At first glance, Boxboy, the new 3DS eShop game from HAL Laboratory, is overly simple. You jump around as a little box, adorably named Qbby, solving simple puzzles by expelling similar-sized blocks from your box body. But after a dozen or so very easy stages, the true majesty of Boxboy begins to unfurl, introducing mind-bending twists in each of the various worlds that expose Boxboy to be an incredibly inventive puzzle game.

Qbby’s main ability is that he can create multiple blocks of his same square size that can be moved around and manipulated to solve puzzles and get to the end of each stage. Each stage has a limit for how many blocks can be deployed in one chain, and you’re challenged to complete each level within a set amount of total blocks. One of the early novel mechanics involves crafting upside-down-L-shaped creations that you can use to “hook” Qbby up to a higher area. Some of the late-game additions introduce whole new concepts that radically change how you have to approach each level, whether you’re dealing with conveyor belts, switches, electric blocks, or something straight out of a block-dropping puzzle game. Some of these ideas are a little hard to wrap your head around, which makes it even better that Boxboy is designed in a way that slowly doles out more complicated concepts in intuitive ways. Rarely was I ever confused about how to progress using one of the new tweaks.

I was, however, routinely stumped by some of the late-game challenges. Each level features abundant checkpoints, so experimentation is encouraged since there isn’t a penalty. It’s a joy to try to solve each puzzle, and if you’re stumped, you can spend a Play Coin to get a hint. The hint system is incredible, giving you a quick hint if you have no idea how to go on. You can also unlock in-game tips & tricks manuals as you progress, giving you a little bit more of a hands-on tutorial if needed. You can also unlock costumes for Qbby, which lets you dress up the droll cube as a rapper or a wizard complete with unique, adorable animations.

In addition to the sizable main adventure that took me around four hours, Boxboy also features a number of unlockable time attack, score attack, and bonus levels. These extra stages, which easily add another two hours or more of content, build off of the mechanics introduced in the main game and even sometimes add some new twists.

Boxboy is another 3DS eShop gem that, if we’re lucky, will be the start of a new downloadable series in the same vein as Pushmo. The only real downside to Boxboy is that there are so many ideas that I wish some of them were expanded upon more. Each new mechanic really only gets about a half-dozen levels to shine, and each one is so rich that they might even be able to support their own game. Because of that onslaught of fresh ideas, Boxboy never gets boring, which makes it a fun experience for your 3DS.