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PUZZLE
Make New Way Review: I Bought Source Code and All I Got Was This Lousy Puzzle Game
Make New Way isn't actually a game you can play—it's a Unity project you're supposed to build yourself. I paid a dollar to do someone else's job, and I'm still annoyed about it three days later.
Paul
January 18, 2026
4.2
Overall Score
"Make New Way is perfectly competent at being something I didn't want to buy."
Wait, I Have to Build This Myself?
Let me get this straight. I paid money for Make New Way, clicked the download button with the naive expectation that I'd be playing a puzzle game, and instead got a ZIP file full of C# scripts and Unity scene files. This isn't a game—it's homework. The itch.io page does technically mention 'source code' about seventeen times, but I've been reviewing games for longer than some of you have been alive, and I expect a GAME when I click on a GAME PAGE. Apparently that makes me the idiot here. Fine. I fired up Unity 2020.3, imported the project, spent twenty minutes remembering how URP works, built it for Android, sideloaded it onto my phone, and finally—FINALLY—got to play what amounts to a mediocre mobile puzzler that would've been considered basic in 2015. The kicker? It actually works. The project compiles clean, the levels load, the rotation mechanics function exactly as advertised. I'm furious that I can't even complain about broken code.
The Actual Gameplay (Once You Suffer Through Setup)
Make New Way asks you to rotate floating islands until their paths connect and energy can flow from point A to point B. You've played this before. We've ALL played this before. Remember Pipe Dream? Remember every flash game from 2008? This is that, except with islands instead of pipes and a coat of Unity URP rendering that makes it look vaguely modern. The mechanic works fine—tap an island, it rotates 90 degrees, eventually everything clicks into place and you move to the next level. There are 24 levels total, which took me about an hour to clear while half-watching a YouTube video. The difficulty curve is flatter than my enthusiasm. Early levels are insultingly simple, late levels require maybe twelve seconds of thought, and nothing in between made me feel clever for solving it. The 'novel mechanic where completed levels evolve' mentioned in the description? I have no idea what that means. Levels don't evolve. You solve them. They're done. Maybe there's a feature I missed because I was too busy being annoyed that I had to compile this thing myself.
Visuals That Scream 'Asset Store Starter Pack'
The graphics are fine. They're 3D islands floating in a gradient void with particle effects that sparkle when you complete a connection. It looks exactly like every other Unity mobile puzzle game you've ever ignored in the Play Store. The color palette is pleasant enough—soft blues and purples that won't offend anyone or make any impression whatsoever. The UI is clean, functional, and utterly devoid of personality. I've seen this exact font choice in at least forty other indie projects. The islands themselves are simple geometric shapes with minimal texturing, which I suppose counts as 'stylized minimalism' when you're being generous and 'we didn't have time for an art pass' when you're being honest. Audio is background music that sounds like someone typed 'relaxing puzzle music' into an asset store search bar and grabbed the first result. It's inoffensive, forgettable, and loops every ninety seconds. I turned it off after level five. There are no sound effects for rotating islands, no satisfying click when connections lock into place, nothing that makes the act of solving feel rewarding. It's like playing a board game in complete silence.
Who Is This Even For?
Here's the thing: Make New Way isn't FOR players. It's for developers who want to study a working Unity puzzle game or students learning mobile game development. The itch.io page makes this clear if you bother reading, which I obviously didn't do thoroughly enough before buying. As a learning resource, it's probably worth the dollar—the code is organized, the level system is modular, and it includes localization support for English and Russian. That's genuinely useful if you're trying to figure out how to structure a puzzle game project. As an actual game? It's a tech demo pretending to have ambitions. The levels are functional examples rather than carefully crafted challenges. There's no progression system, no unlocks, no story, no reason to keep playing beyond 'well I paid for this so I might as well finish it.' Even the Android build requirements feel like they're aimed at developers: API level 34 support isn't something players care about, but it matters if you're planning to publish to Google Play. This is a product, not an experience, and I resent being treated like a QA tester instead of a customer.
The One Thing I'll Grudgingly Respect
Against all my instincts and contrary to my deeply held belief that everything should annoy me today, I have to admit the project is well-structured. The code is clean, properly commented, and uses sensible naming conventions. The level data is stored in scriptable objects, making it trivial to add new levels without touching code. The rotation system is smooth and responsive. The localization implementation is straightforward and actually works. If you're a Unity developer, especially one learning mobile game development, this is a solid reference project. You could absolutely use this as a foundation for your own puzzle game, swap out the art, add some personality, maybe include actual progression systems, and publish something decent. The fact that yuji_ap is selling this for a dollar instead of fifteen is almost generous in the world of asset store pricing. Almost. I'm still annoyed I had to compile it myself, but I respect the hustle of packaging a working game as a learning resource and being upfront about what you're actually selling.
Rating Breakdown
Quality
6
The Unity project compiles without errors and the levels actually work, which is more than I can say for half the asset flips on itch.io.
Innovation
4
Rotating islands to connect energy paths? I played this exact concept in 2007 on my Nokia, except back then it was called 'Puzzle' and came pre-installed.
Value
3
A dollar for the privilege of compiling your own game is like paying for a restaurant meal and then being handed raw ingredients.
Gameplay
5
The 24 levels are competent but forgettable—I solved them while thinking about what I'd have for dinner.
Audio/Visual
5
Generic Unity asset store vibes with music that sounds like it came from a royalty-free meditation app.
Replayability
2
Once you've compiled it, played through 24 levels in an hour, and realized there's nothing else here, you're done forever.
What Didn't Annoy Me
Clean, well-organized Unity project that actually compiles without throwing fifty errors
24 levels that function exactly as intended, which is apparently rare enough to count as a pro
Localization support shows more effort than most itch.io projects bother with
Legitimate learning resource for developers at a reasonable price
The rotation mechanic works smoothly once you finally get it running
What Made Me Sigh
Not actually a playable game unless you enjoy spending twenty minutes setting up Unity first
Gameplay is as generic as puzzle games get—I've played this concept on Nokia flip phones
Audiovisuals scream 'asset store default settings' with zero personality
24 levels disappear in an hour with no reason to ever return
Calling this a 'game' feels legally questionable when it's clearly a developer resource
Final Verdict
Make New Way is perfectly competent at being something I didn't want to buy. If you're a Unity developer looking to understand how mobile puzzle games are structured, spend the dollar—it's a clean reference project with working systems and reasonable code practices. If you're a player expecting an actual game you can, you know, PLAY without compiling source code first, keep scrolling. The puzzle mechanics are functional but forgettable, the presentation is asset-store-generic, and the whole experience feels like a tutorial project that escaped into the wild. I'm giving it a 4.2 because it technically works and delivers exactly what it promises if you read the fine print, but I'm never forgiving it for making me launch Unity on a Tuesday evening. Some of us just want to play games, not build them.
Make New Way
Tags
puzzle
source-code
unity
mobile
rotation-mechanic
developer-resource
android
asset
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