Blek (Wii U) Second Opinion Review

A whirlwind of confusion greets the player when starting Blek, as there is almost nothing to go on. Then a line draws itself on the screen, clearly urging for it to be traced over. When this is done, the line continues, repeating itself and moving across the screen, strikes a coloured circle, and the next level is proceeded to.

Blek is played by simply drawing a line so that the repeated patterns touch all of the coloured circles without touching any of the black circles. There is no right or wrong way to solve a puzzle, and one hundred players might complete a stage in one hundred different ways. Blek shines by providing as little direction as possible and by simply teaching how to play before opening into puzzles that can be solved in an infinite number of ways.

Being unable to skip a puzzle when stuck is the biggest downfall, especially since it isn't necessarily the case that the puzzles are sequentially harder. Generally, the puzzles get more difficult as progress is made, but the nature of Blek means that a new puzzle could be solved immediately, even if the preceding puzzle required eighty tries. Being able to skip, as opposed to setting the GamePad down to try again another day, would eliminate a lot of the dread.

Though the game offers a ton of levels and a difficulty curve that increases ever so slightly, a stage builder would have also been fantastic. A way to share created stages online would have added even more icing to the cake, but Blek still provides an excellent experience, and lacking these features is not destructive.