Roboggled is a puzzle game, where you play as a robot that moves crates around. The game is presented in a 3D, top-down manner. The goal is to move the crate(s) in the level to an opening vault on the floor. Then, you’ll move on to the next level.

Note: review copy sent to our curator. If you’re a game developer and want us to test your game, send it our way!

Controls are very simple: just use the arrow keys on your keyboard or the analog stick/D-pad on your gamepad to move the robot around. If it’s pressing against a crate, simply moving in the direction of the crate will cause it to move. The robot will move one square at a time, but if it’s on ice, it won’t stop until it hits a wall or gets back on solid ground. So, at times, moving the crate towards its goal will require some strategy. If you made a mistake, you can go back one move by clicking the double-arrow icon on the top-right corner of the screen or pressing the left-shoulder button, or to restart entirely, click the single arrow at the top-left or press BACK on your controller.

As the levels progress, it becomes more difficult to find a way to drop off the crate. By level 10 or 11, you’ll definitely need to turn your thinking cap on, because many obstacles will be in the way. After that, the difficulty will essentially “reset,” because the game will uncover a new puzzle element, then progressively become harder. There’s a total of 60 levels.

Once you reach a certain level, the game will introduce a new mechanic to the fore. Unfortunately, because I’m back to level 1 now after finishing all the levels, and I can’t go back to a specific level, I don’t know off the top of my head what specific levels these are. But as an example, there will be times where you’ll teleport to a different area if the robot moves to a red, green, or blue pad. The robot will be transported to the other pad of the same color.

In another instance, you will control a red-colored robot rather than the traditional green. This robot has the directions reversed; pressing the Left arrow key will make him move right, pressing Down will make it move up, etc. Or there may be lasers – which can be reflected depending on the type of block that’s in the laser’s direction – use them to your advantage to destroy red blocks, while being careful not to get in direct contact with it. New mechanics at every 10 levels or so makes the game continue to be interesting to play, adding new variety to the game.

All-in-all, Steam recorded exactly 99 minutes after I finished the last level. So, expect an hour-and-a-half to two hours of gameplay time, depending on how long it takes you to figure out how to drop off the crate. Is that all there is to this game, though? Of course not.

Roboggled has the benefit of creating your own levels. You can then upload this, after creating an account, for others to peruse. If you’re not the creative type, you can browse the available levels that others have made and try them yourself.

Here’s a plus to all you Linux lovers out there. The game was made with the open-source Godot engine (you can tell it was made with Godot with the small Godot debug window that briefly pops-up before the game launches). The developer, Nathan Warden, made the game on Linux itself! As a result, it’s no surprise that there’s a native Linux version, and based on my testing, it works great. Running at 144 FPS at Ultra settings.

So, on to issues. While the controls are very simple, I think the game could benefit by having just a little pop-up appear when playing the first level for the first time, explaining how the game works. Right now, there’s no tutorial.

When the player has finished the 60th level, it would be nice if they could select any of the levels, rather than going back to level 1.

I mentioned earlier the game is presented in top-down view. The background is this greenish color with white rectangles moving about. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I think it would be pretty cool if there was an option to change the green color to something else.

The soundtrack is hit or miss. While it has some good tunes, others are a little more…creepy, if you will. If there was an option or hotkey to change tracks, that would be great. Also, I think it would be of benefit of the music had a slider volume; right now there’s just an on and off toggle.

The built-in level editor is pretty nice, but it’s a bit wonky. For instance, there are certain blocks on the grid that can’t have an item on it, particularly the blocks along the edge of the grid.

For a price of $2, you really can’t go wrong here, though. Roboggled is a pretty decent puzzle game, and a plus is that there’s a Linux version and replayability value due to the in-game level editor. Right now, the game is 25% off until Thursday.