Splashy Cube is published by No Gravity Games and developed by Orbital Knight and is available for the Nintendo Switch.
This is essentially a puzzle strategy game in which you direct a rolling cube through a landscape to a highlighted goal. On route there are various obstacles to avoid and blobs to squish - hence the title.
Launching this software offers up a nicely presented title with straightforward options and a single play mode.
The simplicity is a nice change to the norm with the only tuition being shown at the start of each playthrough. This information the game presents to the player is the controls; essentially L/ZL for left and R/ZL for right.
Despite praising its simplicity it is a little barebones with regard to how to actually play the game and a few attempts were required in order to properly understand the play mechanics.
The game is played from an isometric viewpoint. I had initially thought that the controls referred to four possible directions a cube could conceivably roll in. However that is not the case and it is worth mentioning that you always roll into the screen with either left or right control option sending the cube in that direction.
Each press moving the cube one square of the grid that denotes the games environment. As you move forward more of the landscape is revealed and to ensure that you do move forward and to add pressure on the player the foreground area is continually being removed.
All the elements that form the landscape occupy a square or in some cases a series of squares. The squishy blobs (of your colour - beware imposters) give you points and everything else is game over.
And that is essentially it. The challenge comes from the limited movement options and having to plan your route as it materialises so as to not get stuck since you have no way to reverse your direction.
The game also operates a single save and as far as I can see there is no way to restart back at level one so you are always progressing through ever challenging levels. Although the hazards all generally perform the same function; either a direct/destructible/moving obstacle which to be avoided.
There are various cosmetic unlocks depending on progress, score or days played that you can use to change the look of the cube. The high scores are based on one "play" and there are various high score tables to inspect (I'm the highest currently - yay).
So what do I think; well I was initially confused by the game until I understood how it was meant to be played. Something I hope this review addresses. It is at heart a straightforward action puzzle game that merits from being played when you only have a small window of time. The high score table being the driving force for repeated play once all the unlocks have been achieved.
In short I rather liked it - one to pick up if it appeals or is in a sale.
Splashy Cube is out now for the Nintendo Switch and be bought now on Nintendo’s eShop Store.
This copy was provided by No Gravity Games and was played on the original Nintendo Switch console in handheld mode.
