mosa lina is a platformer game where you solve randomly generated level-puzzles using fickle and oblique tools.

imagine KidPix meets Baba is You meets N+ meets nopaint.art

there are 24 tools in total, but each time you start the game, you get a smaller subset of the 24 to beat a suite of 9 randomly generated levels. each time you attempt a level, you get 3 tools from your subset to use. each time you die (or skip), you spawn in one of the remaining unsolved levels with a new set of 3 tools. when you beat the suite, you do it all again.

the chaos and impermenance of the game very naturally encourages experimentation. even if you have no idea what to do on a particular level, you have to try something to move on, even if that something is using each of your tools once and then jumping to your death. and so, in the beginning, 95% of the levels feel impossible to solve with the hand you're dealt, but over time you discover new interactions between tools and develop new intuitions about how to approach obstacles. eventually, only 90% of the levels feel impossible. i get the sense that it will never be 0% - one of the game's tooltips is hard locks are possible - but that's a good thing. it keeps the game feeling pleasantly unserious.

here's an example of me failing at a level, because one of the tools i got (delete) erased the platform i wanted to run on and i fell down the hole

here's an example of me beating a level by using the phaser tool to pass through the spikey boulders, collecting the fruit, and then hopping back to the finish portal. (i also shoot the bamboo tool because i wanted to see what it did.)

the game is light on instruction or overarching objectives. mostly it's about thinking creatively, encouraged by the reticent, wry, and whimsical tone that comes through from the developers.

and because "figuring out the game" is the game, even playing it for 20 minutes feels like i'm playing it right. it's lovely.