Level Difficulty Is Board Geometry, Not Match Skill

Puzzle levels get called hard when they are actually dense. The difficulty rarely comes from the matching. It comes from three structural choices.

Board geometry that limits access invisibly

A grid with interior cells blocked by walls forces a specific match order before the useful region becomes reachable. The level reads as open and plays as narrow. That gap is what players describe as unfair, and it is a design choice rather than a difficulty setting.

Competing objectives

When a level asks for a colour collection and blocker clearing at once, the two goals compete for the same moves. Difficulty is the cost of switching between them, not the difficulty of either goal.

Move count against expected move value

A level with forty moves and a low clearing rate is harder than one with fifteen moves and a high rate. The ratio matters, not the number. Levels that look generous are often the tightest ones.

Reading levels through these three lenses is more useful than step-by-step screenshots, because it tells you what to prioritise when the board does not cooperate. A worked example set is here: https://matchfactoryguide.com/tips