Thank you Daisy Games for providing us with a review code!

You take a piece, and move it around until only one is left. Hack Grid has a simple concept, probably one of the most simple concepts a game can have as it emulates the 70s era DOS games of a time before I was even born. Developer Daisy Games shows once again that even if something seems simple on the surface, that it can have depth.

On every level there are pink and blue pieces that you can move. Only the opposite colored pieces can be moved horizontally or vertically into each other. The pieces can only move onto other spaces that have an existing piece, and the one that moves consumes the other. So if a pink piece moves onto the same spot a blue piece is on, that blue piece is deleted. It starts very simple with moves not being very complex. But after the tutorial is over, the game will stop holding your hand (for the most part). Hack Grid will give you no hints as to how to solve a puzzle, and you can only undo one action before you are forced to reset the level. You have the ability to skip any level that gives you trouble, but to enable the skip feature again, you must beat the level you are currently on.

Everything in Hack Grid is controlled by the mouse and to move the piece, you must click it, and then drag the mouse in the direction you want the piece to move in. On the user interface, you can toggle on and off the music and the info boxes that show what pieces are in play on each level. If you do this, the black borders will show that were once covered by parts of the UI. As simple as the game is, it does look impressive for a retro-inspired look of an uncommon style. And there are plenty of settings in the option menu to emulate that CRT look too. In fact, those settings are on by default once you boot up Hack Grid. I mostly play with those settings off, but I do play with them every once in a while.

The music is also representative of those classic times. There are about 10 songs in total with those iconic electric boops and beeps. Each song has a nice rhythm going, but all the songs are also very short with none of them lasting more than a minute and a half. The songs will end up repeating after a while. Although you have the option to choose what songs shuffle, I believe in the end you’ll end up turning off the music and just listening to your own stuff.

Every 10 or so levels, Hack Grid will introduce new mechanics to play with such as green pieces that cannot move, but can be “consumed” by any movable piece, or even pieces that change color when other pieces move. It can get pretty hectic and wrapping your brain around solving each level can be a delight for those who like to exercise that brain of theirs. Beyond the original mode that consists of 60 levels, there is the firewall update that consists of pieces that can only move horizontally or vertically depending on the direction they are facing. And recently (as of December 29,2021) there is the master levels as DLC that combine features of the former two game modes.

Hack Grid is a good puzzle game that did a lot with its minimalist mechanics. There’s plenty of content to go around with 90 regular levels, and an additional 40 that can be purchased for less than $1. As it only focuses on puzzles, there are zero moral warnings or concerns to point out. Give it a shot if mouse-oriented retro puzzles are your thing.