Monkey King: Five Elements Survival

Monkey King: Five Elements Survival is a puzzle game rooted in the story of Journey to the West. Taishang Laojun throws the Monkey King into an alchemy furnace in the hope of killing him. You move the monkey through the furnace, where each step destroys the block he leaves behind and makes less space available.

The five elements

The puzzles use the cycle of five elements: metal counters wood, wood counters earth, earth counters water, water counters fire, and fire counters metal. Each level assigns the monkey an element. Stepping on a block that counters it ends the game, as does running out of directions to move.

When you move, all blocks try to shift in the same direction. Each can destroy at most one adjacent block in that direction if its element counters that block. You use this movement and the element relationships to navigate the shrinking board.

Game modes

The game has two modes with the same core mechanics but different goals:

• Puzzle Mode: solve pre-designed maze levels, each with one or more exits. Blocks shift and get destroyed as you move, so reaching an exit requires using their movement and the element rules.
• Survival Mode: last as long as possible on a randomly generated board as each move leaves fewer blocks available. There is no exit, and the goal is to keep the Monkey King alive for as many steps as you can.

Create puzzle mazes

A built-in level editor lets you make your own levels and share them through the Steam Workshop.