- Roia is a minimalist puzzle game that lets you guide the path of water
- Manipulate terrain to a relaxing soundtrack
- Encounter challenging obstacles that allow you to embrace the beauty and destructive power of water
- Coming to iOS and Android on July 16th
With its minimalist visuals and relaxing vibes, Roia is as much of a journey for the player as it is for the flow of water. You’ll guide its path as it trickles down from the top of a mountain to the depths of the sea, but just as in real life, it’s not all sunshine and butterflies throughout your trip. You’ll also have to contend with everything from brick walls to wayward sheep – but the beauty is in the discovery, and the ultimate satisfaction of overcoming obstacles along the way.
Going with the flow
There isn’t much in terms of gameplay here, as all you’ll really have to do is shape the landscape to make a clear path for the water to flow. While it sounds simple enough on paper, terraforming the world with a tap from your fingertips is a huge responsibility – if you simply raise and raze mountains willy-nilly, you might just find yourself leading the water off the edge of a cliff. Directing water takes planning and precision, but thankfully, you can always reset your progress if you ever get too trigger-happy with your taps.
This is where the strategic element of the game comes in. While the puzzler is meant to be a meditative quest to get from Point A to Point B, it’s what you do along the way that truly matters. Will you elevate the platform to block off the water’s path and redirect it elsewhere, or will you pause and let the water fill up a makeshift basin before breaking down your land barrier all at once to strengthen the outpour?
Beauty in destruction
If you’re wondering why you’d need such a destructive force to begin with, you should know that it’s not a smooth-sailing cruise down to the sea. You’ll have crevices, roads, dams, and walls to reckon with, and sometimes, breaking things down and causing manic mayhem is the only way to go.
This effectively showcases both the beauty and the destructive power of water – it can make a row of trees flourish (provided you lead the water towards their path), but it can also destroy brick walls and even send innocent cars hurtling off the side of the mountain to their untimely demise. All these are presented with minimalist visuals that are easy on the eyes though, so there’s plenty of humour in sending cars to their death down below.
A true force of nature
Optional objectives include fencing sheep, redirecting canoeists, making water wheels spin and more, but your main goal is to follow a bird down the mountain so you can get to the open ocean.
The thing is, water doesn’t always behave the way you want it to. It’s an unstoppable entity – an uncontrollable force of nature that might just lead to a bit of frustration here and there. It’s all part of the adventure, however, and in the end, it’ll make you appreciate what water can do in all its chaotic glory.
If that’s something you’d love to experience for yourself then be sure to give it a try when it launches on the App Store and Google Play on July 16th.
