Name: Gel: Set & Match
Item: Gel: Set & Match
Author: Retro Replay

Gel: Set & Match

Gel: Set & Match starts with a simple enough instruction—group four same-colour jelly blocks—but quickly becomes a pleasingly scrappy puzzle game about positioning, timing, and rescuing a good throw from turning into a wasted move. Picking up, pushing, and hurling blocks gives each board more life than a standard tile matcher, especially once you realise a sliding block can complete a match on its route rather than only where it lands.

The three modes give that core idea room to breathe. Puzzle mode is the strongest reason to stick around, with roughly 120 move-limited boards and bonus areas for strong stage clears; Action adds bulldozer pressure, while Battle brings competitive variations for local or online groups. Its score is earned by clever, flexible block handling and a solid spread of ways to play, even if the concept is more charming than deep.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first few boards invite you to think in the tidy language of colour matching, then Gel: Set & Match starts asking you to treat every jelly block like a loose object in a small playground. You can carry certain blocks, set them beside their neighbours, shove them around, or throw them across the board. That last option gives the game its best wrinkle: a block can make a match while it slides past a group, not merely at its final resting place. It turns a familiar four-or-more matching rule into something more spatial and playful.

What really starts to click is the short delay before matched blocks melt away. A match is not immediately dead space; for a few seconds, you can grab a qualifying block again and use it to set up another connection. That makes combo chains feel earned rather than accidental, and it rewards you for scanning beyond the first clear you see. Pushing blocks into position for multiple simultaneous matches is satisfying too, though it asks for more forethought than the cute subject matter initially suggests.

Puzzle mode is the clearest showcase for those ideas. Its pre-set boards demand clears within a move limit, so a safe match is not always the useful match. With around 120 levels, plus bonus areas opened by beating enough levels under par in a stage, there is a substantial run of compact challenges here. Frustration can set in when a board wants an efficient chain and you have spent moves simply arranging the pieces, but that pressure is also what makes a clean solution feel worthwhile.

Action mode changes the tempo effectively. You clear a route ahead of a steadily advancing bulldozer, and blocks cannot touch it. Large clears can speed the vehicle up, so success means balancing immediate safety with the risk of making the job harder faster. Battle mode offers Fever Points, Volleybomb, and Emblems for competitive sessions, while offline and online play support co-op for two and competitive games for up to four. It is a good fit when you want a puzzler that can switch from solitary score-chasing to a more chaotic group game.

Graphics

The almost top-down camera keeps the board in view and makes it easy to judge where a carried or thrown block will travel. Wobbly jelly blocks and selectable creature characters give the game a light, toy-box look, and character customization lets your chosen creature feel a little less generic between rounds.

Story

This is not a narrative puzzle adventure. The creatures and jelly blocks are a cheerful frame for the matching challenges rather than the beginning of a plot you are meant to follow.

That lack of story works in the game’s favour when you want to jump straight into a board. There is no dramatic buildup standing between you and the next move-limited puzzle, bulldozer run, or multiplayer match.

It also means the motivation comes entirely from improving your play: finding a better route through a Puzzle board, extending a chain before blocks melt, or outperforming friends in Battle. If you need characters and story stakes to carry a long game, this one will feel slight; if you mainly want clean puzzle momentum, it stays out of the way.

Overall Experience

Gel: Set & Match is a sturdier puzzle game than its soft, wobbly blocks first imply. The central act of manipulating blocks by hand gives you more agency than simply swapping tiles, and the throw-and-slide rule creates those small moments where a risky line suddenly turns into a clever clear.

Its best material is the move-limited Puzzle mode, where efficiency matters and combos can turn an ordinary solution into a strong one. Action mode is a worthwhile pressure-cooker variation, and the competitive options add a reason to bring other people in rather than treating the game as a purely solo campaign. Character cosmetics bought with stars from melted blocks are a pleasant extra incentive without distracting from the boards.

Give it a chance if you enjoy tile matching but want to physically reposition pieces instead of only exchanging their places. The controls and goals are easy to grasp, yet the stronger boards reward planning several moves ahead and taking advantage of the brief window before matches disappear. It does not reinvent puzzle games, but it has a genuinely useful twist and enough mode variety to make its 7.2 score feel fair.