IOS Review #119: RYB

Title: RYB
Developer: FLEB LLC
Platforms: iOS Universal
Price: $0.99
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Puzzle games come in all shapes and forms, from the sprawling island and panels of The Witness to the charming snowy sokoban of A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build. One of more minimalist indie successes of recent years was Matthew Brown's Hexcells series, a mix of Picross and Minesweeper where every puzzle could be solved through logic alone. Fans of Hexcells will feel at home with the abstract RYB, a similarly logically-driven puzzler that eschew numbers and text for colors, symbols, and oddly-shaped geometric stages.

RYB stands out from the start through its vibrant colors and shaped levels that maks each stage look more like abstract art projects than levels in a puzzle game. Squares, triangle, hexagons, and other shapes interlock to form odd levels that games designed around uniform grids and tiles never could (ie Hexcells' hexagons or Picross's grids).

Despite the myriad shapes and colors across levels, the core challenge remains the same: correctly color in each shape using clues and logic. Accomplishing that goal is what makes RYB such a wonderful gem of a puzzler. Figuring out the rules of the game, what the colors and markings within the shapes indicate, gives the games a playful charm, a sense of experimentation as you figure out the logic of the puzzles and then begin to understand how to solve the more tricky challenges.

The game gradually guides your hand, offering simple text and basic puzzles to introduce each mechanic and rule but letting the gameplay itself work to ingrain those ideas into your head. Slowly but surely, levels evolve from a group of shapes and colors into a visual language you can decode and decipher, that those colored circles in this formation within that shape means these other shapes must be this color. Through its visual learning and satisfying challenge, RYB stands out as a must-play puzzler for players looking for a game where logic and learning ensures success over trial and error.

RYB is available for $0.99 on iPad and iPhone.