Absorption for Android is an arcade-style game where you absorb little squares into your main controlled unit, which is a little spinning orb. In the game, and as demonstrated in the tutorial, you have to avoid the units but absorb them and there are units that make things more complicated. There are certain units that have to be navigated away from other units or they will blow up. Some units even come in different shapes. Regardless of all of the complications, you have a game that will test your risk-versus-reward decision making. Either you can play things extremely safe or you can be aggressive and try to absorb things very quickly.

I like Absorption, because I haven’t played many games like it before on the Play Store. Absorbing units feels like an idea created in Osmos, but in this game its more like you are docking to other units and taking their energy in some way. There are connected cords that are shown and navigating to units to absorb them, while keeping far enough away to survive is a very interesting and intense dynamic.

It also has neat musical elements to the gameplay. When you attach to other square units and start absorbing them, little musical chimes vibrate as an undertone to the main music, which feels just a little bit techno and more like arcade video game music.

Absorption has similar ideas to other score based games on the play store but it manages to never feel overly repetitive. There are different strategies you can try and things play out differently each time, which keeps things feeling fresh. For example, you can zoom straight ahead to the oncoming square units and attempt to absorb them super quickly; or you can hang back and play the waiting game, draining them slowly bit by bit. The first strategy can get frustrating, as dying in the game works like many others. You don’t have “extra” lives, and there are ads that pop up when you die.