Currently imagining a world in which all mobile games were like this - simple, elegant fun prioritizing the player’s enjoyment instead of their wallets. Games that seek to provide a new, unique experience to players on the mobile platform instead of cynically trying to deceive them with skinner box monetization tricks. Take me back to the dawn of smartphones, when touch screens were seen as a visionary input innovation brimming with countless game design possibilities and not just a place to put an ugly, unresponsive virtual gamepad to the utter displeasure of handheld gamers everywhere. Why are there so few mobile games where moving around actually feels good and has a genuine tactileness to it, rather than just being a constant annoying battle with your fat thumbs for visibility? Was gosh-darn Fruit Ninja really the apex of mobile games that actually feel good to play?

...Mobile game diatribes aside, the central idea of this mobile game, Ordia, is pretty simple - you take a ball-like character that has to be flicked around like an Angry Bird to move but put it into an upwards scaling precision platformer like Celeste. The result is a short, polished 30+ level experience that feels absolutely smooth and buttery to the touch, thanks in no small part to the LocoRoco-esque minimalist art style and similarly bouncy, responsive animations. The level design in particular feels meticulously crafted. Every tunnel, peg, and wall bounce lands your little green dude pretty much exactly where it needs to go a lot of the time, owing probably to several level iterations and playtesting to ensure a smooth and guided user experience free of any major annoyances, much like an iphone’s UX philosophy. The game mechanics themselves are introduced gradually and deliberately, and build upon each other in fun ways. I wasn’t kidding with the Celeste comparison. There are even multiple mechanics that I swear are directly lifted from the dang thing such as: collectibles that only count after you land, midair nodes that give you an extra dash (or flick, rather) and are often chained together, differently colored evil clones of the protagonist that follow your movements to add time pressure, the list goes on. And while the game can be a bit frustrating at times, especially in the bonus levels, the wonderfully soothing electronic soundtrack and ambient Pikmin-esque nature-inspired sound design keeps the head relatively cool and the overall vibes chill.

I do wish there was a bit more to it though. Precision platformers like Mario, Celeste, and Meatboy thrive due to the sheer amount of ideas the developers cram into their games. 30 or so levels is just not quite enough time to layer and develop all of its mechanics to the same extent. And while the game certainly doesn’t overstay its welcome, it also doesn’t give itself enough room to reach its full potential, in my opinion. That being said, this little game was certainly a nice surprise that wanted nothing more than to provide a fun, pleasant experience, and I honestly wish more mobile games followed this design philosophy.