Gear Puzzle hands a hint back every three minutes.

Gear Puzzle refills a hint every three minutes, up to three. The listing says free hints unlock after the tutorial. You start with three. One returns on a countdown, and the counter stops at three. Opening a hint you have already revealed costs nothing. There is no shop for a fourth, and the page says there are no ads or paid hints.

The puzzle underneath that meter has a door. Carl comes home for his sister’s birthday and is threatened by two strangers. The listing asks whether they connect to his grandfather’s disappearance years ago. You examine the hand-drawn house, combine objects and follow conversations. Chapter 2 continues past the house into a miniature world: a square, a market, an altar and other locations, following clues the grandfather left. Both chapters are in the base game. The hint rule is what makes the looking a timed choice: spend the clue on this lock, or keep it warming for a room you have not understood yet. The hint rule is stated once, for the game. The page does not give Chapter 2 a separate timer.

Returning players get a separate, narrower fact. This release uses a new save format. Progress from the 2019 version cannot continue here. The page says those old saves are kept, and that selecting the legacy_2019 beta is how you stay with them. That is a branch in the Steam properties, not a hint.

For a first visit, the countdown is the rule to watch. A hint you can reread is not spent. A hint you open on a new object is. The listing tells you the price and the speed. It does not tell you whether the scenes need the help.