KOLUMNO

“The fact that it’s a straight-up paid game and not ad-supported on any platform is what makes Kolumno playable”

What is Kolumno?

Kolumno (kudos to the team for not going for a generic name like drop ball) is a deceptively simple puzzle game developed by DevilishGames, where the environment is constantly moving and your friend is gravity. The entire control scheme revolves around just tapping – tap to drop your metal ball (we’ll call him Arthur from now on) and tap to use special abilities.

Core gameplay

I ventured into Kolumno expecting a monument valley-ish gameplay where you can manipulate the environment. I was both delighted and disappointed to be proven wrong. This one unfortunately doesn’t require a lot of brainpower to come up with creative solutions, instead, it needs pinpoint accuracy and timing. Your aim is to ensure that Arthur reaches the end of the cylinder and enters a void for some reason without touching any obstacle. There are levels that might look extremely easy but will quickly turn out to be the opposite.

Special abilities

There are 4 special abilities – freezing Arthur in mid-air, speeding up his movement, turning him tiny, and transforming him into a spikey-boy which allows him to ram through obstacles. These abilities are introduced gradually and the game ensures that you master each one before it demands you to use them together. Arthur’s 75-level journey, which in my opinion is a bit too short, took me around an hour to beat in a few short sessions. The music is a highlight as it’s very soothing and will help in calming you down through some rage-inducing levels.

Is it for you?

Kulumno is a fun way to kill time during commute or if you just like puzzlers that require fine motor skills. The fact that you respawn on the same level immediately after you fail is fantastic because like in real life, you WILL fail a lot. Also, I really respect the devs for not taking the ad-route because this game would be downright unplayable if you had to go through a 10-second ad after losing each time. 

Arthur’s adventure into the void, I mean “Kolumno” is going to cost you $1.99 on all platforms or a whole lot more if you end up smashing your device after getting stuck on a level. 

P.s. After each level you can hear an adult man’s annoying voice saying – great, okie dokie, yay, and other words that might drive you insane.

Thanks to devilishgames for providing the review code! 
In case you got emotionally attached to Arthur, visit the Nintendo eShop here to purchase the game.