Puddle

Addictive, if soon over. An intoxicating cocktail of molten merriment, Puddle is a glass-half-full kind of game.

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"Puddle is a single-player platformer game with stunning graphics, where you tilt the environment to guide a puddle of fluid through levels, taking friction, gravity, and temperature into account. The game features 49 levels across two difficulty modes, with leaderboards and medals for competitive play. The laboratory mode allows for customization with additional objects, backgrounds, and liquids to unlock."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

60%

Audience ScoreBased on 212 reviews

gameplay6 positive mentions

stability2 negative mentions

Puddle offers a unique and creative gameplay experience, allowing players to control various liquids with different properties through beautifully designed levels.
The game features smooth graphics and animations, providing an enjoyable visual experience that complements its physics-based mechanics.
Many players find the game to be a fun and challenging puzzle experience, with a good balance of difficulty that keeps them engaged.

The controls can feel limited and frustrating, as players only tilt the screen left or right, which may lead to a lack of precise control over the liquids.
Some levels are overly difficult and require memorization, leading to frustration and a trial-and-error gameplay style that can detract from the overall enjoyment.
The game has been criticized for its camera behavior, which can obscure important parts of the gameplay and make it difficult to manage the liquids effectively.

gameplay
31 mentions
19 % positive mentions
71 % neutral mentions
10 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by simple tilt controls that allow players to navigate various liquids, each with unique properties, creating a diverse experience. However, many users find the difficulty level frustrating, often leading to trial-and-error gameplay and a reliance on memorization, which detracts from overall enjoyment. While the game features creative mechanics and impressive visuals, the execution suffers from poor controls and camera issues, leaving some players feeling that it lacks depth and fun.
- “The gameplay itself is smooth; every liquid has a different consistency and mechanic that keeps the game from becoming boring.”
- “I'd definitely recommend this game for that sheer fact that it's original, beautifully rendered, and the varying levels and liquids offer ever-changing gameplay environments.”
- “As you progress through the game, you will encounter a lot of different mechanics as well as different liquids, each with their own properties.”
- “While the gameplay is fairly obvious, an onscreen tutorial wouldn't have been hard to implement.”
- “A terrible camera and poor controls means beating a level is often a process of memorization and brute force replaying; the game mechanics and liquids are never introduced sufficiently to feel competent with the game's systems before you are whisked off to other novelties.”
- “The controls are minimal (literally just tilting left and right) on purpose, I suppose, but it renders the gameplay so incredibly boring that I couldn't conjure the patience to complete a full area.”
graphics
28 mentions
79 % positive mentions
11 % neutral mentions
11 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beauty and artistic design, with many reviewers highlighting the impressive visuals, animations, and unique liquid behaviors that enhance gameplay. While some note minor inconsistencies and the game's aging visuals compared to modern standards, the overall aesthetic and atmosphere are considered outstanding, contributing to an enjoyable experience. However, a few critiques mention that the appealing graphics can mask underlying gameplay frustrations.
- “Graphically, this game is beautiful.”
- “With beautiful graphics, great physics engine and very well designed levels it keeps itself fresh and fun to say the least.”
- “The levels artwork is awesome like the x-ray photograph levels where you are inside a human's body or painted levels with almost the style of 'doodle jump'.”
- “Small graphical inconsistencies here and there, like non-working antialiasing on 1440p, cannot make it not great.”
- “Doesn't require powerful graphics.”
- “Each chapter represents a visually and aesthetically differing environment and the type of liquid you control in it.”
story
7 mentions
57 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
43 % negative mentions
The game features a coherent and engaging story that takes players on a unique journey through various liquids, from coffee to nuclear waste, with a mix of humor and realism. While some players note a lack of depth in the narrative, the interesting premise and fun gameplay make it enjoyable, especially during moments of boredom. Overall, it offers a quirky and entertaining experience with memorable characters.
- “Amazing story, great characters, and surprisingly realistic.”
- “The entire story is coherent, meaning you start out as coffee and by the end you're somehow playing as nuclear waste.”
- “This makes an interesting story to follow.”
- “The entire story is incoherent; you start out as coffee and by the end you're somehow playing as nuclear waste.”
- “Immerse yourself in a story about coffee filtrate.”
- “While playing the story, you control different liquids like water, hydrocarbons, nitroglycerin, and other funny and disgusting substances.”
music
7 mentions
71 % positive mentions
14 % neutral mentions
14 % negative mentions
The music in the game is highly praised for its brilliance, with an electroacoustic soundtrack that enhances the gameplay experience by varying between calm and dynamic tones. Many players find the soundtrack enjoyable and consider it a must-have, especially with its availability as a DLC. Overall, the combination of music and artwork contributes significantly to the game's appeal.
- “The artwork and the music are both brilliant, and the small videos showing how and why we proceed from one location to another are heaps of fun.”
- “While on the environment, there is an electroacoustic music accompanying us in the perilous journey of the liquids, sometimes calm, sometimes dynamic, and I've found the soundtrack quite enjoyable overall. I'm glad the devs made it available in a DLC, best to be bought during Steam sales.”
- “Amazing game! Love, the soundtrack is a must-have experience.”
- “While on the environment, there is an electroacoustic music accompanying us in the perilous journey of the liquids. Sometimes calm, sometimes dynamic, I've found the soundtrack quite enjoyable overall (and I'm glad the devs made it available in a DLC, best to be bought during Steam sales).”
humor
6 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its charming and humorous approach, particularly through its quirky liquid physics and amusing scenarios, such as manipulating various fluids, including some grotesque options like decomposed rat. Players find humor in both the challenges presented and the lighthearted competition with friends, making it an enjoyable experience reminiscent of titles like Limbo and i-Fluid.
- “To sum up, a lovely, humorous little game which is quite enjoyable.”
- “If you love to watch fluids flow, from coffee to rocket fuel or decomposed rat (yes, rat rot) and just have fun making them flow in strange, interesting, or even funny ways, this game can be just that simple.”
- “The liquid physics are... floaty, but that doesn't take away from the humor that comes from the frustration as well as the accomplishment you feel when trying to finish a level before your friend takes a crack at it.”
stability
3 mentions
33 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
67 % negative mentions
Overall, the game is generally stable with minimal bugs reported, although some users have noted occasional issues. The unique properties of various liquids enhance gameplay without causing redundancy, but there are still some concerns about stability in certain scenarios.
- “The game is not buggy at all, and I don't find it redundant, at least with the way I play it.”
- “Too buggy still.”
- “Each type of liquid has its unique properties; water freezes and evaporates, nitroglycerin explodes when handled without care, and lava hardens when it's far from the heat source.”
atmosphere
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is characterized by beautifully designed stages and a harmonious blend of audio and graphics, creating a pleasant environment that aligns well with the game's purpose, though it may not be fully immersive.
- “While not being exactly immersive, the audio and graphics create a very pleasant atmosphere that merges perfectly with the entire purpose of the game.”
- “The stages are beautifully designed and full of atmospheric color.”
grinding
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Players find that the limited controls can lead to frustration when attempting to achieve high scores and complete achievements, resulting in a mild grinding experience.
- “However, the limited controls make going for high scores and achievements highly frustrating, so be prepared for some mild grinding.”
replayability
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
300 % negative mentions
Many users feel that the game's traps rely heavily on trial and error, leading to a lack of replay value. This diminishes the incentive to revisit the game after the initial playthrough.
- “Most of the traps are trial and error and have no replay value.”
- “Once you've completed the game, there's little incentive to play it again.”
- “The lack of meaningful choices means that replaying the game feels redundant.”