Video Game Blog 041: Puzzle Binge Part 2

I recently discovered an excellent indy game developer called Score Studios. I went through three of their games in a recent post and now I’m back to review the other four games I purchased. Let’s get started!

Story of Seasons. (Credit: Score Studios)

Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons: I was excited for this one. I have so many Picross games already, so this was a natural for me. (I know, Picross is really more of a brand name, but that’s what I call all these types of puzzles.) I have snapped up all the games released by Jupiter and they have made several that are themed to various franchises: Pokémon, Zelda, Kemona Friends, Sega Genesis, etc. I fully expected this one to be a Jupiter Picross clone, but it really wasn’t.

You get an achievement for sitting through the tutorial. (Credit: Score Studios)

Yes, this was a standard nonogram puzzle game but it comes with a ton of features and unlockables. (You know me— I love unlockables!) There is chill music and charming graphics, great controls and a wealth of accessibility features and customization to change the game to your taste. And that’s even before you get into all the things you can do in the game.

Yay, (Credit: Score Studios)

There are 350 puzzles in the game of varying sizes, including collage puzzles, which are bigger pictures made up of smaller puzzles. As you solve the puzzles, the seasons change and your farm expands, adding on crops and animals. Also, your little farmers work away in the background, which is cute.

The sound effects, characters, and themes are all from the Story of Seasons franchise… which used to be known as Harvest Moon, a series I adore, so I knew I’d love this. This was clearly made by fans of the series… there’s just that much attention to detail.

I love this game’s aesthetics. (Credit: Score Studios)

There is a journal that is filled out as you complete puzzles as well, helping you to keep track of your progress. There is a screen showing your stats and percentage of completion. And a huge almanac that is expanded as you proceed, showing images from the franchise and Score characters.

Look at my little farmer go! (Credit: Score Studios)

Thoughts: I only played a couple of puzzles for this post, but I’ll be returning to this game soon to play through it all the way. (It’s on my mental list to focus on once I finish Kemona Friends Picross.) What could have been a rote Picross clone was injected with enough creativity and new features to set it apart from what other developers are churning out. The theme games that Jupiter puts out are fun, but this goes that extra mile and makes for a completely different experience. This was very well done and I hope to see more titles like this one down the road.

Puzzle & Watch (Credit: Score Studios)

Piczle Puzzle & Watch Collection: I didn’t have high hopes for this title, but it was cheap and since the other Score games have been great, I figured I’d complete my set. This one’s a bit gimmicky, but it has great animation and some decent puzzles. This game is in the style of the old LCD-style hand-held games. (Like Nintendo Game and Watch, those old Tiger games, etc.) Very old-school and stylized. There are three individual games included.

Each game opens with a cool unboxing animation complete with an old-school instruction manual. You actually have to unbox the games to access them, which is a touch I really liked. One neat feature is that if you tilt your Switch or controller, the reflection on the game itself changes as if from a light source behind you. (You all know how much I love shiny things!) The game select has nice, sedate music.

Cross. (Credit: Score Studios)

Piczle Cross is a normal Picross-style puzzle with throwback graphics and sound effects. The sound effects are a bit grating, but I always love Picross, so I’m here for it. There are over 200 puzzles in this section, so definitely a lot of content.

Patterns. (Credit: Score Studios)

Piczle Pattern is a simple game where the objective is to turn all the squares on a grid black in the lowest amount of moves. I’m not good with these kinds of strategic-thinking games, so it took me a very long time to win a game. (I forgot to write down my grand total, but it was over 100 moves. Ugh.) This one has only 1 puzzle, but Game B has lots of randomized starting points.

Loops. (Credit: Score Studios)

Piczle Loops is the one that baffled me the most. You have to draw a line around the numbers without intersecting. The boxes with the numbers indicate how many lines border it and the boxes without numbers can have any amount of lines. I won the first puzzle in this one, but it took me several tries and I really don’t feel like I understand how it works yet. This section has 72 puzzles to complete. (I have only managed to complete the first one and I have no idea how I managed it.)

Unboxing. (Credit: Score Studios)

Thoughts: I have mixed feelings on this one. I found Patterns challenging and a bit frustrating. Loops is confusing and I had to keep checking the manual to try and grasp how it works. Cross is standard, and has the most content. All in all, it’s a charming game, little meat but good for a diversion. And it works for the price point. There’s around 274 puzzles included, so it’s worth the price.

I like the Piczle Cross portion, but the controls are awkward to me. A bit backwards from what I expect, so I end up losing more from pressing the wrong button than from any lack of skill. I don’t really like the other two games, but that’s personal taste. My brain works in a certain way so some types of puzzles just don’t appeal to me. The game itself is glossy and unique, and I like the animations and the retro feel. I like the little details like the instruction manuals and the reflection on the game casing. It’s the details that save this one. I liked it more than I expected, but it doesn’t reach the heights of the other titles. Some puzzle games I can see myself resetting and playing again years from now, but this one I think will be a one and done.

Cells. (Credit: Score Studios)

Piczle Cells: This was another one I wasn’t sure if I’d like, but again I had to complete my set.

