I love games like Marble Madness and Super Monkey Ball. The obstacle courses that test your balance, physics knowledge, and platforming skills are always so much fun. Glyph takes that idea and wraps it up in a classic collect-a-thon style, and it is a very calm, relaxing experience to boot.

Glyph puts you in the role of a beetle-esque ball named Glyph, who is set with the task of restoring life to his ruined world. You restore the world by going through levels, picking up coins, power gems, artifact scarabs, and keys. Keys are required to open the exit portal of each level.

Power Gems are used to unlock new sections with more levels, while Coins are used to unlock said levels. Artifacts are sometimes required to unlock levels as well. There are two types of levels, Time Trial levels, and Exploration levels. You do not have to complete every level in order to complete the game, however, you are encouraged to collect as many collectibles and complete as many levels as possible.

You can also find cosmetic skins for Glyph, as well as things that change the particle effect trail behind him. These are usually found by solving a particular puzzle of sorts in each level or completing a time trial at the fastest time.

There are all sorts of obstacles to avoid, including the sand around the various environments. Essentially, the floor is made of lava, or rather, corrupted sand. As a result, you must stay on platforms at all times. Luckily, there are a lot of mobility options at your disposal.

Glyph can jump, double jump, glide, smash against the ground to gain a little extra momentum, and more. The movement feels really good, and the difficulty of the game never really feels unfair. There is a bit of floatiness to the controls though, which can make it hard to predict where you might land.

In fact, I don’t think I have too many complaints about Glyph other than the floatiness, and even then that is a small complaint. The game plays well, the environments are simple but creative, and there aren’t any bugs or crashes to speak of. Glyph is a small, casual, relaxing game that can be as challenging or as simple as you want.

If you want to just take your time, skip some harder levels, and just play to relax, then you can. Alternately, if you want to try and collect everything and see all that Glyph has to offer, you can take on that challenge as well.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Glyph was Provided by Bolverk Games for this review.

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Glyph

$19.99 USD

9.5

Score

9.5/10

Pros

• Fun Levels
• Lots of Mobility
• Simple yet Creative Levels
• Fun Cosmetics

Cons

• Jumping Can Get a Little Floaty