Header image courtesy of Dustyroom.It's kind of like a magic trick—or being shown how a magic trick works. The mirrored panels along the floor for instance, the layering and manipulation of light and color to make something that's there look like it isn't. But then you spin the stage around, move those trick panels away, and the trick's reality holds. That something is gone, and now you're moving on to the next. That's the modest but delightful gimmick of Empty., a free puzzle game about clearing rooms.Each room is decorated in bold, bright colorblocks, generally matching some of the items contained within. The red of the ceiling may match the red of a vase, a black patch of floor may correspond to the table that vase is placed on, a strip of violet on one half of the wall and turquoise on the rest may pair up to a couple chairs. And the goal is plain enough. Rotate the room around until that object, flat and bright, blends perfectly into that spot on the ceiling, the wall, or the floor that shares its color. Succeed at that and the item vanishes, allowing you to do the same to the rest.Though it starts simple, things gets more complex the more objects are in play. After all, the more objects there are the more colors are added, and the more colors are added the more precision is required to get that perfect vanishing angle on each piece. But even though it can get a little vexing at that stage, it always looks bright, clean and sharp as hell.Unfortunately Empty's sharp style may also be its biggest shortcoming. While many levels have versatile color palettes, some are colored in such a way that they could be nearly impossible for some colorblind players to parse. That aspect is a huge shame, and it would be nice to see some filters or alternate color modes added to account for that if the game is ever expanded on.Empty is available on itch.io for Mac, Windows and Linux. You can download it for free, or pay what you want to support the developers.
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