Features

5 Ways Tiny Bubbles revolutionizes puzzle games

We dig deeper into one of 2018's best entries in the puzzle genre

5 Ways Tiny Bubbles revolutionizes puzzle games

Tiny Bubbles, a new indie game from Pine Street Codeworks is out this week. It’s a charming new puzzler that sees you shaping, popping, and coloring bubbles in a petri dish to create chain-reactions and solve puzzles. We haven’t really seen anything quite like it, which is why we’re rounding up all of the reasons Tiny Bubbles sets itself apart in a genre replete with all-too-familiar match-three puzzles. Read on to see just what makes Tiny Bubbles so special.

yt
Subscribe to Pocket Gamer on

It’s based on actual science

Tiny Bubbles is a physics-based game that uses its own molecular dynamic engine to faithfully recreate the way soap bubbles move and cluster. The bubbles in the game pull apart and reshape themselves in clusters that perfectly resemble soap bubbles sitting in a dish of water.

It has pretty special origins

The game actually comes from a sentimental place. Tiny Bubbles is inspired by the developer’s grandfather, who spent part of his career at MIT studying bubbles and their resemblance to molten metals. The developer’s childhood was shaped by his grandfather’s fascination with the natural world, and thus lead to the creation of Tiny Bubbles.


There are so many different ways to play

Soap bubbles may seem like a pretty niche theme for a game, but the sheer variety in Tiny Bubbles levels is impressive. While many puzzle games are on a grid, Tiny Bubbles is free of such restrictions, with the bubbles bursting and reshaping themselves, altering the layout of the puzzle. This means that you're free to try as many different things as you like to come to a solution. There’s an assortment of challenges, as well. Sometimes you’ll need to clear a certain number of colored bubbles, while others you’ll need to fit your bubbles into a set shape, or mix specific colors, and that’s only the half of it.

It puts you in control of things

With a wealth of different win conditions for each of the puzzles, Tiny Bubbles does an excellent job giving you plenty of options to play your own way. With the addition of scissors, which let you cut the exposed edges of bubbles to pop them or join different bubbles together in different ways, the possibilities seem nigh endless. This is all helped along by the game’s expertly designed progression, which leads you along different levels that all have their own unique feel.

Pond life is pretty fascinating

When it comes down to it, Tiny Bubbles is a joy to play at the most fundamental level. It feels just like playing with bubbles as a child. You’ll delight in tugging on and popping bubbles to create your own shapes—puzzles or no puzzles. Special guests in the form of sea creatures—starfish, guppies, and crabs make a frequent appearance—all lend to the game’s charming tidepool vibe making Tiny Bubbles all the more fun.

Tiny Bubbles is available to purchase right now from the App Store for just £3.99 and is FREE to download from Google Play (Android version is ad-supported with in-app-purchases).