Vext Edit

Vext Edit (stylized in all caps) is a free grid-based puzzle game set in an essentially themeless, bare-bones, pixelated world. The puzzles start out as normal sokoban rooms, but you quickly get access to mechanics that let you “edit” the level itself. This allows the game to introduce a host of surprising interactions and twists on the way the levels must be solved, creating a strange, abstract, yet compelling puzzle game experience.

Vext Edit starts off simple. Each level has one or more green target spaces, each of which shows the outline of a box or the player character. In classic sokoban style, you need to cover all targets with the things they indicate to clear each level. However, the game shortly introduces a crucial wrinkle: you can switch from controlling the player character to controlling a red selector icon that “builds” part of the level, selecting objects and placing them in any empty space.

Objects can be selected as long as they have a red number beneath them, the number indicating how many objects can be selected, from just one to arbitrarily many. Vext Edit then wastes no time taking all its mechanics to their logical extreme, leading to levels that seem to break the game in surprising and exciting ways.

Vext Edit has no story, and the art is essentially as basic as possible while maintaining legibility. Like most PuzzleScript games, it has no hint system, no music, and no text besides the level titles. It’s just a series of tightly crafted, interesting puzzles with no added fanfare. While many levels are quite difficult, the game can be completed in an afternoon.

This description was written by Asher Stone.