In Yellow, each level requires you to make the screen yellow. Seems simple at first, but every single level has its own logic that requires understanding before you can solve it. Every time, you need to manipulate the colour of the screen using buttons, sliders or carefully placed screen taps. The trick is that each level’s logic is completely distinctive and separate from the rest, meaning there’s no grounding you can use to back up your understanding from the previous level.
This separation between each level, with the puzzle requiring entirely different logic to solve, means that every single level is a puzzle unto itself. It isn’t necessary to play Yellow for a long stretch of time, or even to remember any of the previous mechanics. As long as you remember that you need to make the screen yellow, you’ll be able to work it out eventually.[sc name=”quote” text=”As long as you remember that you need to make the screen yellow, you’ll be able to work it out eventually.”]
The ascetic – obviously most of it is yellow, but there are other design decisions as well – is serene and calming; the music gives you a small cheer when you solve a puzzle, but for the most part it feels like being in some holy Japanese palace, solving mental problems for meditation.
The excellent quality of Yellow is its ability to present entirely new logical puzzles based on such a simple premise; that it can keep doing this for fifty levels and not invite boredom or overwhelming frustration is an accomplishment in itself. However, it also maintains a separate, fantastically positive quality; it is incredibly relaxing. It is rare to have a puzzle game that actually creates and maintains a feeling of relaxation throughout.
There can be some occasional frustrations, as will be any puzzle game, especially as you get to the higher levels as you can feel unsure what you’re supposed to. It is comforting to note however that there is always a solution, and that solution is likely just under your nose.[sc name=”quote” text=”It is comforting to note however that there is always a solution, and that solution is likely just under your nose.”]
If you become stuck, you can ask for a vague hint to help you progress. However, each hint is handed out to you piecemeal, with every single one requiring you to watch an ad. On some of the more complicated ones, you can find yourself watching three ads just to be able to chain together the vague promises of help.
However, the ingenious combination of ways to manipulate the colour of a screen more than makes up for any kind of frustration from watching ads or getting stuck on particular levels. Some levels require you to select the colour from a blinking box, then select where you want it to go; others are a process of pushing or pulling the colour from different parts of the screen and there are even some levels where you spell out words or drag shapes to solve the puzzle.
Yellow challenges your brain to think differently every single level; no two puzzles are inherently alike, so you remain constantly challenged and intrigued as to what the next level will ask you.
Alongside the great level design and the beautiful, serene ascetic, Yellow manages to be a game that keeps you guessing and looking forward to what will happen in the future.
Any puzzle game that manages to create suspense while making the screen a certain colour is something very special indeed.
