Deru - The Art of Cooperation
Review

Deru - The Art of Cooperation (2018) is a traversal puzzle game about the flow and interaction of colour. Its stylised design hides within its complex conundrums you must work closely together to solve. Each of the two players can only touch streams of their colour, so must carefully coordinate movement to progress.

Play involves moving your colour-coded triangle shapes through a series of colour-based puzzles. You are able to block the flow of pigment that matches your colour, but to get to the goal you need the other player to assist you by blocking their coloured pigment.

Things get more complex as you progress. You need to use other aspects of your shape to solve the puzzles, like the ability to juggle your mass to make each other huge for traversing larger streams.

It's a neat idea that is easy to understand but takes time to master. Deru cleverly develops the challenge on each level while offering aesthetics that are calming and beautiful. The result is an unusual puzzle game that requires dexterity, precision and the use of strategic planning.

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Deru - The Art of Cooperation 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 5 months ago.