Taijitu review: is this perfection?

Taijitu review: is this perfection?

Every once and awhile a game comes up that is almost impossible to write about. This iOS puzzler Taijitu by Malaysia-based game developer Squrce is one of those games.

Taijitu describes itself as a puzzle game “inspired by [the] Chinese mythology [of] Yin and Yang.” I would describe it as a very pleasant acid trip. But however you want to describe it, Taijitu is a very interesting game.

A puzzler with style

Taijitu is a balance game, but instead of balancing weights, shapes or numbers, you balance colors. The game divides the screen into two sections via a white line, and requires you to rotate colored shapes or swap colored circle so that the colors are equally distributed on both sides.

Like all puzzle games, Taijitu starts off simply. I was able to solve most of the early stages without any thought, but within an hour, Taijitu demanded my full attention.

What sets Taijitu apart from other puzzle games is that there is no way to fail, and there is no scoring system. This is not a game for competitive play, this is a game that you play for the experience. At the end of every level, you are rewarded with a self-affirming “Hao!” (Mandarin Chinese for “good”) or a “prefect!” (I suspect it was supposed to be “perfect”). That’s all the reward you are going to get, but more importantly, it’s all you need.

Taijitu is just beautiful.

Taijitu is a game about experience. Yes it’s a puzzler, but it’s also so much more. It’s beautiful. The colors in this game have wonderful contrast, and yet blend together perfectly. A rotated shape looks completely different depending on the colors around it. All this takes place on a slowly moving background which shifts and pulses as you play.

So pretty.