Phrasemaker

Ila: A Frosty Glide is a stunning 3D puzzle platformer with much more depth than what meets the eye. This indie gem, created with an almost startling amount of love and intentionality, delivers a soft, enchanting experience wrapped in snow, magic, and grief.

You play as Ila, a young witch-in-training with a warm heart, a bright scarf, and a broom that doesn’t so much “fly” as it glides over icy surfaces like a makeshift magical skateboard. Ila’s broom immediately sets the tone for the entire game: familiar, whimsical, and reliable.

And honestly? The broom might be one of my favourite traversal mechanics I’ve seen in a platformer in years. It makes platforming feel fluid and light, a constant dance between the environment and your momentum. It’s atmospheric by design, encouraging you to approach obstacles with curiosity rather than tension.

What surprised me most was how good the game feels to play. The puzzles strike that rare balance between simplicity and thoughtfulness. They are never punishing, but you can’t sleepwalk through them either. Instead, they gently nudge you to think, observe, and experiment.

You’ll find yourself pausing, nodding, and going, “Ohhh, I get it,” which is such a rewarding loop, and certainly kept me happily chasing the next challenge. The pacing benefits enormously from this design philosophy. Nothing ever overstays its welcome, and every new environment introduces new twists on existing mechanics, so progress feels smooth and fulfilling.

The overall presentation of Ila: A Frosty Glide is where the game truly shines its brightest. The art direction is gorgeous. The snowy landscape and dark forests are charming and stylised. Everything has a blocky Minecraft-like style to it, but with soft filters, glowing runes, drifting frost particles, and warm lantern light guiding your path. It’s a world that feels handcrafted to be inviting, even when it’s tinged with melancholy.

The music, too, is nothing short of delightful. From the title screen onwards, the soundtrack lifts and wraps around you like a comforting scarf. Tracks move from jaunty and whimsical to tender and emotional with an ease that mirrors Ila’s own journey. It’s the kind of soundtrack you’d want during a rainy afternoon, hot drink in hand, just to feel cozy.

But as beautiful the world is, and as engaging as the gameplay feels, nothing in this game captivated me more than its story, specifically how quietly devastating and healing it is. At first glance, you’re simply helping Ila search for her lost cat, Coco. It’s a sweet, classic premise for an adventure. But as you progress, the game begins revealing its true heart: grief.

Slowly, and with remarkable gentleness, the narrative shows you that Coco represents the last threads of Ila’s connection to her late mother. Ila’s search becomes symbolic, her desperation not just for her beloved pet but for the memories, the lessons, and the comfort Coco still carries of her mother.

You can tell the writers know grief intimately. They understand its stages – the confusion, the longing, the bargaining, the reluctance to let go. The memories Ila encounters are crafted with such care that they feel lived-in, like real snapshots of a loving past. These moments don’t just add emotional depth; they reshape your entire understanding of Ila as a character. The further you go, the more her motivations, strength, and grief become your own.

And it’s not just experienced through Ila. As you continue your journey, you come across pages from other witches and wizards who have gone through or are going through their own battles with grief. I found myself excited and desperate to find as many pages as I could to get more snippets of these small stories.

What delighted me even more was discovering that Ila: A Frosty Glide doesn’t simply end when the credits roll. There’s a generous amount of post-game content waiting for players who aren’t quite ready to step away from Ila’s world. After the emotional conclusion, the game invited you back in with additional puzzles, optional challenges, and lingering story threads you may not have completed during the main journey.

These side stories add surprising depth, offering small but meaningful moments that expand on characters, memories, and themes introduced earlier. It feels like a gentle reminder that healing doesn’t end neatly. There are always pieces to revisit, paths to retrace, and quiet discoveries left to make.

It’s rare to see a platformer puzzle game intertwine its mechanics with its emotional message so cohesively. But Ila: A Frosty Glide pulls it off beautifully. Movement becomes metaphor. Searching becomes healing. Solving puzzles becomes rebuilding. Each stride forward feels like a step through grief towards something quieter and more hopeful.

By the time the ending came, I was completely undone. I won’t spoil a single thing because this is a journey every player deserves to experience with fresh eyes, but I sobbed. Truly sobbed. The ending brings everything together into a moment that feels cathartic, honest, and deeply intimate. I found myself sitting back in my chair, staring at the screen through teary eyes, just absorbing my journey with Ila.