SlabWell: The Quest For Kaktun’s Alpaca

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

SlabWell is a character-based Puzzle game released in 2019 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. In this game, players take the role of one of a pair of treasure hunters raiding an ancient tomb in search of treasure, trying to avoid booby traps by stepping on every tile only once.

This formula starts out simple enough, challenging players to simply move on each level’s tiles in a pattern that ensures they touch each of them without backtracking. However, soon enough they’ll be introduced to different tile types, some which need to be stepped on two or three times, some which lead to other locations, and so on, and there are other considerations, like levels where you’re followed by an aggressive masked stalker, making you rush to complete the level before they catch you. Given its extremely simple premise, Slabwell does a decent enough job keeping things varied.

I suppose my main complaint here is that the best approach to puzzles isn’t always easy to figure out ahead of time, and some players may find themselves needing to go through trial and error to complete some levels. Also, the controls are a little odd, using the analog stick to aim at the tile you want to jump to and pressing a button to confirm.

I should also talk about the presentation here. This game uses 3D visuals for its characters, tiles, and backgrounds, and it’s relatively simple and not especially interesting, and sadly the 3D here isn’t especially well-used – your character can block tiles directly behind him, and your ability to shift the camera to see what’s hiding is very minimal. These visuals are backed by pretty generic stereotypical “jungle native music”, with the characters’ voices represented by scratchy noises.

In the end, I respect that SlabWell takes a simple Puzzle game premise and finds ways to explore it that give it some depth and variety, however, this game doesn’t quite hit the compelling quality I look for in the best Puzzle games, and it’s let down by small issues with the controls and camera, as well as an underwhelming presentation. Overall, I think this still may be worth a look for Puzzle game fans, but it’s far from a truly exceptional entry in the genre.

tl;dr – SlabWell is a character-based Puzzle game where players take the role of a treasure hunter raiding a tomb for treasure, trying to step on every tile only once. The simple gameplay is given depth and variety by new mechanics added throughout the game, but SlabWell never quite becomes a truly compelling experience, and there are some issues with the controls and camera as well. Overall, this isn’t a bad Puzzle game, but it’s far from a great one.

Grade: C+

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