Divide by Sheep Review

By Marcus Jones  |  Posted: September 1, 2015

Divide by Sheep is an interesting little puzzle game centered on stylistic sheepy friends, their cute wolf predators, and lasers. Yes, lasers.

In his infinite loneliness, Death decided to flood the entire world, forcefully bringing new friends to his underworld dominion. What's left are tiny islands populated with sheep, wolves, and menacing items. By solving number based puzzles through the use of ingenuity and forward thinking, you’ll rescue the sheep and wolves by getting them to the to the safety rafts.

The puzzles themselves are built through a series of islands, as players move the sheep and wolves around to get them off the map. Each island has a specific number of squares available to land creatures onto; try to put too many onto a smaller island and the end up bouncing into the watery abyss. Sometimes though, this is a necessity, as the safety raft can only hold so many animals at a time. Bouncing the animals between the islands brings some other challenges as well - lasers, islands that bounce them apart, and even TNT-based islands. Oh, and the wolves. Wolves eat sheep, remember? That's right, while you're trying to save your wooly friends, the furry ones will be trying to chow down on them. Don't worry though, you still have control over where they go as well.

The lasers are perhaps the most intriguing puzzle element. They chop sheep in half, giving players a handful of bloody half carcasses. Moving these around the map leave bloody trails behind, but once they reach the safety raft, they're stapled back together to form a Frankenstein's Monster-esque creature. I'm not sure at that point we're saving much, but it's still entertaining to witness.

There are multiple worlds, each with their own unique map designs and puzzle elements. In total, there are 120 puzzles to maneuver through. Each one has three individual challenges for saving the creatures. Reaching them grants bronze, silver, and gold stars in succession and these are necessary to unlock the next world and to progress further into the game. Between levels, fun cutscenes play out to show what Death is up to or what the next level may bring. Since there aren’t really any words in the game, paying attention to the storyboards is key to understanding the next set of mechanics to expect.

Simply Put

Divide by Sheep is a small, but excellent little puzzle title. The game doesn't necessarily provide much in terms of story exposition (I had to go back to the original PR email to understand what was happening), but everything else is a solid experience. Expect some good puzzle challenges as well, especially in later worlds.