Deleveled by The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild is a physics-based puzzle platformer that will have your brain twisting in every possible way to progress through the game. Find out more in our Deleveled review!

 

As you start the game, you are presented with a level that features a horizontal line across the screen, with an orange cube on each side of that line, placed as if one was a reflection of the other. The only control you have over them is to use the left analog stick to move both cubes simultaneously. Your goal is pretty simple: get the cubes on the blue spots further in the level. There are some platforms that your cubes have to go over, but you have no jump button, so this is where the physics will come into play.

 

When your cubes fall from a ledge to meet one another at the line in the middle, it creates a momentum effect that will make the other one jump from the impact. The higher they fall from, the higher the other cube will jump. If both fall from the same height, it will create a synchronized jump for both of them, but if one of them was actually on a higher platform, the effect will be de-synchronized, so they’ll take their turn at being sent up in the air as the other lands on the line. In the first few levels, this allows you to reach higher places, but it won’t be long before you need to combine momentum, synchronicity, and a bit of luck, to avoid hazards so that both cubes can reach their exit.

A few levels down the road, you’ll start getting obstacles as in that horizontal line or spikes that you will have to avoid. You’ll then be presented with switches, which bring a whole new aspect to the gameplay cycle. In levels with switches, the exit spot doesn’t appear right away. Instead, you have to hit the switches scattered around the level to be able to carry on. Since your cubes move together, switches have to be activated two at a time, so finding the right pattern to be able to get to all of them adds to the difficulty of the puzzles. As soon as you hit switches, you are returned to the starting position to proceed towards the rest of the switches.

 

The game’s visuals feature a very minimalist by design, with only lines defining the level and the occasional spikes that diverge from those horizontal and vertical lines forming the level and obstacles. Cubes, switches, and exist have a different pattern when changing from one world to the next, but that’s about it, which is not a deal-breaker since this places the focus on physics-based puzzles.

In the first few levels, I felt pretty confident about the game, enjoying the initial puzzles that were easy to solve. Deleveled then starts to drive up the difficulty at a fast but steady pace, leading up to the final levels of the first world. It is then that you might need to reset a level or two to find the right solution to that particular predicament. Each world has ten regular levels and a hidden one if you find the required switch in another level, as well as a final level that’s unlocked only if you gather the star in each of the ten regular levels. The star is given when you complete a level without having to manually reset it after making a mistake – or without losing one of the cubes to a hazard.

As for the trophies, the list is pretty simple but pretty challenging if you want that Platinum trophy for your collection. Simply put, you have to complete all the levels the game has to offer – which is more than 120 – without doing a manual reset. This is by no means an easy task, so there’s going to be a lot of trial and error in your future!

Deleveled is a really interesting puzzle game that takes a simplistic approach in the visual design but totally delivers in terms of twisting your brain and giving you a challenge. Fans of the genre should definitely check this one out on PlayStation 4!

 

Disclaimer
This Deleveled review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild.