PGConnects: Stack and Crack is a simple puzzler that have you tapping for hours

We’ve all played a grid-based puzzle game before. Whether it’s been a Candy Crush-like match three game, a tile slider or even Tetris, we’ve seen our fair share of blocky grids. Well Stack and Crack is a slightly different take on the familiar grid puzzler, one that uses very simple, succinct mechanics to create a variety of levels for players to decode.

Viewed from an isometric perspective, you guide four blocks to an end goal across grids of various sizes and shapes. The early levels are simple, straightforward, showing the player how to navigate through stages.

You have four blocks that must guided to the exit, and each is wrapped almost like a present. One moves horizontally, another vertically, and two going in opposing diagonal directions. They’re colourful, and a stripe (which almost looks like a ribbon, hence the present comparison) indicates which direction the blocks can move. Once they’re on the same square, they stack.

Once stacked, blocks can finally be moved into areas they couldn’t previously; whichever block is on the bottom is the movement you have access to in the stack, and therefore, the blocks on top can basically be carried.

The limited choices of movement mean you have to patiently figure out how to combine the blocks, and where, in order to get them all over to the goal. Luckily, you can undo individual moves, meaning you won’t need to entirely restart should you go wrong.

Unique tiles mix up the gameplay slightly, with tiles on the floor enacting different effects, such as splitting stacks, blocks swapping places, flipping stacks upside down, and more. Because of the strict movement options, these simple modifiers to a lot to change how each level plays out.

Stack and Crack is incredibly promising and beautifully polished, and I can’t wait to be able to sit down and crack through some blocks in my own time.