Tetragon brings a unique spin (no pun intended) to the 2-D puzzle genre. Building on the legacy of indie puzzle games like Braid and Fez it leans into a unique mechanic, great puzzle design, and distinctive art style to create a satisfying game. This unique puzzle experience is available on Steam, the PS4, X-Box One, and Nintendo Switch, which is where I played it.
PLOT:
There’s not much to Tetragon’s plot, but it makes up for that with worldbuilding and atmosphere. You play as a lumberjack named Lucios whose son is lured into a magical forest. The game follows your quest to save him, guided by a powerful and mysterious being, whose ulterior motives and dark nature are gradually revealed. It’s a straightforward fairy-tale-inspired story told mostly through short scenes between levels and conversations with the spirit of Lucios’ son.
Despite the simple premise, Tetragon does a lot to develop its world and establish its tone. The magical forest Lucious initially enters leads him into a multi-dimensional journey, traveling towards the center of all creation. This places him in the center of an eternal conflict between primordial good and evil, giving his simple quest a Lovecraftian tinge. Along with the visual style which takes gorgeous story-book environments and twists them to fit the game’s shiftable 2-D perspective creates the constant feeling of a fairy-tale world where something has gone horribly wrong.
GAMEPLAY:
Like most puzzle games Tetragon puts its mechanics and level design above all else. There are two main abilities you will use to solve puzzles. The simpler of the two consists of moving pillars up and down, allowing you to use them as platforms or move them out of the way. The second mechanic is the game’s primary gimmick: the ability to rotate the entire level. This makes the 2-D puzzle solving much more interesting, forcing you to consider how everything you’re doing will change the level when you flip everything 90 degrees.
There are also some light platforming elements, though it’s rarely more sophisticated than walking from platform to platform. You do get an upgraded jump that lets you make a vertical leap, but that does little to make the platforming interesting. There are hazards like burning pillars, spikes, and fall damage but they are almost always dealt with through puzzle-solving rather than skilled platforming.
PROS:
There’s a lot to like about Tetragon. First and foremost, it’s a great puzzle game. The rotating mechanic is genuinely fun and intuitive. The puzzle design is, with a few notable exceptions, fantastic. Solving a level was always satisfying and there was just enough variety to keep the game from feeling stale despite only having a handful of mechanics to play with.
The game’s aesthetic is also a high point. The distinct visual style made entering each new area a joy. The tone felt appropriately dark, without losing the fairy tale vibe it establishes in its opening scene. The end result is a world I enjoyed spending time in.
CONS:
The game’s only real flaws are its platforming and the clunkiness of its controls. Tetragon’s platforming elements are clearly an afterthought and for most levels that’s fine, but it did create a handful of frustrating moments. There’s a bit of lag between pressing the joystick in a direction and the character moving, and the same was true when trying to stop, occasionally resulting in Lucious running off a platform to his death.
The method of choosing which pillar to move is similarly frustrating in a handful of levels, namely levels where it has to be done quickly. When you activate the ability you have to cycle through pillars using the shoulder buttons until you get to the pillar you want and then move it using the joy stick. It’s a control scheme that works fine until it has to be done in a split second.
Unfortunately, the moment that best exemplifies both of these problems is the final boss fight. Requiring you to dodge projectiles and use pillars to bounce them back at the boss, it’s a finale that plays to the games weaknesses rather than its strengths. It’s by far the game’s worst level. A game ending on a low note always feels bad, that goes double for a game that was otherwise delightful.
VERDICT:
Tetragon is a fantastic if flawed puzzle game. Fans of 2-D puzzle games like Braid or gamers looking to jump into the puzzle genre for the first time would do well to pick this game up. Even if you’re skeptical of the genre at $14.99 it’s hard not to recommend picking this game up and giving it a try on Switch, PS4, X-Box One, or Steam.
