Stix

Stix is a simple looking puzzle that hides a lot of difficulty under the hood. Its gameplay is oriented towards memorization and forward thinking at the same time, making it a good challenge for puzzle fans.

In Stix, you have to move a figure across several segments of a larger form. Each segment can be traversed a number of times, and once its counter is full, it disappears from the screen. That’s your end-goal, make every segment disappear but make sure you’re not standing on it once it does.

At the ends of the segments or sticks, there are some small, colored squares that indicate the number of times you can keep passing that point. Those act like joints between that piece and the rest of the shape. You can use those to keep track of how many moves you have left to make on that particular shape, so you can plot out a course.

Stix is a fairly difficult game. You’ll most probably restart the first level a couple of times to get past it and the second one is almost twice as hard. Also, the difficulty level seems to increase exponentially. That is until you figure out how paths should be taken because, at the end of the day, it’s all about memorization.

You need to be extra careful because making one mistake means that you have to restart the level. Moreover, the game comes with three modes, Basic, Master and Aggressive. In the first one you can complete the levels at your pace, you have as much time as you need. In the second one, an alien figure patrols the segments, and if it catches you, you are dead. Apart from figuring out complex paths, you need to do that on the run. Lastly, Master plays exactly like Aggressive, except that you have limited lives available to you.

To end, Stix might not look like much but it’s a nice puzzle game. It features a simple but comprehensive design and the levels it provides are sure to offer a good few hours of enjoyment.