Last updated on February 7th, 2026 at 07:00 am
Kiwanuka – Puzzle Game Review
Kiwanuka is a Puzzle/Action game from Marco Mazzoli, first launched in 8th May 2014.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 328+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Kiwanuka Stand Out
"Whimsical, magical, and enchanting" –– Touch Arcade, 5/5
Kiwanuka is an action-puzzle game with an entirely new game-mechanic designed uniquely for touch screen. Guide the tiny citizens, instruct them to build towers, knock the towers over to grab ledges, then use them as bridges to reach the exit. Success requires careful thought and perfect timing.
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"A brilliant, beautiful, unique experience. Everything from the sounds, visuals, and just the vibe of the game all come together to create one of the most interesting little games I’ve played." – Touch Arcade, Game of the Week
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"An elegantly smart game." – Cult of Mac
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"A good surprise" -New York Times
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"A truly special game" – Kotaku
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"Amazing" – TUAW
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"A hidden treasure." – SlashGear
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"The game looks great." – Pocket Gamer
-"In an increasingly-long line of delightful puzzle games on iOS, Kiwanuka is one of the best. It sees you guiding a colourful collection of characters to freedom using a glowing staff: like a neon-infused Lemmings built for touchscreens." – The Guardian
This Puzzle game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Kiwanuka is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 10th November 2017
Recent improvements include:
This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.
iPhone X support
Bug fixes
Download & Availability
Kiwanuka is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Deeply Missed had us stumped! This is a game for fast reflexes! UPDATE: we WAS SO CLOSE! We LOST.
We love this game but we finished it in a day… At school.
The game itself is well made. However, you need to add more stuff. The game itself is too short for charging $1.99.
This game could have been fun if it kept going. But to spend buck and get 35 minutes of play time, it just isn't worth it. It is just a cash grab.
We loved this game to death but it ended after a few hours we think you should make more level.
Great design, music and message. Really enjoyed it. We do wish the levels had had a bit more puzzle and bit less arcade, but definitely a delightful little experience worthy of your time and money.
We really liked this game. It was adorable and just the right amount of challenge. So sad when we completed it that it was over.
Dubstep music and magic puzzles with these little wizards. At times too easy, at others just good timing, overall short, but pleasant.
This game was perfect in every sense of the word, except the horrendous level design. Instead of being a puzzle game all the way through, twenty five percent is timing based plat forming, and since the followers have a slight delay, timing doesn't work, and the levels are just luck. The puzzles are INCREDIBLE and well designed, but when it tries to have some action, it ruins the game entirely.
This game is so sweet, the movements and graphics are nice to look at, and the reset between deaths is well timed. Please make more games like this.
Great game! Please add more levels.
We loved it. We played through the hole game and have to say it just loved it. It was our favorite game we've ever played on our phone. The art style and gameplay were awesome. Each stage was a challenging puzzles forcing you to think out of the box. We ten out if ten recommend it to anyone that's bored and loves puzzles. PS. We almost started crying at the end.
Fun with some puzzles you have to think a bit on. We wish it got a little harder but it's definitely a game that should be supported and encouraged.
A must have game. A new classic that everyone needs to have.
This is a fast game it has about 30 levels not to hard but still worth it the money.
We got the game allready and past it allready and we were wondering if you can add more levels.
Love the idea, new, novel, good puzzles but we need more. Back to work.
Great game and great music too :).
It takes us about one hour time relax in the game then we finish all game.
We love the art, the music, the strategy, the concept, all of the game's fine points are like totally nailed down– but its way too short! We beat the entire game in under like 4 of hours of gameplay. We hope it'll be updated with new levels or a sequel or prequel maybe a bit heavier on the storyline is coming soon.
Very good game but a little to short. Also we were expecting a pbj time song.
Great game… Wish it had more levels.
Is it possible to add more levels.
There needs to be more levels. The money is too much for an hour and a half of fun. But it is fun! ……for 1 1/2 hours.
Too short. Too short. Too short. It is a great and beautiful game. But it isn't as challenging as we wanted it to be. Not only that but there are only about 30 levels. So when we finished the game we saw that the credits were longer than overall playing time. Quite disappointing and we actually downloaded this game right after it came out. The reason we are only writing a review now is because we though that they would add more levels, but no they didn't soooo. Yeah. We still hope that they add levels but for now our rating will be 3(ish).
