Incrementals are spawning like incrementals these days, and whilst I’ll be moving away from their coverage over time, if something unique comes along, I’ll still be interested to give it a go. Click and Stack starts out that way, looking like it was about to give a fun skill-based spin on balancing games. For a while, it absolutely does. However, it suffers the same fate as hundreds of other incrementals that wipe all the skills off the face of the Earth. It turns into a mindless clicker game.
The goal at the outset isn’t clear, but it is to raise a certain amount of money to reach a giant void of space. It’s an excuse for the balancing act to follow. Every time you click, one of several items you’ve unlocked will appear and drop down onto the 2D platform below. They’ll start to stack on top of each other, and as the objects are all different shapes and sizes, they’ll start to slide, tumble, or roll off the platform. Each round starts as 15 seconds long, and anything that falls off the sides of the platform reduces the time to play. When the clock stops, you’ll have three seconds of calculation time, and anything still on screen at the end will be converted into money.
Money earned is spent on the incremental skill tree. Add on more platforms, increase the round time, reduce the falling block penalty and calculation times, and unlock new shapes to be added into the mix. As new shapes are added, you’ll have to increase the odds of better shapes appearing, gradually dropping the weaker objects out of the game. All of this would keep the skill front and centre, but Click and Stack also has around 20 additional skills that slowly erode the need to be skilful at all. These skills range from mildly helpful, such as freezing the first couple of shapes falling off the platforms, to undermining, such as ethereal shapes that float in the background and add more cash to your bank for doing absolutely nothing. You can then incrementally increase the chance of these occurring, and suddenly you don’t have to worry about balancing anything at all. A few unlocks add some more mechanics, like a Midas jug that drops gold droplets to place objects underneath for huge bonuses. I wanted to see more of this kind of upgrade to keep me actively invested in the experience, rather than upgrades that removed player agency and skill.
After the first 45 minutes, Click and Stack devolves into a mindless clicker game as it becomes clear that you can earn money faster by spamming. An unlock that removes the need to click and just hold the mouse button down only emphasises that. The second half of the game becomes more of a spam, upgrade, repeat. Thankfully, the game only lasted 80 minutes for me, so Click and Stack doesn’t outstay its welcome. It feels like it runs out of steam and wraps up early purely because the gameplay veers into mindless clicker territory. It just confirms for me that I want to be actively playing my games, not watching a number go up. If that’s your thing, Click and Stack will be enjoyable for you. I prefer something more skilful.
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