Get Planting in This 'Threes'-Like Puzzle Game

Topsoil (free on both the App Store and Google Play) starts simply enough. A seed to plant, a seed to plant, a seed to plant, a trowel to harvest. A seed to plant, a seed to plant, a seed to plant, a trowel to harvest. It goes on, the soil shifting from green to blue to yellow to green again. Simple. But, as might be expected of a lean little puzzle game, the simplicity of Topsoil can unravel very quickly for all but the most deliberate gardeners.

There are three types of tile in Topsoil, and when a plant is harvested the tile beneath it changes to the next type. Planting the same kinds of crops next to each other on the same kinds of tile allows them all to be harvested at once, and cycles all the tiles below at the same time. Think of it something like rotating crops to keep the soil healthy.

The longer the run, the more diverse the seeds become, the more efficient a player needs to be with their planting to maximize the turnover of those soil tiles, or else risk their field becoming fractured—locked up with individual plants caught on little islands of color with no space left to sow the new.

It's a lot like

Threes

in that way. And like

Threes

it's also a smooth and painless transition from one run into the next. These runs are typically quick and satisfying, and helped by the fact that

Topsoil's

muted art style is an overwhelmingly pleasant thing to peer at and tap through during an idle moment. Bus stops or doctor's offices, lunch breaks or bedtimes; a seed to plant, a seed to plant, a seed to plant, a trowel to harvest.

Topsoil

makes for part of a pretty cozy routine.