This colorful Tetris variant is the gaming cooldown I needed

digitaltrends.com:

Last year, I played some difficult games. RPGs like Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island put my skills to the test. While I found the Souls-inspired Black Myth: Wukong relatively easier compared to other games in its genre, some of the bosses still really gave me a hard time (looking at you, Yellow Wind Sage).

When December rolled around, I looked around for something more relaxing to play during the Steam Winter Sale. I just needed a cooldown. As I browsed the deals, I came across a new spin on the classic Tetris for just a few bucks: Tetrachroma. In this puzzler variant, it’s not just about clearing lines; colors have to match as well. The beauty of Tetrachroma is that it can be as easy or as difficult as you’d like, and it was the perfect game to wind down 2024 with.

Or so I thought. I wasn’t prepared for how challenging it would become at a high level. It’s an engrossing hidden gem that I still find myself coming back to in the calm early days of 2025.

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Flipping the table

Tetrachroma’s puzzle concept is similar to Reversi, a Japanese board game. Placing different-colored pieces adjacent to a line changes the color of the line. Not only do you have to completely fill out a line but its color also has to be entirely uniform throughout.

Speaking to Digital Trends, developer Sparsevector (who chooses to remain anonymous) says that initial inspiration for Tetrachroma came from playing Reversi in Nintendo’s Clubhouse Games series. From there, he started playing a bunch of different Tetris and Tetris-like games to understand the genre. The biggest direct influence came from Tetris: The Grand Master, a fan favorite piece of the series’ history.

“I love Tetris fan games because they