Mark J. Mayers and The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild announce DESOLUS, a first-person puzzle game inspired by Dutch art and Portal, as it features portal gameplay to solve puzzles based on the paradoxical artwork of M.C. Escher. Its Steam Listing is live, promising a playable demo will arrive at the end of next week. If "games can't be art" critic Roger Ebert isn't spinning in his grave over the video game reviews added to his namesake website following his death, this bit might get him going: "Desolus has been selected for several festivals, including an exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum." There's also an Announcement Trailer which leans hard into the portal mechanic and little else (besides some virtuoso piano). Here's the description:

Explore a city of Gothic architecture torn between past and future in Desolus, a first person puzzle game. Solve Escher-like puzzles through the use of black holes, traveling back and forth through time to make architecture whole again. Prevent a cataclysm which fractures reality, and save the city.