PRiO is a challenging and addictive puzzle-platformer based around manipulating the environment around you.
You play as ball with semi-limited movement – WASD to move around, and SPACE to jump and double jump. Like all good puzzle games, things start with a simple premise. Hovering above a seemingly bottomless cavern are a series of coloured blocks that must be lit up by touching them, before making your way to the exit.
There’s a catch however, you can only touch blocks of one colour at any time, as they need to first be activated by pressing the corresponding button on your gamepad (the game is playable with mouse and keyboard, but a gamepad is highly recommended for this reason). When one set of blocks is active, the others are inactive and you’ll need quick reflexes to switch between them on the fly as you leap across lighting them up and traversing the level.
It’s a very simple concept, and one that quickly becomes addictive. Helped by the instant respawns (à la Super Meat Boy) and the just one more go gameplay they provide. The demo features just the first 10 levels of the game, but quickly begins to ramp up the difficulty as it adds random spikes and gun turrets to the mix – testing you skills, patience and dexterity to their very limits. PRiO is punishing, but in the best possible way.
UPDATE: Alpha Demo No Longer Available