Forgotten Fragments – Review

You woke up today thinking <mountain-jump-slam-torches>… something like that.

Well, that’s pretty much how every day begins in Forgotten Fragments, the new puzzle-platformer from indie studio Binary Phoenix, published by Assemble Entertainment, released on 24 September 2025 on Steam.

If you’re thinking it’s just going to be cute pixel art and straightforward puzzles, prepare to push boxes, throw luminous orbs into torches under pressure, and shout an “Oh no, I can’t believe I died again” in front of a boss that truly tests you.

A fractured world with important characters and tasks

The protagonists are Enid, Ryder, and Dayen; each has a role in the story, each has a motivation and, yes, they all end up gathering the forgotten fragments of memory, loss, and rediscovery.

The game tasks you with guiding them through a broken world, with beautiful pixelated landscapes, but also dangerous areas: 4 worlds, over 120 handcrafted levels. There are also two campaigns: one single-player and the other co-op, sharing the same thematic basis but with distinct levels.

Puzzle & platforming, not just boxes and jumps

The central mechanic involves some magical orbs, which you summon to light torches, activate mechanisms, etc. But it’s not enough to just throw them like a child who hasn’t learned to hold a balloon steady; you have to throw them precisely, know where to jump, which boxes to push, and plan your routes.

Raised boxes often reduce your jump height, some mechanics require you to use momentum, jump off a falling platform, or throw the orb before its timer expires. That timer becomes the player’s tacit enemy as the levels deepen.

There are also boss fights at the end of the world, which demand you use everything you’ve learned in puzzles and platforming: they don’t abuse your reflexes, but they challenge you to think on the fly.

Co-op vs Solo: friendship or fury?

When you play alone, you encounter challenges at every turn. Every wrong jump, every box that doesn’t stay in the right place sends you back to a checkpoint or restarts the level. Frustration quickly sets in if you take things too lightly.

The mechanics behind the title don’t leave much room for rest. Some levels seem designed to test you, and it’s normal to fail them many times until you learn the patterns.

If you have a friend, the co-op mode has its unique levels and brings a breath of fresh air: synergy, communication, typical moments where one jumps, the other launches the orb, and they synchronise, or at least both die in style.

Aesthetics, emotion & details that matter, I say

The pixel art is beautiful. The colours, light, shadows, and stylised animations create a world that looks ripped from an old storybook, but with sharp edges of danger. Inspired by The Escapists, the visuals are “faultless” in terms of retro aesthetics.

The music and soundscape contribute to the tension. The sound of the orb, the echoes with each jump, the moment the torch lights up – all these build an atmosphere that puts you on edge, but makes you love it.

Where does it stumble, where does it shine?

It feels like a carefully crafted game, but perfection is a goal not always achieved. Some levels make you repeat sequences many times, and the “aha moment” can be overshadowed by restarts that feel unfair; if you jump pixel-perfectly or miss a hidden switch, you find yourself back at the beginning of the level. Small control issues sometimes appear, but they don’t completely destroy the experience, they just add a bit of spice.

A recent patch (version 1.0.5) added a countdown in co-op mode for better partner synchronisation, a sign that the developers are listening to feedback. Other updates have corrected errors in some areas, objects that didn’t behave as expected, and animations that triggered strangely.

Verdict (yes, again)

Forgotten Fragments isn’t just another pretty pixelated puzzle-platformer. It’s one that challenges you, tests your reflexes and patience, and manages to be emotional through simplification and the secret of discovering fragments of memory, world, and story.

If you love games like Celeste or Hollow Knight for their challenge, but want something more calculated, more mathematical, this could be one of the season’s outstanding indie titles.

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