave in real life. Gorogoa may feel like a fantasy, but it’s rooted in real-world physics. For example, a clock’s metal hand can be pulled into place by a magnet.

Practise sequences
Time is far from linear in Gorogoa, but successfully completing some puzzles requires juggling panels in real time. In one level (spoiler alert!), you free a butterfly from a glass jar by breaking the jar with a tumbling meteorite.

Completing this requires precisely swapping two panels several times, with each zoomed in on so the coloured banners in both align. Such puzzles can be tricky, but there’s no penalty for making a mistake. You can always try again. So map out the steps and practise until you nail the timing.