Power Sink

The brief intro doesn’t tell you much. You’re a lone diver, descending into the deep blue to restore power to a submerged colony that’s lost its oxygen supply. Instead of giving you freedom, the game offers a linear progression through stages. You can revisit any unlocked level through a simple stage select room, which has only a map and a diving bell, but you’ll need to complete every stage to unlock new sets. While replaying is possible, there’s little incentive to return because there are no secrets or collectibles. Most of the story is delivered through messages at the beginning and end of each stage. It comes from other members of your team that tell a bit more about the game’s world, explain how things work, and tell you what needs to be done. Your teammates are busy with other stuff in other locations, so you don’t encounter anyone, but you’re all trying to solve this mess. Gameplay-wise, the experience is centered around platforming and puzzles. Each level is a collection of platforms, often surrounded by railings that offer a false sense of security. One wrong jump can send you plummeting into the abyss, but the game graciously offers frequent checkpoints. These not only minimize frustration but also save important progress like orb placements, something you’ll come to be very grateful for. The core mechanic revolves around power orbs. You’ll find these scattered throughout the stages and must place them in receptacles to activate essential systems. This includes everything from moving platforms and lights to deadly hazards like spikes and electric currents. The end goal of each stage is to restore power to a tram that takes you to the next area, but getting there often requires clever manipulation of orb placement and timing. The game’s challenge doesn’t lie in complex controls. Your abilities are limited to basic movement, jumping, and interacting with objects. Instead, the difficulty comes from sequencing actions correctly. You’ll often need to power certain systems in a specific order, transport orbs across tricky platforming, and sometimes disable one system to enable another. Floor tiles help hint at what each receptacle powers, which adds a nice visual detail, especially when you go deeper. What you need to pay attention to are switches that spawn a power orb; if you deactivate such a switch while its orbs is already placed at a perfect receptacle, you’ll reset it. However, the checkpoint system saves the day here. You can simply jump to your death and respawn with the orb still in hand or switches still in their correct position. The game spans 30 stages across six chapters. As you progress, the environment changes subtly with new sea life, darker waters, and added mechanics like teleporters and jet streams. But the main objective remains the same in all stages.

Power Sink strikes an excellent balance between simplicity and depth, and between engagement and frustration. The limited tutorials and well thought-out level design give you just enough information to be able to figure the puzzles out without holding your hand. The mechanics are incredibly intuitive, yet you still feel clever for working them out. And you're never upset with the game when you die, because you already know exactly what you did wrong! The artwork and graphics are lovely, the soundtrack and atmosphere are super immersive, and I haven't encountered a single glitch or performance issue. Overall a great, relaxing experience with satisfying puzzles that I could get sucked into for hours if I'm not careful!

Honestly, it's fine for the first worlds, then it's just more and more going around in circles more and more slowly as you confound same coloured balls and sometimes physics decide to not work in crucial moments. That also define even more my decision of not restarting the game, because this game can randomly decide the loading time of the starting menu or just having you summon the task manager to refresh it, that caused me to accidentally go on new game while I couldn't even see the refreshed game yet and without asking me any confirmation just erased all my progresses, not even gameboy era games were like that, and with a game so uselessly slow and going in circles, no, I won't restart it. The ambiences are cute and a little particular. At the start I thought it could have been like Lumote and The Mastermote Chronicles, but with different ambience, but no, this game doesn't even come closer unfortunately

This game is such a fun challenge to play. As someone who isn’t usually great with puzzle games, I feel like it nails the difficulty really well. There were definitely moments where I got a bit stuck, but not because of bad design, it was more about taking a step back, thinking things through, and figuring it out! Those ended up being some of my favourite “aha!” moments. I loved the visuals and audio, everything feels really high quality. The environments are super immersive, and it’s so refreshing to explore a 3D world that’s actually underwater. It felt unique and, at times, strangely relaxing. The starry level in particular was absolutely stunning. With all the little lights, glowing fish, and floating particles, it’s clear a lot of love and detail went into building each area. The music fits perfectly, too. Some of the tracks build and evolve as you get closer to solving puzzles, which really adds to the experience. It felt encouraging, like the game was cheering me on, and some moments really clicked because of that. The game length feels just right, it doesn’t overstay its welcome, but there’s plenty of quality content to enjoy. I also liked that the structure lets you revisit levels or even skip one if you're stuck. That kind of flexibility is great and keeps the experience from getting frustrating. You can really tell a lot of care went into this game. It reminded me a lot of a few WiiWare games I grew up playing, which is a huge compliment. The game is apparently inspired by Portal and Crash Bandicoot and I can definitely feel it. The controls felt comfortable and I didn’t really have any issues playing on Keyboard + Mouse, but a controller feels a lot smoother of an experience so it’s nice to have the option there. The puzzles are well thought out, the presentation is charming, and the whole thing just has a ton of heart. From the little quippy lines each diver character gives, to the gorgeous art and music, I’d definitely recommend Power Sink if you’re even a little curious about dipping your boots into the cold waters of puzzle platformers. I loved it!

A great puzzle game with beautiful scenery and relaxing music. Fluid controls make movement a breeze and the levels do provide an effective challenge without being too frustrating.

After seeing Power Sink at Pixel Expo and online I've been waiting to play it for a while and it has more than lived up to its promise. The underwater world is so atmospheric and full of life, without being distracting which really enhances the experience of lighting up the platforms. Not to mention the game play feels organic with a well designed learning curve, with nice satisfying moments as I progressed through the levels. Really recommend if you're after a smooth, cosy underwater adventure to explore!

I fell in love with Power Sink at Pixel Expo last year! The soundtrack is so atmospheric and brings the energy, deep sea colony, danger and exploration feeling to life.

An absolute cozy, cute, puzzle, platformer that is just a great time all around. The puzzles got more and more complicated that honestly had me stumped a few times. Not to mention a small dedicated Aussie team. Power Sink might not be the longest title from what I've currently seen in my play through BUT is it worth your time? 100% - Full Video On my YT -

This is the greatest cozy puzzle game ive played in a while. I was sad when the date of release got pushed back but the wait was well worth it!!!! Please buy this game OMG its so gooood. :)

A good balance of puzzles, platforming, and vibes. I played the demo before it released, and I'm impressed with the full game.