GluMe is a new turn-based puzzle title from developer Solluco and retro publisher EastAsiaSoft. It’s out today on Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch, reviewed here, priced at $4.99, and was released for Steam back in November 2025. GluMe is a classic puzzler that will test your lateral thinking to the limit. Each of the 80 levels is completed by collecting the gems on the screen, and you get a perfect score by completing it in the least number of moves.
It all sounds so simple, and for the most part, it is, except that to collect the gems sometimes requires some help from your slime buddies, who have fallen asleep. To wake them up, you simply slide your little blob into them, and they will connect to you and move along with you from then on. The twist is that once glued to you, your overall shape changes, and you become a bigger blob. This is the real hook in GluMe: to complete the levels, you’ll need to work out exactly which angle to attach the other blobs, or you get stuck.
As you would expect, each puzzle becomes progressively harder, and we did start to get stuck around level ten. This isn’t a bad thing; in fact, it is commendable just how tricky it gets. For this review, we played the first 20 levels, and some took us a long time to solve, needing experimentation and some out-of-the-box thinking. Most of the levels are set up in quite a standard way, with simple block pushes and working out how to traverse pits. But some of the levels include Bomberman-style explosions and enemies that move one square in time with your own movements.
Unlike many of these types of games, GluMe has a large variety of obstacles, enemies, and block types that keep the puzzles varied. This is true of the level presentation as well; different colour schemes and background objects appear from time to time, and this really helped to stop it from feeling the same thing over and over. The controls are equally as inviting, with a simple movement in four directions, and another button to reset the level if you make a mistake.
The graphics in GluMe are classic pixel art, and the music is mostly chiptunes that bounce along nicely. The whole feel is very retro with many of the slimes and enemies having a bit of character through facial expressions, which adds to the colorful nature of the game. There are also secrets to be found that lead to minigames, which adds lots of variety for those who want to see everything. Given how difficult some of the levels are, this feels like excellent value for money and should keep even the most hardened of puzzle veterans busy for some time.
Overall, GluMe is a delightful puzzle title that offers a lot more than its budget price tag would suggest. Coupled with a great retro aesthetic and variety in the puzzles, this is the perfect game to have a quick blast on and come back to at another time. We also felt it’s a great Switch title, given its short levels, maybe one to pick up for a journey or chilling on the sofa. We enjoyed our time with this one and recommend it to puzzle fans or those who enjoy old-school pixel block pushing.
