Teslagrad is a side-scrolling platformer with strong puzzle elements. The protagonist is a boy who finds himself inside the mysterious Tesla Tower , which houses fictional technology inspired by the works of inventor Nikola Tesla. The game communicates without words.
The player moves inside the tower, which can be freely explored as it has limited width and direction is generally upwards. To progress, the player needs to use special abilities to solve puzzles based on magnetic fields: many objects have a magnetic field (red or blue); objects with different colours are attracted to each other while objects of the same colour are repelled. The player has gloves which allow him to change the polarity of objects. As the game progresses, more abilities and gadgets are earned, such as a cannon to change polarity over distances or a short-distance teleport to pass deadly obstacles unharmed. These are used to reach new parts of the tower. The puzzles are mostly embedded in platforming challenges that require precise jumping and fast reactions. There are also a few boss battles.