• Price: $2.99 USD (currently on sale for $1.99 until November 29th; Qubic Games owner discount: “Owners of selected QubicGames titles can add Candivity and Sweet Survivors to their collection…for just $0.19 each!”
  • Outer Space & Deep Mines cosmetic unlock DLC: $1.99 each
• Developer: Crank Goblin
• Publisher: Qubic Games
• Release Date: November 8, 2024

While I don’t play “puzzle” games that much compared to JRPGs, simulation games, or visual novels, Suika Game is one of my most played games with a 100+ hour play time. That style of gameplay is oddly addictive, and the cuteness doesn’t hurt, either. Candivity looked appealing in a similar way, so I spent the $0.19 to check it out with my Qubic Games ownership discount.

While Candivity certainly shares similarities with Suika Game, I think it does enough to differentiate itself. For one thing, it’s thematically different, with sweets Sweet-ka Game? (and sweet fruits) instead of just fruits. You also have a little animal character who drops the sweets down below.

There are single and multiplayer options, and the base game offers 2 different stage types. One is the traditional stage where you shoot the sweets straight down, while the other has you shoot them into a semicircular dome from multiple angles.

Another way Candivity stands out is with the rocks that occasionally fall into the drop area; they increase the height or sides of the sweets pile, and make it more likely for you to reach a game over. This makes the game more challenging. You can break the rocks by combining multiple sweets pairs, or by using power ups.

Some power ups will explode the rocks – or launch them into the air and out of the drop area for good. Others allow you to drop a sweet through others to reach a match that’s located under a pile of sweets. You can even grab 2 power ups at a time, which will then combine into a new one.

I really like the different features they included to make the game feel more unique. I especially appreciate that it’s not an instant game over if the sweets briefly launch out of bounds before going back in. Additionally, you’re given 5 seconds to try and resolve the situation when you have sweets sticking out too much.

Your performance is scored, and you earn coins based on how well you did. You can then spend those coins on new animal avatars, outfits, and accessories. They’re all super cute, and I think they offer a decent amount of unlockables for the price (whether it’s the $0.19 ownership discount, launch price, or retail at $2.99).

They also offer some DLC, which include additional cosmetic options and seem to add one new stage type per DLC. I only spent $0.19 for the base game, so I checked out the Outer Space DLC ($1.99). It seems like it changes some animations behind the drop area, and also includes a new music track. Otherwise the stage plays similarly to the base game’s semicircle stage.

I did like the new cosmetic options in the Outer Space DLC, although I probably would have liked just a few more cosmetic options and more of a difference in the stage type. Anyways, it looks like they’ll be adding some new DLC for the holidays from what I can tell on the stage select screen.

For the $2 and change I spent, I’m pretty pleased with Candivity. It’s similar to Suika Game but still different enough to justify a purchase, in my opinion. I’d say Candivity is actually a bit more challenging. I think I’ll probably swap between the two depending on what I’m in the mood for.