Review | Aloof

LifeisXbox’s Aloof review | If you are looking for an excellent puzzle game, and love the vibes that Tetris gives you, then you have come to the proper review to read! Today we are diving into Aloof, a cute puzzler that you can either play alone, with friends, or against others! It’s made by ButtonX, so let’s see what we thought about this one, shall we?

We played Aloof for 6 hours on PC. This game is only available on Steam.

What we liked!

• Artstyle | If you are playing Aloof a lot, you will get this weird attachment to the way the game is drawn. It’s a cute yet straightforward art style that I have grown to love during my time in the game. It’s unique in its own way, and you will see that on the screenshots during this review. The pixel-ish mood combined with the rest of the atmosphere had me in a happy mood throughout my playtime.  
• Remote play | If you decide you want to play Aloof with a friend, it will be tricky to invite them. You have to get past the barrier of first opening the steam pause menu with shift-tab, then select remote play to invite your friend. But once you have done this, you are settled for pure laughter. You have to play like a team, timing everything with your partner to send structures/lines simultaneously to break through the enemy’s shield! Really cool, in my opinion. 
• Sound effects | As my lady pointed out to me, Aloof has a highly satisfying sound design. The sounds you get to hear when you actually damage the health bar or something else happens are very present. Truly impossible to miss, yet so satisfying? It’s hard to grasp that this can actually be a mix, but it is! So buckle up and enjoy the sounds.
• Complexity | We both liked it once we got a bit further because the game does get complex. We genuinely have to be in sync when sending lines, or we both have to make the same shape. Because if we don’t, the AI will best us in this. It made for a tremendous challenge that I thoroughly admired. Usually, my brain is AFK playing puzzles, but you could hear my gears turning while trying to solve some puzzles. Paired with the satisfaction of having it right and adding the great sounds, just makes for a good mix.
• Boss fights | While Aloof is a puzzle game, you will be greeted with quite a few boss battles. Each boss has its own mechanic: healing, shields, creating more islands. Once you get used to a particular mechanic, they will be implemented in future bosses, paired with other mechanics. A true challenge!

Somewhere between

• Increasing speed | Aloof is excellent for people that need to get into puzzles, but I was pretty bored with the first 15 levels. They were simple and relatively straightforward. Once I got through the first stages of the game, difficulty increased at a steady pace, but the game’s first sections left me with a sour feeling.

What we disliked

• Explanation | Be prepared to actually figure out the mechanics yourself. Aloof does not come with hints or tricks, no explanation. You will have to find everything by trial and error. So if you think you found an answer, submit that answer but fail because the color is wrong, well, be prepared to actually do it all over again. It just felt a bit absent compared to the rest of the game. Why don’t we get an introduction that might help new players out?

CONCLUSION

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