GraviFire Review | Green Fire Goes to Space

This will undoubtedly be the shortest review I have ever written, and that's simply because I don't have much to say about the game. GraviFire is an indie puzzle game from Potata Company and Sometimes You. There is a "story" about a green fire that's been abducted by aliens but it's told with the use of a comic strip shown at the literal start and end of the game. But let's be honest, for a $4.99 puzzle game, the story isn't usually what people are playing for. There are fifty total puzzles in the game with new mechanics being introduced every ten levels to change up the gameplay. Depending on how sharp you are with the puzzles themselves you can beat the game in anywhere from one hour to three hours. I myself land somewhere in between at around two hours.

Now when I say complete, I don't just mean roll credits. I mean 100% the game and get the Platinum. When I played the game, about a week before release, the trophy list was not available on the PlayStation 5 so I went in without knowing how many trophies the game had or what the requirements were. I just played through it all and the Platinum popped at the end. On the note of Trophies, they're probably why a majority of the players will pick up the game so let's touch that quickly. GraviFire has a total of 16 trophies, one that pops right at the start, ten for passing a certain level, four for solving particular levels, and of course the Platinum itself. If you're wondering what the difference between passing and solving is, GraviFire has a skip-level feature. You have five total skips per playthrough with a ten-minute timer preventing you from simply skipping through everything. That being said, I saved all mine at the end and skipped the last four levels, which meant it took me forty minutes long. Before you get up in arms about my skipping of the levels, let it be known that until level 46, I solved all the puzzles myself. Skipping a level counts as passing it but as I said earlier, four of the trophies require you to solve the level yourself. Most of the levels are passable by yourself but certain levels, like level 43, can get rather frustrating. If you get stuck and only care about Trophies, there will definitely be guides up by the time this review goes up. Though let's be honest, you probably already had one ready.

The rest of the players who pick up GraviFire are avid fans of puzzles. In that regard, GraviFire is pretty decent. It has some well-thought-out puzzles that are presented with vibrant visuals. The music is fitting but I ended up switching to my own playlist halfway through and I enjoyed the experience much more that way. The core mechanics of the game have you moving the suited-up green fire around the level while controlling the gravity of the level. The pull of gravity is shown by the flashing bars surrounding the level. From color-coordinated lasers to spiked traps, there are a few curveballs thrown towards the end of the game with the last ten levels being the most challenging. I can't speak for the last four levels but the rest are manageable and if you ever get stuck stepping away for a bit and coming back usually was enough for me to get the solution. Trial and error is a part of the gameplay and thanks to either the simplicity of the game or the power of the PlayStation 5, load times all around were zooming and there was virtually no wait between levels.

In the end, GraviFire is a simple indie puzzler that works and plays as advertised. For fans of puzzle games and avid Trophy hunters looking for a quick Platinum, this is a pretty easy purchase, but for anyone else, there simply isn't enough here to make it worth the recommendation. GraviFire is out now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. A review code for the PlayStation 5 was provided by the publisher. For more Sometimes You games, click here to read our review on Mask of Mists.