The pantheon of super‑cute, super‑tough puzzle games welcomes a new member. Woim joins recent hits like A Monster’s Expedition, A Good Snowman Is Hard to Build, and Bonfire Peaks, even though no one from Draknek was involved. It’s the creation of the one‑person studio dogspawn.net, offering a blend of extreme difficulty and the satisfying feeling of being a genius when you solve a puzzle.
Woim fuses Snake and Sokoban into a 2D block‑pushing, worm‑growing puzzler. It starts simply, tasking you with navigating earth‑walled mazes, eating apples to lengthen your worm, and reaching a switch and gate simultaneously without getting trapped. With 50 puzzles that are genuinely hard, the mechanics evolve as you progress, and the game never explains anything beyond the basics. The unlimited rewind button lets you experiment freely, whether you’re dealing with mud, eggs, or jigsaw pieces.
The rewind feature removes the frustration of dead‑end loops; you can zip back any number of moves at speed, avoiding the need to restart after an ill‑timed apple that makes you too long to escape a looping tunnel.
And then there’s the first time you get chopped in half.
© dogspawn.net
This is what makes Woim delightful: it introduces new elements organically rather than holding your hand, letting you feel like you’re experiencing the game rather than being guided through it. The presentation is cheerful and lighthearted, and the puzzles are exceptionally well constructed without any hint of smugness.
Defying gravity
I began playing Woim on an artificially high difficulty because a controller glitch made the game constantly pull me downward, as if fighting gravity in its top‑down 2D world. While unintended, this quirk sparked interesting techniques, and I’d love to see it featured in a sequel. The intended version runs smoothly, and for $10 it’s a bargain you’d be remiss to ignore.
