A Weekend in Puzzleburg Review

Game: A Weekend in Puzzleburg
Genre: Life sim, Adventure, Casual, Indie
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer | Publisher: Sunny Demeanor Games
Age Rating: US E | EU E
Price: US $ TBD | UK £ TBD | EU € TBD
Release Date: February 17th, 2023

Review code used, with many thanks to Sunny Demeanor Games.

A Weekend in Puzzleburg is a cozy RPG and casual puzzle game set in the fictional town of Puzzleburg. How will your weekend adventure play out in this town?

A Cozy Weekend Getaway

Cindy has booked herself into a hotel in the seaside town of Puzzleburg as a young woman on a solo weekend vacation. Playing as Cindy, you get to experience the charming sights of Puzzleburg and perform small acts of kindness for the locals. These acts of kindness are noted down as quests that you can partake at your own leisure. The random acts of kindness not only benefit the townsfolk, but you also get rewards for other quests or souvenir items that you can take back home with you.

A Weekend in Puzzleburg is a very fitting title for its February 17th  release date as it coincides with National Random Acts of Kindness Day in the US.

Set Your Own Adventure

Many choices are offered to you in this game, and you can choose everything from how you talk to the townsfolk to your personal backstory. What you choose as Cindy’s occupation, for example a NASA engineer, is sometimes tied into the dialogue with the townsfolk you meet so it’s a neat feature. The town itself is open world so there isn’t a set route you need to follow, but you do have to complete the main quests to advance the game.

There’s a variety of things to do in Puzzleburg. You can play arcade games, go shopping for new clothes, eat at sandwich shops, fetch apples for horses, and more. I especially enjoy the interactions with the locals as the dialogue is engaging and often humourous.

Gameplay and Controls

A Weekend in Puzzleburg is a point-and-click RPG in which you can play with controllers or use a mouse and keyboard. Gameplay is very smooth with absolutely no glitches or long loading screens. Your character also walks pretty fast so you can get to your next destination in no time at all.

The “puzzles” in this game are very simple and require some memorization. They just consist of remembering where to find a certain person to acquire a specific item for a quest. This isn’t a challenging game at all, and I find that the gameplay is quite relaxing. If you get stuck on a quest, there is a helpful concierge in the hotel lobby who will give you some pointers and tips.

The game took me about 2-3 hours to complete, making it the perfect game for a cozy weekend at home. Of course, you can also replay the game as many times as you like to experience different outcomes.

Charming Visuals and Music

Character design is on the cute side and the anime-like style fits the wholesome vibe of the game perfectly. The backgrounds are also nice and simple. However, I wouldn’t say that the art style is the selling point of the game, but the gameplay makes up for it.

I also really like the ukelele vacation style music that plays in the background. It reminds me of Hawaii although no one is wearing swimsuits, and the season appears to be summertime.

Conclusion

While A Weekend in Puzzleburg is a short game, it is wholesome and very cozy. It may not blow your socks off. But is a good game to kill time with over a weekend. It is a different kind of RPG,  one without any combat or challenging puzzles. It will appeal to anyone who is looking for a relaxing cozy time.

Final Verdict: I Like it.