Puzzle games are like art or jokes in some ways – you either get it or you don’t, if you do it is addictive and if you don’t there is no sense trying to explain. Indie developer Moon Kid is preparing to launch Satellina, a simple color matching game that is anything but simple because it is a ‘puzzle in motion’.
In Satellina, patterns of green, yellow, and red particles move around the screen in sync with a catchy synthpop soundtrack. The objective is deceptively simple: drag your finger to collect only the green particles without bumping into yellow or red. When you’ve cleared all the green particles, yellow particles turn green and red particles turn yellow. Clear them all to complete the level – but don’t bump the wrong color, or you’ll have to start over!
With 50 hypnotic levels, a challenging but rewarding (and never punitive) difficulty curve, and a timed structure perfect for speedrunning, Satellina is a minimalist game that sucks you in. The constant motion and running timer make for great challenge and tension, but because the particles follow repeating routes, the gameplay relies as much on pattern recognition and puzzle-solving as it does on quick reflexes.
Here is the trailer:
