Ruya

[quote]For more puzzle game reviews, news and everything puzzle-related, follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/25928931-Puzzle-Lovers/]Puzzle Lovers[/url] and check out our [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/puzzlelovers]Steam group[/url].[/quote] [b]ruya[/b] lost the love of her life. as a result, antlers started growing on her head for some reason, sucking up her memories. she did what every responsible parent would do, abandoned the rest of her family and started meditating and traveling to other worlds in her head. escapism done right. [b]64 levels[/b] in 8 worlds await in this matching game, both unlocked one by one. the goal is to match enough of each color by [b]creating tetris-like shapes shown on the top left[/b]. the current shape is the only valid move (directions don't matter) and [b]you can decide when and where the next piece should fall[/b], though there are slanty tiles and frozen blocks that limit (or expand) possibilities. the next piece and the one after are shown above, so you can plan ahead a bit. there's a [b]mandatory move limit[/b], dropping a piece doesn't count, only matching. the limit can be extended by matching bubbled pieces. the [b]…

*Conditional recommendation* [b]Has limited moves, and if you get stuck anywhere, will block all further progress.[/b] Some levels can be quite difficult, so be aware of potential for lots and lots of replay to try to solve, frustrations and possibly terminally stuck. No playthroughs anywhere (and anyway levels don't generate or regenerate identically) and in-game hints only help a little bit. Matching shapes kind of game, no timing pressure, very nice to look at, soothing and pretty, and pleasant music. Backstory makes you feel emotionally invested in trying to solve the levels and give Ruya back her memories and zest for life. So a bit of extra heartache to have to abandon Ruya to her tears in the rain, if getting stuck without being able to complete. This would be much better with an added Skip, or Casual mode. Also, the rules of the game are not entirely clear - like those 'frozen' blocks - how many matches do they take to 'melt', and nothing visually to show how far along in 'melted' you've made them. I didn't understand how it counted points, flowers and unused moves at level completion either. So - it looks nice, sounds nice, is medium-to-difficult - and if you get st…

A cute little colour match game with a cute story. The music is pleasant and relaxing.

Ive played Ruya a fair bit on mobile and ive found it just as good on pc. Ruya is a good game to chill out with for a moment.

Ruya is an excellent game to play when seeking to unwind, balanced well with an underlying challenge to keep you engaged and coming back for more. The serene art and audio is meditative, and I would definitely recommend Ruya to anyone looking for a fun puzzle game that also happens to beautiful, calming and well developed.

Excellent match 3 variation, where you must use the match patterns presented to you, finish each level in a given number of moves and with the number of required colours, and optionally get the "secret" flowers in the process. In addition, some blocks can give you an additional move, some of them are frozen until you "match" them a few times, and on some levels, blocks can fall "sideways". All of this with a nice and relaxing design. Definitely recommended.