Thanks to Sometimes You for the review code

Title: Gravifire
System: Switch (eShop)
Price: $4.99
Release Date: 03/03/2021

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Story

In this block pushing puzzler, you take control of a green flame who’s abducted by aliens and must conduct experiments in a suit! That’s as much plot as you’re gonna get, and it’s portrayed in a cute little intro comic.

Presentation

Gravifire has pretty cute pixel art, decent animation, forgettable music… Not much else to say, it looks fine and plays smoothly enough but there really isn’t much in terms of a UI or anything, just level after level in a level select and colorful levels.

Gameplay

Gravifire is a Sokoban-like game. I’ve reviewed many, many of them before, and this one still follows the same basic goal: push blocks into holes to clear the stages. Each sokoban game I play tries a new mechanic, whether it’s co-op, ledges to fall off of, or some weird gimmick, and that’s what Gravifire throws up as well.

In Gravifire, the gimmick here comes from the four-sided gravity walls that surround each stage, and impact gravity according to which direction is picked. So if you turn gravity to the right, then all the boxes will fly rightward, and will be affected by that gravity. However, being in your fancy suit, you are not affected by gravity, meaning you can still move around to position the boxes are you need to.

This seems insignificant, but it adds up to some fun solutions really quickly, since you can use yourself to stop a box in progress, and then flip gravity again to determine where it would go, adding an extra degree to block pushing! This, combined with the short length of the levels, makes the pacing absolutely perfect, and even the simple easy levels are quick and fun to solve once you figured out the solution.

Besides that, the levels of course get more and more complex as the game progresses, adding in new mechanics such as deadly laser beams, colored switches, and separate rooms where you can’t physically get to: thus, meaning you’ll have to deal with gravity alone to solve those parts of a stage.

But otherwise, this is just Sokoban… Only surprisingly fun, super addictive, and a great experience that honestly worked out super good as a relaxing game, which doesn’t usually happen for me and these kinds of games. The gravity really does add a bunch of fun twists to this game, though it’s only fifty stages long, so it’s a pretty short game you can 100% in an hour, but it’s a damn fun 100%.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Gravifire surprised me with how addictive it was. I have reviewed game after game of sokoban inspired titles, and most of them don’t really do much to engage after a couple of levels. But Gravifire’s pick up and play levels and fun gravity mechanics really grabbed me, and the solid controls led to this being a super fun romp to play through!

I’m just bummed it’s only fifty stages long, but those are some darn good stages nevertheless, and this is definitely the best sokoban like I’ve played on the Switch eShop to date, having prioritized quality over quantity.

I give Gravifire an 8 out of 10.