Puzzle Pavilion

[wourme]

@username

Jelly is Sticky

Is it Sokoban?: Yes

On one hand this is at times the most straightforward sokoban game, with you having to get certain jelly squares onto certain marked tiles in order to solve the puzzle. On the other it isn’t because not only do you often play as the jelly square itself, said square is made of jelly and can change its shape by bumping into stuff, sliding part of its mass off against a wall or bumping into other sloughed off bits to grow larger. Let me grab that gif again.

https://dlcn7yodlhcnn.cloudfront.net/original/3X/1/b/1b30833d0a2436b257098726186e7ef0cae32e8c.gif

Now while some jellies act like this, others will try and hold their shape, some are very sticky and some aren’t sticky at all. Often times these different types of jellies are in the same puzzle and you have to manage their differences to get by, while sometimes you get to do stuff such as having the manipulate a giant set of jelly lock tumblers to move a single square over one row. You know, the usual.

Did I wishlist it? Yes! It is hard to convey in writing but some puzzle games have this spark in them, either being just that clever or that well crafted that they shine. I can’t say for sure this game has that as it could easily be frontloaded or run out of ideas but as a demo it definitely made my ears perk up, real strong first impression here.

I picked this up at a discount, and I’m impressed. Games of this type are kind of stressful for me to play because it feels like a countdown to the the inevitable point where I get hopelessly stuck and it’s more frustrating than fun. Sometimes I reach this point very early in a game.

Jelly Is Sticky, I’m happy to report, does a good job of easing you into the puzzle elements while at the same time never feeling like any of the puzzles are repetitive filler.

The textures and substances look great, and the physics (more tied to the visuals than the mechanics) adds a lot of appeal.