GAMinG Jam 2021: Candela

“Candela” by Geminimax & Otávio Oliveira Biavati Pereira.

“[This] is a challenging puzzle platformer about colors and mixing them. Mix and match the blue and red flames to pass obstacles, activate platforms and protect yourself from turrets, forging the path ahead on a hopeless and desolated world.”


Admittedly, there are already some great puzzle platformers out there whose main mechanic is that you switch between (at least) two layers of the game world. If some elements are dangerous in one part, they can be potentially helpful in the other, and vica versa. “Candela” also makes use of this basic concept: Here you carry either a blue or a red torch with you and the light emitted by it has an influence on the environment.

Blue spikes that would otherwise bring you death on contact suddenly become completely harmless in the same colored flicker. The red walls that seemed so solid a moment ago become passable as if by magic as soon as a flame of the same color lights them up. But the really interesting features of the game for me occur when the two lights meet and turn a shade of purple, because in doing so, “Candela” creates and uses an in-between space that brings fascinating additional level design possibilities.

As a result, it is no longer a matter of simply reacting to what is happening in each level, but of solidly planning ahead for the next steps. So you will suddenly be thinking about where best to place the red flame so that you can move through the sea of spikes without any problems, but at the same time still have enough light shining so that you can walk through the purple wall armed with your blue flame as a companion. And if you want an added dash of action to your puzzle experience, you can look forward to color-sensitive trap blocks, lightbulb golems, and aggressive drones in the later levels. [PLAY]