Puzzle games are a tricky business, especially when it comes to standing out from the plethora of titles out there. It’s pretty safe to say that no one will be able to top the arguably perfect concept that is Tetris. OK, so Tetris Effect did a pretty bang up job. But even that masterpiece didn’t change a great deal to the original formula. Treasure Stack from PIXELAKES attempted to flip the script by combining a falling block puzzler with a platformer. While the concept isn’t a brand new one, it succeeds in offering a new challenge for masters of the genre. It’s definitely designed for a subset of players with “that” kind of brainpower, however, and isn’t nearly as accessible as most games of its kind.

This Reminds Me of Something…

The gameplay here is deceptively simple. Three different types of multicolored objects fall from the top of the screen two at a time. Your goal is to combine like-colored chests with similarly shaded keys. Naturally, the more chests you stack together before “unlocking” them yields higher scores. You’ll also come across special items that clear rows, columns, or large areas on the screen. The strategies become apparent early on, but take a good amount of practice to master.

And here’s why: you have no direct control over the falling objects. Instead, you maneuver a character at the bottom of the screen who more or less organizes the items once they drop. If this sounds familiar, you’ve probably played Wario’s Woods back in the day. Treasure Stack still provides a unique enough experience to stand on its own, however.

Your character can’t jump very high at all. Instead of relying on platforming, the majority of your organization comes from picking up stacks (or partial stacks) of items and moving them to a more desirable location. You can even scoot to the top of a stack to get to those hard to reach places. It’s incredibly frenetic almost immediately and never lets up even a little bit.

Make Some Fast Enemies

Most puzzle games are predicated on their endless mode. That’s still present here, but instead of reaching higher levels, you’ll merely try to outlast your last best time (which isn’t easy to find, by the way). The real meat and potatoes of Treasure Stack comes in its multiplayer component. You can play against up to three other players (only two online) to see who can last the longest. As expected, successful combos will spell trouble for your opponents who will have more of a mess to clean up.

The game offers a 30-day season mode where you can rank up your character and earn character skins and new grappling hooks (an item used to pull down items faster). This isn’t nearly as fun as playing on the couch with other people, however. I would definitely classify this one as a “friendship ender”, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Teach Me To Master

Where Treasure Stack failed me is in its lack of an engaging single-player option. The above-mentioned time trial is present, but isn’t the most exciting way to play. I found myself yearning for a campaign mode that paired me against enemy AI to ramp up the difficulty level by level (think Tetris Attack). This game is far from easy, and I would have appreciated to learn it at my own pace instead of being thrown to the madness that is online matchmaking. Then again, maybe I’m not as good at the genre as I thought. I did win my first match online, though, so cut me some slack.

Treasure Stack Final Verdict

I love the idea behind Treasure Stack more than its execution. I just found its core gameplay to be far from easily accessible. Where most puzzle games start out quite simple, this one drops you in and treats you like a seasoned player. That’s a recipe for disaster if you’re trying to recruit three others to play against you.

On the bright side, the game controls perfectly and has a delightful pixel art style that is very pleasing to the eye. Hardcore fans of the genre will appreciate the challenge and the rewards that come with it. With some additional fleshed out single-player content, this could be an easy recommend. Until that happens, I would tread cautiously.

This review is based on an Xbox One copy provided by Evolve PR for coverage purposes and is also available on Nintendo Switch and Steam.