About Bloxston Mystery:
blox is a minimalist block-pushing puzzler from 2018 that somehow took 4 years to travel from itch to steam, with no actual steam features. I don’t care about them, but looking at the delay and the fact that the sequel’s been here since 2020, it’s weird. anyway, it’s sokoban(ish), so not the 1 out of 10 among puzzle games that isn’t. you might think it’s top-down, at least that’s what I figured, but it’s from the side and gravity applies to certain blocks but not you, every white tile is available for movement, unless blocked. no move counter, limit or rating system, but some timing is involved. the game points out that it only goes as far as pushing blocks in mid-air, but it’s not true. level 4-4 (the orchard) and h-1 (metronome) have a bunch of it. 34 levels in 4 worlds, but there’s branching progression with multiple levels unlocking occasionally and the final 4 stages are considered a bonus. the goal is to stick all the red and blue tiles together, like in those jelly-based games, for instance. they cling to each other wherever they touch, even on the sides while falling, and disappear if all their own tiles are together. multiple blocks can be pushed, there are locks to open, conveyor belts, deadly lasers and mirrors, even a few secrets. it’s not an ‘explain every new mechanic’ kinda game, instead it teaches through clever level design (and level names) and by letting you experiment without repercussions, like every puzzler should. that said, as a bad student I got stuck so early on it wasn’t even funny. though as the tagline says, no fillers here, which is something to appreciate, but it also means difficulty ramps up relatively fast. I looked up some hints here and there but still managed a lot more on my own than expected (the bonus levels were too much).
