Game: Mosaic Chronicles
Genre: Puzzle, Story Rich, Indie
System: Steam Early Access
Developers | Publishers: Error 300
Controller Support: No
Price: US $6.99 | UK £5.19 | EU € 5,69
Release Date: August 25th, 2021
Review code used, with many thanks to NOVY UNLIMITED, INC.
Mosaic Chronicles is a puzzle game similar to Glass Masquerade and Glass Masquerade 2 Illusions on the Nintendo Switch that I had the pleasure of reviewing. I recently had the chance to play Mosaic Chronicles as the game has been released on early access.
Jigsaw
Mosaic Chronicles is a story-driven puzzle game inspired by the fantasy stories of Belarusian author, Olga Gromyko. It is really only similar to Glass Masquerade due to the puzzles as they are of the stained glass jigsaw kind of puzzles. The difference is that Mosaic Chronicles is a story-based puzzle game.
Short Tutorial
As you start Mosaic Chronicles you can choose to play the game on easy, normal or hard difficulty. There is a simple tutorial to explain what you need to do. It lets you know that you can pick a puzzle piece from the left-hand side of the screen. You complete the picture by placing the puzzle pieces into the picture, you can rotate the pieces if needed to fit them into place.
If the piece doesn’t fit where you think it should it won’t sink snugly into place as the pieces click into the correct place. There is also a handy tool for clearing the board of unused puzzle pieces. There is a hint button if you require a hint though once used it does have a cool-down period before you can use it again.
A Story To Tell
Mosaic Chronicles has two stories to tell, A Bit of Horoscoping and The Lucky Knot, both by novelist Olga Gromyko. At the moment the game has the full story of A Bit of Horoscoping and four chapters of The Lucky Knot with the rest of the chapters available at a later date. In all, there will be 50 mosaics to experience each with its glossy stained glass puzzle pieces to fit into place.
The stories are interesting and fantasy-based and they held my attention. making me want to finish the picture puzzle to carry on the storyline. The puzzles themselves are not too difficult to complete and I played the game on normal mode. When I tried out the hard mode the puzzles were a little more challenging, but not to the point of frustration.
Check the Gallery
Once you have finished each puzzle you can visit the gallery. Here you can read the story and admire the pictures at your leisure, this is my favourite part of the game. The artwork is by Lena Maćków, and it’s a beautiful looking game. Full of gorgeous pictures in bright colours making it a visually stunning treat when the puzzle comes together.
The game is controlled by the mouse and it works smoothly. the music and sound effects in the game are suitably appropriate. The music certainly has fairy tale vibes as you listen to it while you construct the puzzle it adds to the story well.
Conclusion
All in all Mosaic Chronicles is a solid puzzle game. It is enjoyable and fun to play, even more so if you don’t look at the preview picture of the puzzle you have to solve. The music is relaxing to listen to and the game looks beautiful.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot 