Lyxo review - "Relax and bounce a bunch of light about"

A new kind of game from the developer of Machinaero, Lyxo is playing with light, reflecting and refracting against lines of glass that you can draw with your finger. It’s a puzzle game where you start with a predominately dark room with a small string of light breaking through the black depth, and you have the ability to manipulate the light so that you can fill an orb of light.

Lyxo gameplay

Lyxo is relaxing. There is no timer, no limit to the number of lines you can draw, no rush to get through a level and no ads to take you out of the game since it’s a premium title. Puzzle games often feel challenging and sometimes you are rushed through or have various limitations that can make the game frustrating. Lyxo on the other hand is built around being a casual and relaxing puzzler that you can take your time to solve.

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Drawing various white lines, which represent glass, will then allow you to reflect the light across the screen. You can make your lines straight or curved, and move them after they are drawn. At first, the light you need to reflect is white, but over time you will find other colours of light to refract, and you’ll need to get these specific lightwaves to orbs of the same colour. If you don’t want one of the lines you have drawn, you can simply tap them and they will disappear.

Let there be light!

As you bounce the light around the level, shadows and black walls will be seen. Once you have guided the light to the orb, it will fill with light. Once the orb has light filtering to it, the screen will start to glow and get brighter, showing you the walls you have moved around, the design behind the darkness and the route you have taken to get to this endpoint. Seeing the level light up is quite fun, as you may find that you have reflected light into a giant spiral or have been moving the light around a room full of giant black circles. Once the room is illuminated with light, you can see how easy it could have been if you drew different lines.

Along with the general vibe of the game being quite relaxing, if you turn on the sound, you will hear how gentle and calm it is. The resting sound is simple, quiet, and each time light bounces across the line you have created, a note will play, adding slightly to the general soundscape. This note just is hit once - it’s not continued as a part of a greater song - and feels quite relaxing to listen too.