The cells are cute. (Credit: Score Studios)

The idea is to shuffle little cell-creatures around a grid to merge them and create new cells. When you get the cells that the level calls for, you win. Some can’t move, others continue moving (wrapping around the screen) until they hit resistance or reach their starting point. There are 100 puzzles in the game.

They bop around to the music. (Credit: Score Studios)

I’m just gonna say it… this game is TOUGH. I got stuck on Level 4 and it took me a couple dozen tries to line up the cells just right. I was proud of myself when I completed it. And then I again got stuck on Level 5 and there I sit, unable to proceed. As the game goes on there are more obstacles and different game elements— like walls, conveyer belts and viruses,— but I can’t even get past the opening levels. This game doesn’t mess around.

Customization. (Credit: Score Studios)

As always, there are several customization and accessibility options. You can change the colors, toggle screen shake on and off, swap which hand you control with (which is a surprising feature— more games should have that!), and turn it to touchscreen.

This is the level I’m stuck on. (Credit: Score Studios)

Thoughts: This title wasn’t as great for me. I like the designs and aesthetic. The tutorial was helpful and the music is snappy as always. It’s a clever concept and I enjoyed it enough… but the challenge factor is high— too high for me to keep playing without frustration. I will return to this one periodically, but I can only see myself playing it in short bursts. Still, this is personal taste, so if you like the kinds of puzzles that challenge you and take a lot of logical, strategic thinking, you may vibe with this one.

Lines 2. (Credit: Score Studios)

Piczle Lines 2: Into the Puzzleverse: I saved this one for last since I was certain it would be a winner. I’m really enjoying the first game, so I knew I’d like this one too. I was waiting at first to see if a DX version would be released, but there was a summer sale and I wanted to write this post, so I decided not to wait. There are several purchasable DLC packs available, and of course I grabbed all those as well.

Hehe. (Credit: Score Studios)

The story on this game is similar to the first game’s story. Score-Chan has again messed with one of Professor Matrix’s inventions. This time she used his Piczle Dust as kitty litter. The cat D-Bug gets spooked and jumps into a book. So this time you’re not tasked with putting the world back together. Instead, you travel into various works of literature to search for the cat. (In the first level you’re a pirate.)

Level packs. (Credit: Score Studios)

This game takes the mechanics of the first game and levels them up. The controls are tighter. (FYI I play in controller mode— I don’t like using the touch screen on my Switch. It makes me nervous.) There are a bunch of new features and the usual array of customization options. It’s very user-friendly and if you play it, I recommend you check out all the features so you can get the experience you want.

The cut scenes are rendered in a stylized oil paint style. The music is top-notch as with all the other games. (Although I do like the music for Part 1 better.) As always there are achievements and unlockables.

I finished a whole pack for this post. And because I was having fun. (Credit: Score Studios)

Piczle Lines 2 has 722 total puzzles as of the writing of this between story mode, extra puzzles, and DLC material. This one has secret puzzles that can be unlocked in each chapter and seasonal packs released periodically. (As I started playing I got a free pack for Score Studio’s anniversary.)

Achievements. (Credit: Score Studios)

Thoughts: This one is tied with Story of Seasons for my favorite out of this set. (My most favorite Score game is still Piczle Cross Adventure. I hope we get a sequel to that one some day!) With the new options and better controls, this seems like a marked improvement over the first game, which was already solid and a lot of fun.

There really isn’t too much else to say since it’s more of the same, but with a fresh coat of paint. Of course, when you love puzzles, you can never have enough puzzles. It’s nice to think that once I finally finish the first game I’ll have nearly a thousand more puzzles to get through. I look forward to digging into this one more.

What a versatile invention. (Credit: Score Studios)

And so those are the four new games I tried out! Cells and Puzzle & Watch were okay and I do plan on returning to finish them, but I didn’t enjoy them quite as much as the others. Puzzle & Watch was my least favorite and I found Cells prohibitively difficult. (Again, personal taste. Your experiences may differ.) Story of Seasons and Piczle Lines 2 are well-crafted and enjoyable games and I look forward to having the time to devote to them. Before I dive fully into Lines 2, I want to finish the first game, which will take me quite some time due to the sheer number of puzzles available. (Also I found out that the final puzzles in the DLC for that are massive solid single color puzzles. Yikes.) As for Story of Seasons, that will likely be the next nonogram game I play on my lunch breaks. I’m looking forward to it.

I always learn something with these games. (Credit: Score Studios)

I’ve really been enjoying the various offerings from Score Studios and it’s certainly a developer I will continue to follow. (According to posts on Bluesky, a new game is in development and I’m excited to see what it is.) If you enjoy puzzle games that have solid gameplay, fantastic music, colorful characters, great accessibility features, and a lot of personality, you will likely enjoy these games as much as I have.

The end! (Credit: Score Studios)

Thank you for joining me in my second puzzle binge! I resolved to put out more posts this year and so far I’m delivering on that! I hope you liked this offering. I appreciate you all so much and I’ll be back soon with another Binge post… this time for Pokémon. And then after that we may go retro a bit… (I feel like I need a third installment in my retro series.) Until then, keep gaming!

Thanks for reading! (Credit: Score Studios)