Grindstone's horrors are perfect for a daily challenge mode Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Grindstone's horrors are perfect for a daily challenge mode And now it has one. Feature by Christian Donlan Features Editor Updated on 4 Aug 2020 11 comments This weekend I've been playing Grindstone, the wonderfully bloodthirsty puzzle game from Capy that just got an update on Apple Arcade. And the update is a doozy. A daily mode! Daily Grind! Four levels each day, slice your way through them and then compete on the leaderboards. It's thrilling - a game that is perfect for the daily challenge now has one. I've been wondering why a daily mode matters so much here, and I think it's down to why Grindstone is not only a very compulsive puzzle game but a fiendish and sometimes devastating one. Very basic gist: Grindstone is a colour matching game. You have a grid filled with different baddies of a handful of different colours, and you move around slicing them down as you go. You can only chain baddies of the same colour together, though, unless you pass through a jewel which allows you to switch - pink to yellow, say; green to blue. The thing of it is this: Grindstone is one of those almost perfect information games. I say almost because there are a couple of annoying baddies who target random parts of the board. Most of the time though you know which baddies are primed to attack, which areas are safe to land in, and - thanks to a handy counter as you plan your chains - how many baddies each move is going to cut through. That's crucial: you can plan your chain and then not execute it. You can plan a hundred different moves if you want and choose the best one. THEN you execute. And unfailingly, once I've pressed the button to execute, I will see a simple thing I could have done - a simple shuffling of elements - that could have gotten me a few more baddies. Every time. Every. Time. And I have nobody but myself to blame, because this is, after all, a game of almost perfect information. The greatness of this - the singular cruelty - is that while you have all the time you want to plan the optimal move, once you've committed, you're then completely unable to do anything while your move plays out. You get to watch, powerless, as the better move inevitably presents itself. The French have a term for this - one of their best. L'esprit de l'escalier. The staircase mind. The spirit of the staircase? Anyway, it's the term for that feeling you get when you suddenly realise what you should have done or said just after you should have done or said it. Now, I guess, I get to experience this daily. And I have no complaints - just regrets. Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More Features Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. 12 Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Feature What games get wrong about horses And what they could do about it. 34 Feature Shout out to all the Overwatch supports - where would we be without you? Merci. 55 Latest Articles Preview Football Manager's new Console edition is the best you'll get without a PC Getting Touch-right. Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 59 Modder dives into Demon's Souls files following PS5 jailbreak, discovers fabled Ring of the Chieftain Who knows what's nexus? 4 Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store