Color Flow: Arcade Puzzle review - "Relaxing and challenging, with a possible deeper meaning"

• Relaxing puzzler where you can take your time and enjoy every move.
• The soundtrack is brilliant, but it tends to become repetitive after a while.
• You need a lot of patience to pass the harder levels.

Color Flow is a game for those who love relaxing with a good puzzle game on their mobile phones and also want to listen to some good music at the same time. I admittedly did not expect much, this being a puzzle game, but I was taken by surprise, in a good way. In this Color Flow review, I'll tell you exactly why this should be your next go-to game for a relaxing afternoon.

Great background music, albeit repetitive after a few stages

Every puzzle game is expected to have some sort of "repetitiveness", but the last thing I expected was the music. I personally absolutely love the lo-fi vibes and relaxing atmosphere it gives off, so much so that I have the game running in the background on my phone almost continuously, only because the devs did such a great job with the background music.

That being said, it tends to get repetitive after a while. I believe I've cleared around 40 or so levels, and I stopped listening altogether. It all blended into the background as white noise. Don't get me wrong, the music is a 10/10 - but it would've been better if the track was a little bit longer. 

Challenging levels, but easy to get a hold of

As you keep progressing, the levels get more and more challenging. That will pose a lot of questions, which will require answers. The best way to go about it is by trial and error. You should play and replay a level until you understand what you did wrong, and that way you'll easily end up three-starring everything. 

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It's a joy to discover every new level and the difficulties they pose, and in a way, that made me extremely happy to play this game. 

But wait - there is a story?

Every 4 levels, you get a line of dialogue, which seemed out of place at first - but then it made me wonder, "What if there's more to it?" So what I did was to listen to all the lines that I unlocked in order, and to me, it seemed like they might be connected in a way.

The game lets you play with a black or a white dot, which each has a different effect on the puzzles. The black can only pass through black, and the white can only pass through white. The Dark levels' (where you play with black) interactions are a little more sombre, while the Light levels (where you play with white) seem to have a glimmer of hope in each dialogue. 

It's a very interesting distinction between the two, and I believe the story tells us something about human nature. The Dark path is when we feel frustrated, depressed, and lonely, while the Light path shows empathy, joy and even a glimmer of hope.

It might be true, since on the home screen the elements we see resemble neurons forming connections, so maybe I'm not that far off in my theory!

These are elements that one doesn't typically expect in a simple "puzzle game". But I guess that goes to show Color Flow is a little bit more than that, isn't it?

Stunning and bright visuals

When it comes to the graphics, the visuals and the physics in this game, all I can say is...a job well done. The colours are bright but fit together well in a colour palette that is not too distracting, and not too dull. 

As for the physics, I don't believe there is a whole lot of it going on, but then again - I might be wrong. I have played games where the physics played a bigger part in the game, but here it seems to me like the physics are secondary to many other elements.

Patience is key

I mentioned before that levels tend to be a little difficult once you advance. The one thing I would suggest before you decide to give this game a go is that you cultivate patience. You will be unable to pass even the lowest of levels unless you manage to sit and observe, because despite it being just a simple puzzler, a lot has gone into making it good (at least that's how it seems to me).

You shouldn't dismiss the game as being too difficult with the first problem you find. There are not a lot of classic "tutorials" here, so that leaves you to discover through trial and error how to pass a stage and nail it. 

The best thing you can do when unsure is to sit back and observe the patterns, instead of rushing things just to wrap up a stage. The further you get, the harder it will be when you fail.

If you plan on trying out this game, I strongly suggest you do so with headphones on, or at least with the music on speakers, because it would be a pity to miss out on. Then, let yourself be immersed in the experience because it's a truly fun one - even more so if you want to try out a different type of puzzle game!