Bloks

Desperately needs multiple quality of life changes. Block hold, a larger play field (seriously why is the play field only like 1/8th of the screen?), and more lenient matching rules and this would be a truly wonderful game. As is, much like most sokpop games: good concept, cute style, awful execution.

Bloks, developed and published by Sokpop Collective, is a compact experimental title that blends falling-block puzzle mechanics with light god-game and ecosystem simulation elements. True to Sokpop’s reputation for small, idea-driven projects, Bloks centers on a single clever concept and explores it in a focused, self-contained experience. At first glance, it resembles a familiar block-stacking puzzle, but as systems begin to interact and evolve, it reveals a playful sandbox where chemistry, environment, and life all emerge from simple mechanical rules. The core gameplay revolves around dropping different elemental blocks into a contained 2D space. These blocks include materials such as sand, water, oxygen, and lava, each obeying basic physical behaviors and reacting to adjacent elements. Unlike traditional falling-block games that emphasize line clearing for points alone, Bloks uses those clears as catalysts for new possibilities. When rows are completed, they generate special DNA blocks. These DNA blocks serve as the gateway to life creation, allowing players to spawn primitive organisms within the environment they have constructed. This transition from stacking materials to cu…

There is a gap between where you start having fun, and when next you are making progress, and it's huge. looking at global achievements there is two with about 75% then all the others lower then 10%, that's where I and everyone else give up. It's such a shame as it is such a cool Idea and implementation. There is gold here for the developers to mine with an update but I'm pretty sure it's not their style.

Overall, this game is enjoyable because the idea of mixing an arcade puzzler with a God game is neat but seriously flawed. It has a similar addictive quality to games like Tetris but also has similar flaws to Tetris except even more pronounced. For example, not only do you have the problem of not getting the right shape, but also not getting the right element you need. To get a reaction you need two blocks of an element that reacts with two blocks of another element. Which often leads to having blocks you can’t clear, because it is shaped in a way where only one block can be connected with another element. Another problem is that one of your starting elements, sand, creates two elements when it reacts, mud and glass. The latter does not react with any elements, and the former only reacts with the element material. Which you can only get from a long daisy chain of reactions. Another problem is that humans are way too high maintenance, die way too easily, and don’t really help you. To keep them alive you need some sort of air supply, and a food source, of which there are only two: fish & berries. Often times they need to be placed one block away or else they can’t eat it. Fish is a l…

Great idea, but too demanding for me to be able to finish it. It's hard to both keep track of what's going on on the grid, remember the possible combinations and plan ahead. Still love how experimental it is.

There is a short list of games in this genre which maybe wasted their potential a bit and this is on that for me. That being said, I like enough of what's there, to enjoy the game. Don't expect anything amazing, but it is very cool, and also cheap.