Aloof

Aloof has a lovely unique atmosphere and simple to pick up gameplay but with insane depth. And I think I only started scratching the surface. It also has many multiplayer modes! Start for the vibe and stay for the combo's.

Nice little hidden gem! Easy to play, hard to master. And hooray for the "invite a friend" update!

Мне понравилась игра, она очень милая и здорово играть в нее с кем-то из друзей :)

ALOOF es un puzle de batallas. Se puede jugar single player versus una excelente IA, o mucho más disfrutable contra otro humano. Se puede aprovechar a pleno la nueva funcionalidad de Steam Play Together que nos permite jugar al juego con un amigo, teniendo únicamente una sola copia del juego. El puzle es un re-interpretación que combina mecánicas de Tetris con cinco en línea. Vamos obteniendo islas para hacernos más poderosos, y debemos atacar las islas del rival para vencerlo. Les comparto una batalla contra un humano para que vean las mecánicas del juego: https://youtu.be/zscy1rF6atE Espero les sea de utilidad. Uker.

A clever and charming game. I found especially nice for a play-through ("Voyage") in co-op over a couple of hours. The artwork and music is nice and somber. That combined with the quick-thinking combat makes the game strangely relaxing and stressful at once. The gameplay is similar to- but not quite like- Puyo Puyo/Dr Mario: [list] [*] The blocks are freely movable, they don't fall automatically. The time pressure comes from having an opponent. [*] You have two boards that you can rotate between, with the off-board appearing as a shadow in the current board. This allows you to work on different patterns or chains or just toss an unwanted piece away on the other board. Also as a neat effect this allows you to (puzzle soiler): [spoiler]squeeze in a piece from the other side into an area that is blocked on the current board[/spoiler]. [*] Your board can be cleared at any time, costing only time. [/list] The puzzle-focused levels that acted a bit as tutorials, though forcing you to figure the mechanism out yourself, were just the right difficulty for us. A few of them gave that "I don't see how this is possible" (eventually...) followed by the "Oh that's so obvious" reaction. The fight levels where you have to match enemy patterns to attack effectively and your own patterns to defend were also well balanced, with a nice difficulty progression. Also, in case the game appears difficult, the enemy speed can be adjusted, even down to nothing, so it ought to be playable for anyone. The mechanisms are rewarding for co-op, as you can either collaborate to grab patterns faster (by both building the same pattern, reducing the risk of an enemy counter), coordinate and work on different patterns or have one player build a large chain for when the other player breaks the enemy armor with a complex pattern. We did not try online multiplayer, as I'm still sore from getting utterly crushed in Puyo Puyo Tetris, so I don't know if there's anyone available to play against. For the price at the time (3.99€) I think it was worth it for the 37-level campaign alone which took a couple of hours to complete.

Very fun little puzzle game that can post a surprising challenge in the later levels, depending on the difficulty you choose. I played the campaign with a friend and we had turned the difficulty up at first because we thought the game would be easy, but then had to turn it back down after getting humbled later on. At first glance I thought that the game was basically "Tetris where you can freely move falling pieces", which seemed like it would be way too simple to beat, but there's a surprising variety of win conditions. I especially loved the "puzzle" levels. Rather than giving you a tutorial pop-up to teach you about some advanced mechanic, the game would give you a puzzle where the only possible solution would be for you to figure the mechanic out on your own. We always felt like geniuses when we'd finally figure out what the game was trying to coax us into learning, which is how a good puzzle game should make you feel. The co-op is also well integrated into the gameplay--it's not like you're just quietly playing side-by-side for 2x the points. You want to talk to your partner so that you're building different shapes, or healing effectively, or sending combos at the same time, etc. It took us 5-6 hours to beat the main campaign (some of that time was in steam remote play, so it's not recorded on my playtime). That's worth the full price to me. The only snag we hit was that we couldn't join each other's lobbies the first time we played, which is why we had to remote play at first. We didn't have that issue again, though. I'm honestly surprised at how little exposure this game seems to have had, since it feels like it should have pretty mass appeal in the cozy puzzle genre (especially with co-op). It's definitely worth checking out.

I don't play many puzzle games but this one captivated me with its looks and atmosphere. It can actually be very relaxing! Pleasant sound design plays a big part of it I think. It's one of those games that is pretty easy to pick up but it probably has unlimited depth if you are willing to go deep! Also props to the developer for shipping a game with some many options and multiplayer features :) Highly recommend if you are into puzzle games or looking for something different.