HopSlide

Just when you start to think that maybe there aren’t any more original ideas out there, someone turns your world upside down and makes you doubt your own opinions for a while. This holds true for all types of art and entertainment, including movies, music and video games. However, new and original is not necessarily a good thing, since it still needs to uphold some standards.

HopSlide is a 2D puzzle game with platformer elements and a unique set of gameplay mechanics, one that forces you to think out of the box and try to keep up with multiple things at once. It’s not necessarily a complicated experience, but it can be quite disorienting at first, or at least until you figure out what can be done and what your purpose is.

As such, the game is actually formed of two executable files that have to be run at the same time. One of them is the main game, in which you use a tiny character to move around and jump from place to place. The other is a simple puzzle game in which you move boxes around with your mouse. As it happens, the boxes are actually the levels in the other game, and you have the liberty to arrange them at will.

It’s not as simple as aligning two boxes, on the other hand, since there are specific entrances to every room. Hence, it only works if you align the boxes just right, and if the arrows point in the same direction. On top of that, moving the actual boxes is the real challenge, because you only have so much room to do so. It’s a lot like Sokoban, except that you cannot continue in the other game instance if you don’t figure it out.

There are colored letters spread around the levels, and they must be collected in order to reach the end of the game. Some of them require a specific route to become visible, and a lot of trial and error is involved in the process. Thankfully, the experience is highly engaging, so you’ll quickly lose track of time.

In the end, HopSlide is certainly unique and innovative, even if the actual game is fairly basic from a technical point of view. If you are a fan of puzzles, on the other hand, this is more than capable to give you a few headaches.