Considering how many puzzle games of all types I’ve played on the Switch over the years, it tends to take something pretty radical to surprise me. Pretty well no matter what the format, type of pieces, pacing, or visual style, I usually assume I’ve played something like that. Then some indie dev dropped a bomb in my email in the form of Oxytone and I quickly realized I’d presumed wrong.

Your goal is to place a series of hexagonal pieces down in space, with the intention being that the lit ball that you start out with is able to continue to move without being blocked in some way at the end of its path. Early on, you’ll typically only have the ball move to the end of its given path on the current hex, but as you lay more and more down it opens the door to the ball moving between pieces many times, with combos not only increasing your score but eventually giving you additional turns as well, which are critical in the game’s tougher modes.

The challenge is that visually mapping out the path your ball will follow will continue to get more challenging. Not only do the paths on each piece cross over each other and include plenty of twists and turns, at some point some spot where it will butt into a wall won’t be visible, and you’ll convince yourself that you should be safe… which can be a fatal mistake obviously. The more success you have with points, or managing to stay alive, the more new stages and challenges will also unlock, upping the challenge ante. What you’ll then quickly find is that Oxytone isn’t so much about the puzzles as it is about strategy. Working to minimize your opportunities to hit walls preemptively is possible to a degree, but it’s also hardly an exact science since you’ll only control how each piece is rotated, but you’ll always need to use the one assigned to you.

Putting this all together, it makes for a pretty unique challenge, and I can’t stress that fact enough. Certainly surviving for a while in the initial open space is quite doable, but as you strive for higher scores and tackle areas that are laid out differently, and use more strict rules, you’ll quickly find yourself hitting the challenge wall if you’re not careful. While I think the degree of difficulty may be a bit high for the average puzzle gamer, if you’re looking for a new challenge that will place entirely new demands on you, it may be a great fit.