Maybe that was never promised and I made up the expectation myself when I heard "500 hours." But it feels like there's never a reward for finishing a puzzle other than, okay, here's the next one.
I'm 20 hours in and starting to see examples of mechanics being generalised in a way I wasn't expecting, i.e. an early games thing turns out works in a way more general way that elevates the mechanic in complexity and feels like a very satisfying moment.
I have a suspicion about another that would completely change my perception of the game if it turns out to be true, so... meta puzzles? Not sure, but certainly there's something more than just the 4 initial rulesets colliding.
Either they present you with exactly what you need to solve the area or they give you more. Giving you more, in most cases, will just break the puzzle and make it too easy. So you know in a general sense what you have to do just by what tools you have available. Then it's just a matter of doing them in the right order.
And, yeah, it's fine. But that's the best I can muster for it.
And I see it's $30, which feels an ok price point. I was feeling more like $20, but $30 is fine.
If a game needs to be played for 30 to 40 hours before it gets truly engaging, it is not a good game.
Entertainment's goal is to engage. There are many ways to achieve that, but no one should have to slog through tedium in order to get to "the good stuff".