Game Reviews

Kami

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Kami
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There's something so pleasing about the rustle of paper in Kami. You tap on a coloured square and all the squares around it fold in on themselves, changing to the colour you've selected. Sometimes I just tap the squares to hear the sound, all thoughts of solving the puzzle abandoned.

That excellent sound design extends to the simple Japanese refrains that play over your puzzling. It turns what could have been a generic puzzler into something more evocative, and makes you want to keep playing this simple, elegant game.

Paper thick

The aim of Kami is to turn all the slices of paper on a screen the same colour. You've got three or four colours to choose from, and it's up to you which of them ends up dominating. You tap a colour on the side of the screen, then tap a square to turn all adjacent squares of the same colour into the selected hue.

Most of the levels take no more than five moves to complete, and there's usually a simple solution that presents itself after a couple of minutes. All of the puzzles have perfect solutions, though, which are far more difficult to work out - especially in the later levels.

Completing a level is a pretty simple affair, then, but completing them all in as few moves as possible is a much stiffer challenge. The satisfaction of watching those last squares flip into place is hard to match.

As a package Kami feels fresh and unique. Its puzzles are as well-designed as its look, and every tap and paper rustle feels solid. This is a game that gives you space to breathe, never harrying with time limits or catastrophes.

Sugar paper

The sedate nature of Kami belies the tricky puzzler that lies beneath that paper-smooth exterior, but there's a solid core of difficulty here that's not to be sniffed at. It won't have you tearing your hair out, but it might have you scratching your head.

If you're looking for a puzzle game that lets you take your time, and features some of the loveliest rustling on the App Store, then Kami is definitely worth a look.

Kami

A smooth and soothing puzzler, Kami still offers a decent challenge to anyone who wants to go for a perfect score
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.