Syncline

Syncline is a puzzle game where you move a line of cubes across a board, tipping it end over end one move at a time. Your goal is to touch every goal with a cube. The line rolls along the ground when it lies flat and can climb when stood on end; unlike similar rolling puzzles, it can also split apart and come back together.

Move and regroup

Stand the line on end beside a ledge and roll to tip it onto higher ground. Cubes that do not make it up remain below, where you can reconnect them by lining one up with the end of your line. A loose cube on lower ground can also help you get back down.

Rolling into a wall splits the line: movable cubes go with you, while the others stay where they stopped, shown in a duller blue until collected. Shorter lines can pass through spaces that longer ones cannot, while some goals require every cube. Your line cannot roll off into empty space, so a cube cannot be lost that way.

Blocks and terrain

Some blocks and surfaces change how you plan a route:

• Destructor: destroys any cube that touches it, from any side, splitting the line at that point. It does not wear out.
• Duplicator: turns a cube that touches it into another Duplicator. Each touch leaves one more Duplicator on the board, and it does not wear out.
• Fragile ground: carries you once, then breaks as soon as you roll off it.
• Trigger: activates when every cell on it is covered, making blocks elsewhere on the board appear or disappear.
• Subgoals: some levels keep the goal locked until you have touched every Subgoal.

Camera and undo

The camera turns in quarter steps, and your controls turn with it. Your viewing angle can affect which cubes stay with you when the line splits. You can also pan and zoom to inspect the level before making a move.

Every move can be undone. Hold Undo to rewind one move at a time; restarting is instant and can also be undone. Achievements track harder levels solved without using undo.

Levels and creation

The game has over 90 handmade levels, arranged in packs built around their own mechanics. The sequence ranges from a tutorial that teaches one thing at a time to packs that combine all the mechanics. Every level is checked by the game's solver, which confirms it is solvable and calculates its fewest-move solution, or par.

You can build levels in the same editor used to make the game's levels. Its solver checks whether a level can be beaten and how many moves it takes before you share it. Community packs can be published, browsed, rated and played through mod.io without leaving the game.

Leaderboards and options

Every level outside the tutorial has a Steam leaderboard, ranked by fewest moves, with time as the tiebreaker. Achievements cover finishing packs, matching par and solving levels without undoing. There are no move limits or random elements, and no clock appears on screen unless you turn it on; the pause menu lists each block in the level and what it does.

The game supports controllers and rebindable controls. Options include color themes and colorblind palettes, Block Symbols, adjustable text size and the textured Storybook block style. The available languages are English and Swedish.