Jelly no Puzzle

Jelly no Puzzle is a block-pushing puzzle game about moving jelly blocks and combining them. The goal is to navigate the blocks around obstacles so that all jellies of the same color are eventually merged. The levels may look simple and cute, but they actually require a lot of brainpower to figure out.

In Jelly no Puzzle, the jellies can be one of four different colors. They can also be identified from their emoticon faces, each color being associated with one distinct face. The levels are arranged on a grid, but they’re not seen from a top-down perspective as in most sokoban games. Instead, they’re designed in vertical planes and viewed from the side, and their layouts include platforms and trenches. Each jelly block can be moved sideways with left/right mouse clicking. Once all blocks of the same color have been merged together, the level is cleared.

There’s a number of limitations which turn this straightforward system into a tricky business. First, jellies cannot jump nor climb; they can only move sideways or fall down. If at some point, there are blue blocks on both sides of a red block, and no lower floor where the blue blocks could fall down and meet—then you're in trouble. The situation may be salvaged with the undo button, but it goes back one single move at a time, and it can only be used a few times in a row. Sometimes, resetting the level is the only way forward.

Moreover, the mechanic for combining the jellies is a double-edged sword. When a jelly touches another jelly of the same color, they will merge into a single block, and they cannot be separated afterwards. This means that blocks can be assembled side by side and serve as a bridge for transporting other jellies. But this also means that hastily assembled jellies could create roadblocks for other pieces. Players need to visualize which shapes should be created and to do so in proper sequence, avoiding that some jellies get stuck together too early.

There’s a small number of additional mechanics which are progressively introduced through tutorial texts. At some point the levels may include black blocks that can be moved, but won’t merge with each other. Having both colored jellies and black blocks creates gameplay akin to complicated sliding puzzles. Then some levels include pegs, which hold jellies in place either to the ground or to a black block. Every level presents an original setup, and they’re all cleverly demanding.

This description was written by Cay Macres.