Did Someone Win 'MonteCrypto'? 'Bitcoin Enigma' Game Launches On Steam, Gets Negative Reviews

A new puzzle game called “MonteCrypto: The Bitcoin Enigma ,” which promises the first person to complete all of the game’s challenges a prize of one Bitcoin, officially launched Tuesday for PC on the gaming platform Steam.

While the game is making a big promise—Bitcoin is currently valued at $11,840 —users have thus far been unimpressed with "MonteCrypto: The Bitcoin Enigma,” writing reviews warning other players of the game’s many faults.

According to the game’s developers Gem Rose Accent —the team behind the game has decided to remain entirely anonymous until someone has completed the game—”MonteCrypto” is filled with 24 “mind-bending puzzles” that gamers will have to solve in order to defeat the game and earn the Bitcoin reward.

The title is a single player experience, though the developers say it is possible for players to work together with others by leaving notes that will help them solve the puzzles—or leaving red herrings that will send them down the wrong path.

The creators call the game “an experiment in player choice and cooperation like no other” that will challenge users to solve puzzles together and be willing to split the final prize of one Bitcoin that is locked away in the game’s final vault.

According to the early reviews of the game, it appears many players have no intention of making it far enough into the game to figure out just how much they are willing to split with their competitors. Just 45 percent of the nearly 100 reviews that have been posted for the game on Steam have been positive, with the majority of the reviews reflecting negative opinions.

Though gamers have just had a few hours with the title since it launched, a number of gamers have called “MonteCrypto” tedious, buggy, and at times unnecessarily difficult to the point that some have theorized the game is a scam.

One reviewer explained that gamers have one hour to navigate the maze and solve as many of the puzzles as they can before the game resets and sends them back to the start. The puzzles remain the same, so users will have to memorize the navigation of the maze and the solution to the puzzles so they can solve all of them in a single run.

“This is less about puzzling and more about a big terrible maze,” one reviewer wrote. “I got to this one part where the puzzle was just an invisible platforming challenge, and it was then that I noticed the game had a timer. I spent a half hour in there and the timer ran out and sent me back to the beginning.”

The reviewer concluded that the game is “no fun” and while they would happily compete for the prize if the game was enjoyable, “it just isn’t.” The reviewer said, “ So no, you can't pay me $11,849.80 to play this,” referencing the value of the Bitcoin reward.

A user on Reddit has started an effort to create a map of the game that should enable users to be able to successfully navigate the maze. It seems likely that the game will be solved at some point, though it likely won’t make many fans along the way.