One of the things you discover, the more you play indie titles, is that while a game’s looks can absolutely matter, at some point gameplay is really the measure for the experience in the end. While you can initially be a bit thrown by more primitive looks, once you’ve settled in and you’re engaged in what you’re doing the rest falls away. By contrast, no matter how great a game may look, if it plays badly the fact that it has visual appeal absolutely won’t save it. TETRA's Escape 2 falls into the first category for sure, sporting a more simplistic visual style, but at least delivering the goods when it comes to smart puzzle gameplay.

As the name somewhat implies, the more unique hook here is that you’ll be using Tetris-style pieces that some of your characters will be able to morph into, to help you get through each stage. Your characters have pretty limited capabilities, only able to jump up one level, so in order to grab each of the 3 stars on each stage and then get to the exit you’ll have to do some planning. As an additional challenge, once all 3 stars have been collected, a trophy will pop up somewhere in the stage, which will then sometimes require a second pass to grab since they can sometimes be in inconvenient spots. What you’ll find is that you won’t just need to be smart about how you position your pieces, you’ll also need to be mindful of the sequence of events and which characters you use to grab specific stars in order to be successful.

Outside of the game’s more simple look, there are some other quirks to be aware of. How things work with the trophies did feel a little inconsistent, especially when they would end up materializing in a spot already blocked by a character’s Tetromino form. Sometimes that would count as the trophy having been grabbed, and other times it didn’t. A bit odd, but you can move on. Outside of that there aren’t too many complaints at least, aside from the fact that the concept here is very locked in, so throughout each stage will fundamentally offer the same general challenge. If you’re looking for more variety that may prove to be a weakness, though at least this concept is a fresh one in an eShop dominated by puzzle games that can often feel like variations on one another. It may not be terribly varied or a looker, but it at least delivers where it counts.