Normally, I like to start off a review, or Demo Dive with some kind of anecdote to ease the reader into the article. Unfortunately, I don’t have one of those for Slip ‘n Slime. It’s just one of several games that I covered during the June Next Fest, and I recently got around to playing the full release. As it would turn out, it was fun, and I’m of the mind that more people ought to hear about it.

Developer(s): Wild Magic Studio
Publisher(s): Wild Magic Studio, SpaceJazz
Release Date: Aug 28th, 2025
Released on: Windows, Linux, macOS
Reviewed on: PC (Win)
Copy Purchased

On that basis, what is Slip ‘n Slime?

For lack of a better descriptor, Slip ‘n Slime is a Puzzle game about solving ice puzzles. I’ve also heard this sort of thing referred to as a sliding block puzzle, but that puts me in the mind of Sokoban, Baba is You, or Isles of Sea and Sky, which this is not.

Instead, Slip ‘n Slime is a game where your character moves until they collide with an obstacle. As such, the game’s puzzles are born out of trying to reach the level’s goal while accounting for your character’s awkward movement. You can’t simply walk through the goal posts – you need to find a path of objects that you can collide with so that you’re able to slide through the goal unimpeded.

It might sound like a tenuous foundation to build an entire game upon, but there’s a certain novelty born from solving puzzles built around quirky movement. The problem is always clear as day: how do I get where I want to go? But the process of actually figuring out the solution got all my gears turning in exactly the same way as my favourite Puzzlers.

There’s also a bevy of different secondary mechanics that start getting layered into the mix as early as the 5th level. Some of these include braking tiles, grates that cause you to shrink, and 1-way ledges, which all do a great job of providing additional wrinkles for players to work through. That’s even more true once levels start to feature several of these ideas mixed together for added complexity.

Don’t get it twisted though: Slip ‘n Slime isn’t meant to be punitive. From the onset, you’ll have an undo button, as well as the ability to reset from the previous checkpoint. This means that experimentation is encouraged, and you’re never really penalized for making mistakes. As such, the focus of Slip ‘n Slime remains squarely on actually solving the puzzles, instead of your ability to perfectly execute said solution.

The game also allows players to bypass its more challenging levels, with the final 2 levels of most areas being optional. That’s nice as these puzzles are often quite a bit harder to solve when compared against the other puzzles from their constituency.

Though, I wish Slip ‘n Slime was a little more generous with which puzzles could be skipped over – even if it’s just temporarily. I’ve grown accustomed to less linear Puzzle games where I can bounce around when I get stuck on a particular puzzle. That same luxury isn’t provided in Slip ‘n Slime with many levels requiring players to complete all of their predecessors before they can be accessed. That’s all a long way of saying I got stuck a few times, and would have appreciated being able to switch gears without needing to put the game down.

I understand why this was done for puzzles that directly build upon knowledge (and mechanics) that were introduced or taught in previous levels, but that’s not always the case. Especially for the first 50-70 levels of the game’s total 111, there are some times where it might have made some sense to give players a little more freedom for completing other puzzles when they got stuck.

Regardless, that’s a relatively small nitpick of an otherwise well crafted Puzzle game. Slip ‘n Slime is a unique, and polished experience that really got my gears turning. For my money, that’s all you need to make a great Puzzler, so I’m happily recommending it.

Also, just look at this goober. How’re you going to say no to that face?

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