Let me get this out of the way up front: I am terrible at Tumbleseed. Like, are-you-an-infant? terrible. A few hours in and I've made stunningly little progress. Each screen of progression takes lives upon lives, and by this point I know this world better than I know some members of my family. Every time I play this ridiculously difficult game, I find myself floundering.
I don't normally begin a review like this, and in fact might not divulge it at all. But you need to know it, so when I go on to recommend Tumbleseed, you know that I do so with no promises. I suspect that this crafty puzzle game—available for PC, PlayStation 4, and the Nintendo Switch—is worth your time, especially if you want something you can pick up and play in short bursts when carting your Switch around. But unless I gain an unlikely amount of skill in an impossibly short span, I can't be sure. Once again, I suck at Tumbleseed.
Remember those maze puzzle toys you could find in vending machines? The clear plastic ones with little silver balls inside them, that required you to move the entire puzzle in order to move the ball and solve the maze? Tumbleseed follows the same principle. You play as an adorable seed, but you don't control the seed. Instead, you control a balance beam directly beneath the seed. Using that beam, you try to guide the seed up a mountain, avoiding bottomless pits and grubby insects and other things that make a seed's day harder.
'Tumbleseed', set apart for its ingenious blend of creativity and challenging puzzle gameplay—players who manage to stay off the pavement are in store for an exhilarating experience.
