Grindstone PS5 Review

thesixthaxis.com:

When it comes to puzzlers, simple ideas are the best. Puyo Puyo, Tetris, Puyo Puyo Tetris – the list inarguably goes on. Grindstone is one such puzzler, with a central mechanic that’s so fiendishly straightforward that you can almost curse yourself for not forming a game studio and creating it yourself… and yet, this is one of the best-looking, best-sounding, and best-playing puzzlers of the last few years. Now you can play it on PS5.

Grindstone originally launched on Apple Arcade in the distant days of 2019. It comes from Capybara Games, a team which has been carving out a vibrant niche in the indie market and whose exploits include the marvellous Critter Crunch and Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes over a decade ago. It’s little surprise to find some of the DNA of those two titles wrapped up in Grindstone, and yet, Grindstone has a dynamic and a vibe that’s all its own.

The aim of Grindstone is to collect Grindstones. Simple, right? Well, no, because the only way to collect Grindstones is to chain attacks together against the tens of thousands of evil Creeps that are getting in your way. You do this by guiding your barbarian Jorg – or, delightfully, his Mum – through the enemies in a pathway that can go in any direction, but only if the creature’s colour matches. In order to change to a different colour you have to pass over a Grindstone that you’ve previously dug up by chaining a minimum of ten attacks together.

That simple idea would probably be enough to keep you going for many hours on its own, but Capybara have thoughtfully put more obstacles in your way than an episode of Ninja Warrior. Whether it’s stone blocks, explosives, powerful enemies, or annoying bits of wood, as you progress you have to put more and more