TriO: The Great Settlement

TriO: The Great Settlement is a physics puzzle game about rescuing little round creatures called orbics — and then building the village they live in. Originally released for PC in 2010, rebuilt for Android from the original code and art.

The dark orbs have sealed the orbics inside coloured blocks and scattered them through the mines of two floating islands. You work the crane.

THE MINES
• Steer the crane, swipe to drop, and land three or more blocks of a colour together to break them open
• Every block is a real physics body — piles lean, slide and topple
• Keep the pile below the red line: let it climb and the level is lost
• 67 hand-built levels across two islands, each with its own clock

WHAT IS DOWN THERE
• Trolleys that roll in on a timer — free the orbics riding them before the cart leaves
• Dark orbs that spread to the blocks they touch and turn them
• Brick walls, rising floors, chutes and water to work around
• Armoured bosses, including a snow orb that freezes whatever it touches
• Bonuses: explosions, treasure chests, bombs, a bonus that freezes the clock, a reduction ray and the O-Ray

THE SETTLEMENT
• Spend what you earn on huts, a tavern, a market, a school, a telescope and more
• Freed orbics move in, find homes, wander the island and get on with their lives
• A day and night cycle across the whole settlement
• A trophy room that fills as the story goes on

THE STORY
• Redrice, Ello and Orbus the Grey against the dark orbs and their leader
• Two islands, thirty-five stages and a hundred conversations
• Snowball, the ancient snow orb, if you get him out of his cage

HOW IT PLAYS ON A PHONE
• Touch controls built for the game: drag to steer, swipe to drop, tap to swap
• Normal or Relaxed — Relaxed takes the clock away
• Pick any level you have reached and replay it
• Your progress saves itself

Sixteen years after its first release, the orbics are still down there.