Especially when it comes to puzzle games, I learned long ago that the visual end of things tends to be far less important than the challenges that it has in store for you. In the case of GluMe, the pretty simple pixel art is at least colorful and has a fair amount of detail compared to many I’ve seen, which is a nice start. The fact that it doesn’t take very long to get the degree of challenge cranked up is also a plus, at least if you’re looking for something that will make you put your thinking cap on.

What’s great here is that the developer put some thought into getting the player up to speed with the rules of the game through carefully-designed early stages that demonstrate what you need to know in pretty small bites. The little blob you control will critically bond with other dormant blobs at the point you make contact with them, essentially then being bolted onto you at that point and giving you a bigger footprint in a very specific shape. Very quickly you’ll also come to understand how that will then require careful planning, to be sure that you take them on in the right order and the right position, to be able to ultimately grab the gems on each of the game’s 80 levels.

The further you go some new tricks, techniques, and rules will continue to reveal themselves, again typically through an initial simpler puzzle that will force you to try something new, and expect you to then learn to apply that element as you go further. Some hidden levels also make themselves known to you if you’re paying attention, but be warned to be prepared to potentially sit with those stages for a bit as they do tend to also be more challenging. As a whole, if you enjoy pretty smart design and don’t mind the lack of bells and whistles this works well.