Possibly one of the most widely represented genres in the Switch library, as long as you’re working in broad strokes, would be puzzle games. Whether working on the more casual, action-oriented, traditional, or innovative sides, there are a lot of them out there, for sure. I’ll admit that I’ve become quite jaded with multiple types, in particular the over-represented box pushers, but I do appreciate ones that aren’t so common, and that people have continued to make an earnest effort to make distinct in some way. Linea absolutely falls into that category, with its pretty simple presentation that’s backed by play that offers some distinct challenges.

What strikes me as odd is the way the game chose to open, featuring a sort of tutorial set of puzzles where you work to begin to understand the way the game works paired with a pretty simple narrative. I suppose people could see the story as a value add, but there is a school of thought that when you prepare multiple things for someone to try, you’ll ultimately be judged by the weakest element on the plate. In that regard the story really struck me as odd, since it may add flavor and works out nicely enough, but on a high level I’m not really sure how it meaningfully connected to the puzzles I was solving either.

For me the real meat and potatoes of the experience comes when you then branch out into some of the game’s later options, which then have a tighter focus just on challenging you to work through its many puzzles. Make no mistake, finding that paths that will allow you to complete each puzzle correctly can take some time and quite a bit of trial and error. The problem of the lines you choose essentially blocking off some potential routes will really make you take a step back and plot things out mentally before making each move, trying to eliminate bad choices quickly rather than scoping them out. You could make a fair argument that some of the game’s elements and concepts aren’t always explained effectively, perhaps leading to some confusion, but in general most people should be able to work out how everything works pretty quickly through a little bit of experimentation. While, for me, the game is at its best when just worrying about providing some thought-provoking challenges, I’ll concede that some people may appreciate the extra narrative flavor thrown in, but regardless it’s a relatively unique challenge that was fun to work through.