Ittle Dew (PC)

Block-pushing puzzles are an incredibly common yet usually rather boring inclusion in video games. Existing as a token “mental challenge”, most of them boil down to pushing a box or other object onto a switch or moving them out of your way to continue. At most, you usually will just need a second to figure out how to move the blocks to move forward, and very few games ever try to push it beyond being a simple obstruction. When I saw that Ittle Dew would be a game almost entirely devoted to block-pushing puzzles it was certainly a cause for alarm, but in practice, Ittle Dew doesn’t merely include them like so many other games. Ittle Dew fully embraces the concept of block-pushing puzzles and develops some legitimately mind-bending takes on this once simple formula.

 

Ittle Dew, despite appearances, should be considered a puzzle game plain and simple. The top-down perspective and area arrangements are quick to bring to mind games like the original Legend of Zelda or A Link to the Past, but these comparisons do Ittle Dew a disservice as it does not really try to emulate those titles with its gameplay. Zelda mixes action, adventure, and puzzles together, but Ittle Dew’s action elements aren’t really fleshed out and probably are the big thing holding the game back. Most enemies in the game that don’t exist as a piece of a puzzle are mere nuisances, your ability to deal with them only really challenging because your weapon has bad range. It slashes out immediately in front of you, so unless the foe is positioned perfectly you can’t always guarantee your strike will hit. This could have been negligible and for the most part it still is since death only resets the current room you’re in, but the game puts in a few moments that ask you to more actively participate in combat. Some doors only open once you’ve cleared all enemies, and if the cactus enemy is present in the room you can expect to have a bad time as its erratic movement and aggressive behavior do not match the capabilities of your weapons. The bosses tend towards the action side of things as well, and while most of them have some sort of puzzle element involved in defeating them, they still are about performing actions at the proper time, avoiding damage, and landing hits when you can. If there was any obvious area for Ittle Dew to improve, it would be either to meld its bosses closer into the puzzle side of the game or hone the lacking combat mechanics so you won’t get flustered by your character’s poor range.

Thankfully, most of Ittle Dew is about that core focus of incredibly well done block pushing puzzles. Many expected elements are present like switches, gates, and blocks, but Ittle Dew gradually adds new mechanics as the game progresses, the puzzles very quickly moving away from the style that you can solve with a glance and shifting into rooms where you can be looking at it for half an hour to try and figure out just how you’re going to get things where they need to be. While the most interesting and complex puzzles are sadly saved for the optional dungeons, Ittle Dew does scatter areas around the world map where you can solve one puzzle for an instant treasure and its main story line will not just be throwing softballs at you. Ittle Dew’s ability kit remains small and concise, your character gradually getting a fire sword, freeze rod, and a portal wand that creates blocks and can teleport things to them. Mixed with the introduction of bombs, ice blocks, mirrors, and specialized enemies, Ittle Dew has enough parts to make complex puzzle arrangements without pushing things outside of the realm of what can be easily remembered. The game usually eases you into its new elements, even giving you a hint option to call on to either know if you have the tools to solve the puzzle or to get a small clue about how objects function, but I don’t think it ever taught me the skill about hitting a freeze rod blast with a portal wand blast that held up optional dungeon progress longer than necessary.

 

Ittle Dew’s puzzles can become surprisingly complex even with their basic elements, and the thrilling payoff of finally figuring them out is hard to overstate. The treasures you get are mostly health upgrades or trading cards for the game’s collectible side of things, but coming out the other side of a difficult mental test feels like its own reward, and Ittle Dew makes sure to set some aside for you no matter where you are in the game. The block-pushing puzzles are so tightly designed that very quickly you’ll realize it’s nothing like the usual ones you face in more action-oriented games. The block-pushing is just an aspect of the greater challenge of arranging a room’s elements to open the way onward, and very few puzzles are the kind where you can just rush in and stumble upon the solution without first considering the layout of the room and a plan of action. There is an easy to access option to reset rooms if you messed up and death just performs the same thing, and most time sensitive actions are either tied to simpler puzzles or ones where failing to act in time just means trying the same action again. Most challenges also just involve working towards a single goal rather than having to clear multiple puzzles chained together (save the fare in some parts of the optional dungeons) so you won’t have to fear having drawn out rooms that are a chore to retry.

Ittle Dew’s puzzle focus is a mentally engaging experience, but the developers didn’t skimp on making a bright, colorful, and charming world to house it.  Ittle and her winged fox pal Tippsie are off on the search for adventure and loot and crash their raft into an island chock full of both. As you solve puzzles, get items, and work your way through the central castle dungeon, Ittle Dew and the characters she comes across will have little dialogues that are short but rather silly. The game is a bit juvenile with its humor, but it mostly comes across in a charming child-like way rather than an inappropriate immature way. Weird and kooky enemies have varying styles but a general cohesion towards that offbeat adventure style the game is going for, and while the tone doesn’t completely fit with the level of mental acuity expected from its puzzles, it does make for a fine and simple break from your mind being pushed so hard.

 

A rather interesting touch to Ittle Dew is an entirely different way of playing it that is actively encouraged by the level design and achievements. While going through the game the first time as expected is the best first experience by far, there are shortcuts in almost every area that can be accessed by players who master the game’s systems. Figuring out these puzzles, how to get items ahead of time or skip them entirely, and generally memorizing the solutions for optimal speed gives the game a speedrunning side for players who wish to challenge themselves in a very different way. It is an unusual but appreciated approach to adding longevity to the game for players with such inclinations. Ittle Dew really shows a commitment to providing extra content with optional dungeons for slow-going puzzle-solvers and a secondary route for speedy players.

THE VERDICT: Block-pushing may be a means to an end in most games, but in Ittle Dew, it is the core of the experience and one that finally begins to uncover the untapped potential of the idea. Every small element added to the process is explored deeply and puzzle layouts will push the player to engage in some intense logical thinking, all while the game itself is irreverent and silly so you don’t get overly fatigued from the process. If it had fully maintained that focus instead of sometimes expecting its weak combat and subpar bosses to carry a few moments, Ittle Dew would have been just as concisely designed as its block puzzles.

 

And so, I give Ittle Dew for PC…

A GREAT rating. Looking beyond the somewhat deceptive Zelda elements, Ittle Dew provides a puzzler that dispels the idea that block-pushing puzzles must be busy work. Well thought out design elements and simple mechanics expressed in complex arrangements combine into puzzles where you’re always equipped for the task but need to work out the logic to ensure everything goes off properly.  It is a shame the best puzzles are cordoned off in optional areas, but it does allow players to complete the main game if they don’t want to spend time wracking their brains for a trading card with some silly jokes on it. Even then though, it adds more content for the player who is interested in the mechanics to get the most out of their time with the game. The most obvious way to improve the game would be to reduce the moments the unpolished combat comes into play, either by making enemies that need to be wiped out tied to puzzles or just making it easier to clean up the opposition with a more responsive attack. Bosses certainly felt lacking in how they tied into the puzzle mechanics and could have better embraced it as well, but the stationary puzzles found throughout the dungeons are masterfully designed and ensure this game is no less than Great.

 

With a charming cartoon world and intelligent puzzle design, Ittle Dew finally gives the unassuming block-pushing puzzle a stage where it can drive the gameplay rather than hinder it. It’s not the first of its kind, games like Adventures of Lolo come to mind, but Ittle Dew certainly is one the best in that tiny field and the one that truly shows the potential inherent in the design if it is given the room needed to grow.