Game: Puzzle Galaxy
Genre: Puzzle, Jigsaw
System: Nintendo Switch
Developers | Publishers: Naptime Games
Age Rating: US Everyone | EU 3+
Price: Free to play (with optional paid DLC)
Release Date: July 22nd, 2022
Review code used, with many thanks to Naptime Games. All screenshots are courtesy of the developer.
Puzzle Galaxy is a free-to-play collection of 25 jigsaw puzzles, with the option of paying to unlock more puzzles.
The 25 free puzzles are a generous offering, enough to decide if this is the jigsaw fix for you. The game’s design is solid; it’s only a matter of whether you like the art styles featured.
Good for Kids and Adults
Puzzle Galaxy caters to both kids and adults. After selecting a puzzle, you can decide on its difficulty: 6, 15, 28, 40, 56, 60, 96, or 150 pieces.
Yes, it’s only up to 150 pieces, but bear in mind that this is a Nintendo Switch game. You’re playing on a small touchscreen, not the living room floor. I could zip through smaller puzzles in under 5 minutes, while the biggest puzzles offered a good challenge, taking about 25 minutes to complete. If you need to stop midway, the game keeps one auto-save slot.
You won’t see all the puzzle pieces at once. Only several pieces are displayed on a sidebar. After you’ve used all but 3 or 4 side-bar pieces, this pool is replenished with new pieces.
When you’re a little stuck, pressing the R button shuffles the pool with random new pieces. You can also press the L button to preview the completed puzzle, except it’s in black-and-white instead of full color. These are great ways to help players without giving the “solution” away entirely.
Great for the Switch
So how does Puzzle Galaxy compare to doing physical puzzles? This video game version is definitely easier because you’re working with a limited pool and every possible piece at once. Also, the game automatically rotates pieces in the right direction, so you don’t have to worry about them being upside down.
Puzzle Galaxy‘s design works really well for the Switch. Its short play sessions are perfect for handheld gaming.
Playing on a Switch Lite, 150-piece puzzles weren’t too hard to see but my elderly parents would need the zoom-in view. Thankfully, you don’t have to be 100% precise when placing jigsaw pieces. If you drop the piece close enough to the correct spot, it snaps into place with a satisfying click.
The controls work very well. I used a combination of the touchscreen (for dragging pieces) and Joy-Con buttons (for panning the view when I was using the zoom-in view).
There’s a local co-op mode for 2 players. Each player can pick up and place pieces simultaneously. I’m not entirely sure what controllers are accepted in this multiplayer mode. So far, I’m only able to connect double Joy-Cons for Player 1, but Player 2 is allowed to use a single Joy-Con. Regardless, the touchscreen appears to be disabled during multiplayer.
Conclusion
Overall, the game’s design couldn’t be better. I can see myself introducing Puzzle Galaxy to my daughter someday as one of her first ever video games. It’s good for short, relaxing sessions. Considering the base game is free, its DLCs seem reasonably priced, at about 4 to 5 US dollars (each contains between 22 to 54 new puzzles).
But I’d like to see a wider variety of themes. The ones available now are space, steampunk, ocean life, cats and dogs, horses, princesses, and city or country landscapes. It’d be nice to have more categories, such as food, home interiors, dinosaurs, or construction vehicles. Meanwhile, I like that there’s a mix of digital paintings and actual photographs.
Final Verdict: I Like It A Lot
