Gravity Loop

Move with the arrow keys or A/D. Press space to invert gravity (your character now falls upward). Press space again to invert back. Reach the goal to complete each level. Some levels include collectibles for completionists; the main goal is reaching the exit alive.

Gravity Loop is the physics-puzzle platformer where you flip gravity to navigate single-screen levels. You're a small character. Press a key, gravity reverses. You fall up to the ceiling, walk on it, drop back down when you flip again. Each level is a single screen of platforms, hazards, and goal.

I went into this expecting another VVVVVV clone (the 2010 Terry Cavanagh game that popularised the gravity-flip mechanic) and it mostly is, with some thoughtful additions. The flip-rate is throttled, so you can't just toggle gravity rapidly to cheese tight gaps. There's a minimum hold-time on each gravity state, which forces you to commit to a direction before flipping again.

The 80 levels build complexity smoothly. Early ones teach you the flip. Mid-campaign introduces moving platforms that you ride between flips. Late levels have gravity-fields that lock your gravity direction within them, so you have to time your flip to happen outside the field. By level 60 the design is layering three or four mechanics simultaneously and the levels feel like proper puzzles.

If I'm picking a fight, the visual readability suffers in the late levels. Too much going on. You miss a hazard because it blends with the background. Most of these are clearable on the second attempt once you know what to look for, but the first death feels unfair more often than it should.

Four stars. Solid gravity-flip platformer in the lineage of the genre's best, with one consistent readability issue holding it back from the higher tier.