Puzzle-Platforming has taken on many different forms over the years. Games like Braid, The Oddworld series, and even Portal have attempted to expand our minds and change the way we play. Four Sided Fantasy is a game created by LudoLand and published by Serenity Forge with that same goal in mind. In Four Sided Fantasy, screen wrapping is taken to another level, testing the limits of your adaptability to new rules and boundaries of play.
In Four Sided Fantasy, you discover a man and a woman trying to reach one another throughout the ever-changing seasons. The only issue with this is that the boundaries of your computer screen are in their way. It is up to you to help them unite and find one another while you explore each challenging level. The controls are simple; you move with gamepad or keyboard, jump, and can engage the screen wrapping at any point with the click of a button. Using the screen wrapping effectively largely depends on where your character is in relation to where you are trying to reach. This adds a layer of puzzle solving to figure out just how you need to set up the screen wrapping to get it to work correctly.
Four Sided Fantasy is very minimalistic, with no dialogue, and just gameplay and soft, peaceful music playing throughout the levels. There is no real narrative, no explanation of why your characters are there, and yet Four Sided Fantasy is surprisingly addictive. The game changes and evolves as you play, adding things such as barriers that prevent you from utilizing screen wrapping until you find a battery key. The environments also evolve and change and, despite the minimalistic design, are very pleasing to the eye.
Four Sided Fantasy showcases the changing of the seasons by mixing up different Puzzle-Platforming elements in each chapter. Winter, for example, showcases background and foreground manipulation, while fall showcases gravity manipulation for puzzle solving. This gives the game a refreshing, interesting sort of progression that doesn’t get stale or annoying as you progress.
Four Sided Fantasy is relatively short if you know what you are doing. I completed the review copy provided in about two hours. With that in mind, I would say that depending on if you take your time, or play in multiple sittings, you could probably finish it in 2-3 hours. The short length of Four Sided Fantasy actually works in its favor, as it does exactly what it set out to do. There are no boring stretches, or annoying segments to grind through.
There are only two problems with Four Sided Fantasy. The first is that the rules of the game change without warning, leaving you to figure out what is going on with very little guidance. The other is that despite being mostly polished, there are a few bugs that can disrupt gameplay. From moving in ways you shouldn’t be able to, to going outside of the game’s boundary and ending up having to restart the current puzzle, there are a few bugs that are unique to say the least.
Aside from this, Four Sided Fantasy is an incredibly fun Puzzle-Platformer that showcases beautiful music, enchanting yet minimalistic visuals, and evolving gameplay. If you like games like Braid or Portal then Four Sided Fantasy is perfect for you.