The game itself feels like an intro to something bigger, since it only has 30 levels, which is quite the shame. We guess they make up for it by being artsy/minimalistic, but the puzzles themselves are way too easy. They feel more like a waiting game than anything. App might be worth it if it had more interesting levels, since the current levels were all basically in the same place with similar sprites. It's straightforward and consistent, but kind of bland. Its scrolling was sometimes off for us. *we did not play with the music on.
Nice game, but not enough puzzles. Finished it in about 40 minutes.
What are these reviewers thinking? No or very little instruction, hidden setting so you can't turn off the obnoxious sound if you want to listen to something while you're playing, overly simplistic, too short, too simple minded. All in all, a comete if money. Rip off.
Not thrilled about spending $2 for a game finished in an hour :/. Rip off….add more levels, could be 5 stars.
We regret spending money on this. Its an alright game but of we pay for an app we should get something better than a free app. There are plenty of games just as good if not better that are free.
Wish we wouldn't have paid for this, wouldn't have if we would have known we would beat the whole game in two days. Would have given four stars if it were free.
If you read this you will die in two days but if you copy paste this in 10 reviews you will get 1000 gold pls no hate lol xDDDD.
Graphics are cute and stylish, and soundtrack is cool, but levels are too simple and too short and all look the same. Plus you only have one type of move to play. Got us bored after 20 levels :/.
We like Christmas as much as the next person but how about some new LEVELS.
Very poor game…we like the idea but they didn't make it right. Plus they need to make a lot more levels. So don't waste your money on this, we learned that the hard way.
Instead of putting Santa hats on you should add stupid levels we're 8 and we know that the game would be better with more levels.
A fun and beautiful puzzler. We've spent much time trying to figure out some of the later puzzles, starts off easy and gradually rises in difficulty perfectly! No extra in game purchases, love it.
We support you guys to make a sequel!!!! The levels were easy/hard which is perfect. Keep doing what your doing.
This game plays like a bare bones version of Lemmings. Definitely a great way to kill an hour or so.
Absolutely beautiful game, amazing graphics. We highly recommend this game for purchase. Worth every penny.
Neat idea, but the levels are simple, the challenges are plain, and the gameplay is repetitive.
There's really no good reason not to sync game saves with iCloud. Achievements are saved, but not game data. Other games use this feature.
This game is fun with just enough challenge.
Everything from gameplay to design and even the soundtrack, it's a beautiful game all around. It's true that the game is quite short and easy at times. But it's overall worth it.
The people of Kiwanuka love you because you are them.
We don't like buying apps. But the art style of this game had drawn our interest so we took a chance and bought it . The story of the game is pretty basic, rescue the people but the way you go about it is very unique. The concept of the same is fairly simple you have staff that you use to extend this lightning like energy to stack people on top of each other (like the monkeys in a barrel)in order to solve a puzzle to rescue other people that we assume are called Kiwanuka. There are 30 levels exactly varying in complexity it is not impossible but will have you scratching you head for a few days if we actually concentrated in this game we would finish it in about a week (but we have life so hat didn't happen), the difficulty of this game is not the as extreme as we thought it would be, we would say it more based on skills of placement and then timing. But overall it a good quick game to play with nice are and smooth graphics. We did not encounter any bugs, only learning how to maneuver the stacking feature. Worth the by and good pass time. MORE LEVES PLEASE.
…the best iOS game we have played. It is engaging and fun.
Yes, the game is short and a little too easy, but the overall experience is amazing. Great soundtrack, great graphics, and great gameplay. We would LOVE a Mac version.
It's a great and fun game but it really needs more levels.
We actually passed on this game the first time we checked it out mainly because the description was vague so it wasn't quite clear what the gameplay was like/about. But for whatever reason we were back in the App Store the next day and returned to the "Amazing Puzzle Games" just to make sure we didn't miss anything worthwhile while the puzzles listed were still on sale. The second time we looked this over we had a "oh, what the heck?" sort of moment and got this. Well, we're glad that we did. Turns out, this is pretty enjoyable. We think so anyway. The idea is that you have a group of tiny people that you need to lead up, down, across or around obstacles to rescue the one trapped who holds the way to the next level. To do this you use the lightening staff which they will follow, even toward their doom. Using the staff, you are basically drawing the route by which the people need to go. You have to draw the line (the lightening) just right or it could lead to failure. You can create bridges, ladders and such of people to get a group to the required destination. It is very much for the casual player as there is no rush. We WANT MORE! MORE LEVELS, PLEASE.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.3
- Size: 49.05 MB
- iOS: 8.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Marco Mazzoli
Last updated: 10th November 2017 | Genre: Puzzle, Action | Developer: Marco Mazzoli