The Edifice

Short (couple hours), puzzle-based, nice in-game hint system, light on the reading.

Would recommend for someone who wants a puzzle-based game and doesn't need a detailed story behind it.

Good things:
I think the thing people will remember most about this game is the second level. (Spoiler - click to show) Figuring out the language of the stranger ended up feeling really rewarding.
Minimal reading. Story elements are only there in order to justify why you should complete the level. Personally I'm okay with minimal story if I'm just looking for good puzzles and I think the explanations are sufficient to justify the gameplay.
Something I thought was neat: for my first playthrough I failed level 1, and the game showed evidence of that when I completed level 2, even though the two levels were otherwise unrelated.

Bad things:
I did have a slight issue with this hint system. Since it only showed one hint at a time, it didn't matter if you had already done the actions it suggests. You would have to enter the level, do those actions again, and then return to the etchings to see the next step. I ended up repeating the same actions several times because I had thought ahead of the hints. The only time this was really an issue though, was in level 1 where time management is important and you can't afford to be running back and forth to check the etchings.
I suppose some might have issue with the lack of narrative. I don't know that I felt particularly connected to the character or the NPCs. The endings felt quite clinical, where I was sort of expecting it to acknowledge the other characters that I had interacted with. For example, (Spoiler - click to show)when I chose to pick level 2 for my ending, I thought it would acknowledge my family or the stranger I'd befriended. Instead it only talked about my discovery of language. But this game is set up to be an allegory of human evolution so I guess it makes sense that it only chose to acknowledge the ways that you have "progressed" as a human.

Ambivalent things:
Regarding hints, if you're stuck check the etchings within the Edifice again. They will change to give you clues on how to proceed. I didn't learn this right away and ended up pretty stuck before learning about them. On the one hand, this was a clever way to integrate the hints. On the other hand, it felt kind of counter-intuitive to leave the level before completing it so I didn't realize I should be checking them until I consulted the HELP.
And just a warning, I believe it's possible to put it in an unwinnable state. I failed level 1 with my first playthrough and as a result I couldn't figure out how to achieve a complete ending.