4/5 ★ – benhmedia's review of Ecli.

One of the freshest and most inspired modern-day games for a retro console (homebrew) that I’ve played, Ecli is an environmental puzzle-platformer with a strong emphasis on the puzzles. This is one of the coolest games to ever grace the GameBoy Color. You play as a little blue ball with a propeller cap, Ecli, who lives in a scholarly community led by an elder, the Rex. The current Rex is ready to step down and pass their position onto another, so Ecli sets out into the four biomes to solve their many puzzles. Some puzzle games get too repetitive as they go on, as they’re based around one type of puzzle and don’t add enough new elements to keep things interesting. This is never an issue with Ecli, as nearly every single puzzle is very different from the last. Some of them, especially in the second half of the game, really blew me away with how clever they could be. This is the kind of game that demands using a pen and paper - and possibly even scissors for one of them! Each puzzle has a hint that you can access after a couple minutes of being stuck, and I would highly recommend it. Some of these puzzles are confusing enough where the hints almost feel like a necessity. Thankfully, the hints are written in verse like a troll on a bridge giving you a vague riddle, so it rarely feels like the hint is straight-up telling you the solution. That brings me to my biggest criticism of the game: some of these puzzles are TOO obtuse. The downside to nearly every puzzle being vastly different from the next is that not all of them are made equal. To the game’s credit, I did manage to reach the ending without resorting to external help. That cannot be said for every puzzle game I’ve played. However, I imagine many gamers out there will not be as patient as I was. In fact, I would say this game has the unique issue where many of the early-game puzzles are more frustrating than what comes later. I was having a mildly enjoyable time with the game at first, but it didn’t *really* click with me until I got to the beach/coral reef biome. That’s where the game really hits you with some of its most brilliant puzzles. My only other gripe is more of a personal issue, but I think the platforming feels a little tedious at times. There’s no death, which is nice, but running into certain creatures will cause you to lose control of Ecli for two seconds. And because the player sprite is so large, this will happen many a’time. And it often results with you falling into a portal that sends you way back in the biome. There were times where I just wanted to find the next puzzle, but the platforming felt like a cumbersome obstacle in doing so. I was teetering between giving this game a 7 or an 8. But I went with the latter because of one important final factor: the vibes. This game has such a peaceful atmosphere to it, largely in thanks to the beautiful biomes and inspiring musical arrangements. In fact, they’re all arrangements of songs by a favorite folk rock band (Ryanhood) of the developer, which is honestly so endearing. I can’t think of any other game that’s done this kind of thing with their soundtrack. Combine that with the lush pixel backgrounds of various natural environments and you have a game that, while sometimes a little too frustrating, encourages you to be patient and continue to pursue the answers that you’re looking for.