Mekorama Review - BIGsh0t

This year has been wild, every month, week, and even day seems to throw something new at us to have to adapt to and handle. It is times like these that we seek comfort and coziness - for me that is found by solving puzzles, playing games, and perusing the eShop to see what is new. The eShop is bustling with releases, and each week we have a whole new wave of games to sort and sift through; unfortunately, having a shop bursting at the seams with releases means that a lot of quality games fall under the radar as they are left off of the eShop main page or buried lower in search results. Some of my favorite and coziest games on my Switch have been found after digging through the eShop and Mekorama is no exception.

Mekorama is a puzzle game in which you explore 3D environments to help little robot “B” reach the exit of each level. What makes this game unlike any other puzzle game on Switch is the careful approach and active exploration you have to take on each level. In many puzzle games, you stare at the screen and work scenarios out in your head because you need to find the solution in just a handful of moves. It does not allow you any flexibility to explore without having to restart. The beauty in Mekorama is that tinkering with every part of the puzzle is a necessity to solve each level. The 3D environments allow you to rotate around the puzzle in a manner not unlike Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. Each puzzle has moving pieces that you can turn, slide, and drop to help B reach his objective. At times, playing around with each switch and platform in a level unintentionally led me to the solution. Sometimes this tinkering is necessary as you discover how walls can become floors, how moving parts mesh together, and how to overcome obstacles.

(One of my favorite levels, which has an upper and lower maze you need to navigate).

One of the things I appreciated most about this game was the perfect implementation of touch controls. At times I forget that my Switch even has touch screen capabilities because so few games take advantage of it. When they do, it is simply an option for menu navigation rather than being integral to gameplay. The controls work well with a controller and in docked mode, but I found myself enjoying Mekorama a lot more handheld mode and using my fingers to swipe around the stage, seeking a solution. To move B around the screen, simply tap where you want him to go, swipe your finger across the screen to rotate the environment, hold and drag moving parts, and pinch in and out to zoom in and out. As you navigate each level, more mechanics and wrenches will be thrown at you to grapple with, but each introduced mechanic is implemented well into the level design to not only tutor you in how it works, but also how flexible it can be.

The game comes loaded with 100 levels of varying difficulty, most of which carried over from the mobile version of the game, but some of the added levels were actually created by the mobile community! Creation and involvement is encouraged in this game, which even comes with a level creator tool that gives you every tool you need to design your own levels. I would love to eventually see an update that would allow you to upload and download created levels to further strengthen the community. The mobile version provides the ability to share and download levels via QR code. Mekorama has been the perfect game to cozy up to in handheld and work my way through puzzles and for just $4.99 it is a no-brainer.

Mekorama was created by Martin Magni, was converted by Ratalaika Games, and is being

advertised by Rainy Frog. A special thanks goes out to our friend Tony at Rainy Frog for providing a review code for this awesome game!