A couple of weeks ago we shared the trailer for an upcoming light-reflection puzzler from developer Emoak called Lyxo, and today the game has officially launched on both iOS and Android. Light-reflection puzzlers are a fairly common genre on mobile and have been for many years now, so you might be wondering what the heck makes Lyxo stand out from the pack. Well, this is coming from Emoak who spent multiple years really learning the ins and outs of real life aerodynamics in order to have the most realistic physics engine possible in his 2017 release Machinaero.

Well, it’s that same deep attention to detail that makes Lyxo unlike your average light-reflection puzzle game. Every light source in Lyxo emits thousands and thousands of light rays, and all of them are refracted and reflected in a physically accurate manner. This isn’t just placing mirrors and bouncing a virtual laser beam around the screen, as the accuracy of the light beams in Lyxo is readily apparent right from the game’s gorgeous title screen as a light source pans behind the cutout letters of the game’s name. It’s really quite stunning.

Of course this really hits home when you dive into the game itself and are actually able to manipulate these light sources and see for yourself just how complex they really are. You simply use your fingertip to create angles that will reflect the light beam, and unlike in many of these games you can actually draw your reflection surfaces totally freeform. It’s by creating curved surfaces that you can fully see just how realistically the light beams react in Lyxo, and it’s surprisingly impressive.

Each level in Lyxo is pitch black save for the beam of light, and your goal is to direct that beam onto a sphere located in the level in order to move on to the next. As you progress things get more and more complicated as you discover increasingly complex hidden surfaces in the darkness that will block your light beams and must be worked around. This leads into even more new game mechanics, like multiple spheres that need to be lit up or splitting the white light beam into colors that need to be directed to their own specific spheres, and Lyxo isn’t shy about offering a challenge over the course of its 87 handcrafted levels.

With its minimalistic style, you wouldn’t think of a game like Lyxo as being taxing on your hardware, but in fact all of the precise calculations that go into the thousands of beams of light in each level require enormous processing power as well as a custom raytracing technology. It’s only due to the advancements in mobile hardware that nowadays are essentially little pocketable super computers that allow a light simulation like the one in Lyxo to be possible.

Lyxo is both a totally relaxing game as you casually manipulate the light beams and rotate your reflective surfaces to expose the different areas of each level, but also a totally exciting game as you see the light reflect and refract in totally natural and realistic fashion. It’s an easy recommendation for anybody who enjoys light-reflection puzzlers or just puzzle games in general, and those who can appreciate a very neat use of technology. Lyxo is available now on the iOS App Store or on the Google Play Store for Android at a price of $3.99.