Glyph | Nintendo Switch Review
Updated: Nov 19, 2021
If like me you are a fan of games like Super Monkey Ball or Marble Blast Ultra or going even further back to Marble Madness, then you will thoroughly enjoy playing Glyph. Developed and published by Bolverk Games and available to buy already on the Nintendo Switch, with a Windows PC release coming on August 9th, Glyph is a great little marble physics-based game that can get just a little bit addictive if you don't watch out. For this review I played Glyph on the Nintendo Switch, with the review key kindly being supplied by Bolverk Games.
You play the game as a little mechanical scarab named Glyph, and after a short tutorial level, you are thrust into the main game and story. The end goal of the game is to restore the huge big ancient temple, and to do that you will need to make your way through various desert levels, negotiating each one in 3rd person view. And it really is a very enjoyable little game. I will be mentioning just how addictive this game is throughout my review, just so you know.
As you progress, you unlock banks of levels, each of them requiring an entry fee as such, in the form of coins, gems, or artifacts. Luckily these items can be found and collected through the other levels of the game, so you can collect and proceed as you go along. In each level, if you come into contact with the desert sand or fire, you do have to restart, but the levels are not too big, and you retain everything that you have collected prior to the death except for keys, which have to be recollected each time you restart. Levels are rated before you go in, so you know the difficulty, and you also have some timed levels as well, to add to the fun.
Your little scarab is pretty fun to control, mainly as the mechanical sphere, but you can also jump, climb, and fly. Utilising a combination of all of your new abilities can be tricky at first, but once you get the hang of what you are doing, the game is very, very addictive. You will find yourself sitting at the start of the level plotting out that course, locating the gems and the keys, and trying to keep off the sand. Glyph plays really well on the Nintendo Switch and I think it is a game you could easily spend many hours playing in one sitting, but also it can be perfect for playing in short spells, maybe on a journey or if you have some time to spare.
Glyph looks great, albeit with a lot of desert expanse in all directions, but it's the levels close to hand that you are interested in more. There are a varied amount of settings and skill levels to keep you entertained in the game, as well as that hunt for all the coins, keys, gems, and artifacts in each level. There are also cosmetic upgrades in the game if you discover them, which allow you to change Glyph's avatar or trail and they are extensive. The controls in the game are thumbsticks for movement and view, B to jump, Y to slam, ZL to fly, and X to call up your current stats on screen. The settings in the game are for audio and camera, with invert and sensitivity options, and finally you have some language settings.
Overall, I had a lot of fun with Glyph and will be returning to it a lot. For fans of games like Super Monkey Ball, Marble Blast Ultra and Marble Madness, Glyph should be an instant purchase. And if you are looking for an easy to pick up and play marble physics-based game with some platforming and puzzling involved, then Glyph certainly ticks all of those boxes. It looks, feels, and plays great on the Switch, and has a demo available on PC prior to release.
g1a5w3g1an's Rating: 4 out of 5.
For more information on Glyph please use the following links...
Bolverk Games - Developer | Publisher | Facebook | Twitter | Website
Many thanks to Bolverk Games and PressEngine for the Review Key.
Glyph | Steam Store | Nintendo eShop
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