Daily Flash: Gap Monsters

A puzzle game should tug at your mind, make you think in new, imaginative ways, and it should feel good when you figure out the solution to a problem. Gap Monsters is one heck of an amazing game, using negative space as a simple, but incredibly deep mechanic in the same way Portal did with teleportation.

Presentation:
Music that fits the gameplay, a most elegant navigation and level design. The levels are a bland black and white with shades of grey, with all the important things in bright red, but what more could you want? The notes on the right side hide a huge variety of humor, and the sound effects when you slide one of the monsters into a gap are priceless. This is a game with personality, and it's always an enjoyable experience.
5/5

Gameplay:
A puzzle makes you think. A good puzzle gives you a sense of accomplishment just by solving it. The entire gameplay revolves around clever use of negative space, where separating a space suddenly makes a brand new object you can manipulate. While there were plenty of levels that were straight forward and just fun to complete, a hefty section of the puzzles forced you to put on your thinking cap and really study the map. I haven't felt so genuinely clever about solutions in a long time. I can tell you, there were plenty of times when I smiled and thought to myself, 'oh, now that was clever.'
4.9/5

Overall:
Everything today has achievements that say, 'good job, here's a shiny sticker for your wall' and there's a loss of playing games just to have fun. I don't like giving away perfect scores, because I feel like somewhere you can make a better game, but this comes as close to perfection as I've seen in a long time. If you have ever enjoyed a puzzle game, this is one that you'll love and be comparing games to for a long time.
4.9/5(but pretty darned close)

Play Gap Monsters Here!