Thank you Square Enix for sending us this game to review!

On a dark night in a remote cabin there’s a man writing a letter by the warmth of his fireplace. After the fire goes out, he steps outside and wanders into a nearby cave where he stumbles a upon a floating and pulsating octahedron. Being a curious fellow, he touches it and becomes digitized and sports a new look with an octahedron as his head!

As this transformed man, you must traverse through fifty handcrafted levels. There are a few levels in each world and in order for the next one to become unlocked, you must collect enough materials along the way. If you fall short you can replay levels as long as you have enough lives to spare. Each life gives you three hearts which can be replenished if you break free an imprisoned heart.

Besides hearts, you can collect flowers, shapes, and break as many light bulbs as you want. Other than the well thought out and puzzling levels, the platform summoning mechanic sets Octahedron apart from other vertical platformers I have played.

Unless you’re in a designated area that allows for more, the main character can summon two consecutive platforms at a time. A typical usage would be to jump by pressing the A button, and then pressing the right trigger or X to create a temporary platform then repeat the process a second time to go even higher. The platforms can go vertical or horizontally. If you summon your platform in specific spots, they can quickly elevate you or warp you through tunnels.

There are plenty of pre-existing platforms to use and figure out as well. Many of them are straightforward while others are crawling with enemies or other obstacles. Some platforms have to be charged up by your movement in a specific direction to solidify while others appear or disappear with every summoning of your own platform. Like many games, timing is key. Besides reflexes, you’ll need to equip your thinking cap to solve some of the obstacles set before you.

Exploration is rewarded and required if you wish to collect every shard available in each level. Many of them are off the beaten path and require a little extra effort to acquire. At the end of each completed level you’ll be shown a progress report of how many materials have been collected and you’ll see if you’re above par or not. 

Visually, this title is simplistic but nice. The flashy neon levels remind me of Tron a bit. I like how each level brought forth new challenges that kept the game interesting and fun.

The electronic background music is quite good and available on Steam as a DLC bundle for the base game. The additional levels and tunes will set you back roughly $6.

Octahedron is a solid game and great for anyone who likes challenging vertical platformers. The asking price is a reasonable $12.99. There’s not much to complain about morally other than some digitized violence. This game is a safe recommendation for gamers of all ages though some thinking and fast reflexes are required to succeed in it.