Liquidum

Liquidum is a grid-based abstract logic puzzle game in which you fill interconnected aquariums. Using the various indications in each puzzle, you have to deduce which cells contain water while also considering that aquariums need to be filled from the bottom first. Liquidum takes inspiration from nonogram puzzles (a.k.a. Picross games) and twists the formula to offer a more advanced experience.

The goal is to identify every cell on the grid that contains water. Nonograms usually have a very limited amount of deduction methods, and the difficulty ramps up because of increasingly large grids. But the challenging aspects of Liquidum come from distinct design choices. The game uses many different mechanics, rendering logical deductions more varied and harder to make. This keeps the levels interesting, even when they stay resolutely small.

Aquariums are the core of Liquidum. They come in various shapes and lengths, and you cannot fill the upper part of an aquarium without filling the bottom first. The game is divided into six worlds; each one starts gently and gradually teaches you an original mechanic in the form of new indications, eventually ending with two hard levels.

The most basic indications are numbers next to rows and columns specifying how many water cells that line contains. Later on, numbers may be complemented with signs; for instance, a bracketed {4} means that the four water cells on the line must be adjacent. There can also be an indication of the total number of water cells in the puzzle, or even more specific aquarium requirements, such as having four empty aquariums and three aquariums with one water cell.

There are some quality-of-life features to help you make deductions. You can use a paintbrush to draw over the grid and test out your theories. By default, the game will tell you when you try to put water in the wrong cell, but you can select the “Allow Mistakes” option to remove this help and make the game much harder. Note that filled-out grids don’t depict anything in particular.

Aside from the hand-crafted main campaign, Liquidum offers procedurally generated puzzles. There’s a daily level, a weekly 10-level marathon, and an endless mode with customizable difficulty. The game also comes with a level editor and two DLCs were released, each one bringing a new mechanic as well as infinite levels related to it.

This description was written by Andréas Andrieux.