Connecting with Linken, a puzzle game about connections.

With a surprisingly polished aesthetic and calming soundtrack, Level InD’s line-connecting puzzle game Linken is an interesting entry into the Android library, and adds to the ever-growing list of solid Unity-developed titles coming out of Southeast Asia.

(See: If Unity is for sale, should you be worried?)

The objective of the game is to connect a series of shapes. It starts off basic, with a single color, but quickly adds a second, followed by “connector” blocks. You must connect, or link, every shape on the stage based on the rules. Connecting lines mustn’t intersect. The first and last pieces in the connecting chain must be filled-in, with the outlined, empty pieces in the middle. Connectors must be used twice. Those are essentially the basics.

The game is pretty easy at the start, but quickly develops into an analytical affair. The few rules leave room for surprisingly robust problems, and after breezing through the first couple dozen puzzles, I eventually found myself having to put my thinking cap on if I wanted to move onto the next puzzle.

Added depth can be had as the game is counting both the moves you use and the time you spent on each puzzle, affecting your score and ranking for each. I was getting a lot of single stars, so I apparently have a lot of improving to do.

From the outset, the game is well-polished. The sound, design, and gameplay are quite tight, and create the desired surrealist puzzle vibe. That said, a few of the tutorial screens left me swiping my phone to no effect like a caveman. I was clearly not doing what the game wanted, but what it wanted wasn’t clear—at least not to me. It took a few jarring seconds before I was back to solving puzzles.

The soundtrack is pleasant, and I found myself leaving the game open several times, just to have its calming background music playing. This is of course not recommended for people trying to conserve battery.

Linken is free-to-play, supported by ads and some in-game purchases. The monetization model is generally well-executed in this game, but I will point out two things. First, I’m not a fan of games throwing landscape video ads at you when the game is played in portrait mode. The best solution is simply removing the ads via in-app purchase, but I felt this could be a bit more elegantly done. The seamlessness of the experience is hampered by having to rotate your phone.