TumbleSeed is a game about controlling a ball-shaped seed stuck to the middle piece of a large beam. The goal is to get to the top of a randomly generated mountain and plant the seed at the top. It is one of the most unique games I've ever played.

Between you and the top of the mountain is a whole lot of adversity through holes in the ground and several enemy types. The higher up the mountain you go the more holes in the ground and the more difficult enemies become. In the first area, the forest, there are a few holes here and there and you're not gonna deal with anything more complicated than a large spider that jumps towards you every few seconds. After a while, the game starts adding enemies that relentlessly chase you through the level and there starts to be turrets that shoot projectiles or laser beams. The enemy variety is solid and forces you to be really precise and pay a lot of attention to what's on the screen.

Along with holes in the ground and enemies all over, there are tons of buttons on the ground. Clicking these buttons will activate your abilities. You start the game with 4 different seeds you can swap between at any point and there's a whole host of them to pick up along the way. The starting flag seed lets you set a checkpoint so when you fall into a hole you are transported to the nearest flag. Also these buttons are your source of gaining more health which you use the heart seed for. You also gain offensive weapons through using these buttons, from small spears to side turrets or a large cannon. Some of these abilities require you to stick around the button they're activated on to use and some are more passive. All these abilities require currency to use, and the strategic element of the game is juggling your gems and what seed to use and when.

What truly sets TumbleSeed apart from any other roguelite game is the movement mechanics. The way the controls work is you use the W key or left analog stick to move the left side of the platform, and arrow keys or right analog stick to move the right side. Your seed is in the center and you have to balance it on the beam. The game requires you to be very precise and careful with your momentum and speed, but it works perfectly despite being very challenging.

There are a few minor issues with TumbleSeed. There are several abilities that come with downsides that render them useless such as an avalanche seed where the balls that come down when activated hurt you as well as enemies, or the poison seed that also poisons you. Several of the shops in the game aren't entirely clear on what they give, such as the wheel of fortune that seems to give no reward but I imagine I'm just not paying enough attention. The difficulty of the game is also a concern since the game requires very slow play and a lot of patience and precision, although there is a game mode where you can only go through one area at a time.

The art for TumbleSeed is very clean and cute. I have no problems distinguishing the many things I have to pay attention to in the game, and the flat bright colors are very pleasing. The soundtrack is similarly positive. There is one bug I came across where gamepad controls have a slight delay to them, but otherwise, the game seems perfectly stable.

Morally there's a few things of note. You do a lot of killing of creatures, however there's no blood to be found when enemies simply pop when they're shot. Some of the abilities are cartoony magic and the online leaderboard does use Steam names so there's a chance you come across a badly named player.

TumbleSeed is one of the most unique games I've played and I highly recommend trying it out if you're up for a challenge or even just something out of the ordinary.