Many mobile games live up to the bad reputation and prejudice lots of people have. They are noisy, colorful and obnoxious – not the people, the games. Not so Linelight, a simple gem with elegant gameplay.

Personally, I do have a soft spot for puzzle games and probably would consider Tetris still the best video game of all times. Certainly a candidate for a lonely island. I don’t like clutter, bells, and whistles. Simplicity is king.

Reduced to the max: Linelight focusses on the core mechanics.

Linelight starts out as a pulsing speck of light that can be guided by your finger on the touchscreen. The line branches out and evolves into something similar to an electronic schematic. Sure enough, there are switches, bridges, and other stuff to be taken into account. And of course there are hostile, red specks of light, that will kill yours instantly. But the beauty of it is, that they can be instrumentalized or rather need to be set up, to trigger switches and traps.

This chill-out puzzler by My Dog Zorro does not focus on stress but rather pushes joyful play and lets you forget time. It is perfect on the road. The choice of music adds to the soothing effect, but sometimes the piano themes are bordering kitsch. But rather this than the usual obnoxious soundtracks that accompany i.e. most Nintendo games.

At a price of approx. 2$ Linelight is a no-brainer and now available for mobile platforms. It should be standard on every iOS or Android device.