LadiesGamers Treehouse Riddle

Treehouse Riddle Review

Game: Treehouse Riddle
Genre: Puzzle, Logic, Math
System: Nintendo Switch (also available on Steam, Windows)
Developers | Publishers: Marudice | Fruitbat Factory
Age Rating: US Everyone | EU 3+
Price: US $14.99 | UK £13.49 | EU € 14,99
Release Date: August 18th, 2022

Review code used, with many thanks to Fruitbat Factory.

Treehouse Riddle is a well-executed puzzle game from Japanese indie developer Marudice. It’s a collection of logic puzzles, set within a story of a girl and her grandpa.

Just like the girl, I was occasionally wearied by the onslaught of puzzles but just couldn’t quit. And like her, I was transported to fond childhood memories.

The final puzzle brought a smile as I remembered playing Othello, a version of Reversi, with my mother. She wasn’t a games person, but that was one game we played together. A few other puzzles evoked those long-gone days, but many in Treehouse Riddle were brand new mysteries.

LadiesGamers Treehouse Riddle
The game is divided into rooms, each containing several puzzles.

Work That Brain, Little One!

Treehouse Riddle features a wide variety of puzzles, though many are visual/spatial in nature. A handful are pure math. A few are word riddles.

What they all have in common is that you’re not given instructions. Your first task with each puzzle is to figure out which parts you can move or rotate, and what the goal is.

LadiesGamers Treehouse Riddle
The very first puzzle.
LadiesGamers Treehouse Riddle
This one also took me back to my childhood days.
LadiesGamers Treehouse Riddle
The knight moves in an L shape. You must land on every chess square, and only once exactly.
LadiesGamers Treehouse Riddle
Hope you passed 3rd grade math!

I spent 4 hours on Treehouse Riddle, and just when I thought the credits would roll, an “extra mode” called Treehouse Elder appeared.

Treehouse Elder turned out to be the game’s second half. It’s harder and easily doubled my playtime. Putting the two halves together, there are 60+ puzzles. Elder features tougher versions of some puzzles in Riddle but also offers interesting new ones.

Need A Hint?

While puzzles varied in difficulty, overall I found them challenging. But developer Marudice has thoughtfully accounted for the fact that players don’t all have the same amount of patience. Treehouse has a fantastic hint system, one that helps keep the game going even if you’re stuck.

Each puzzle contains three hints. The first tells you what the goal of the puzzle is. After clicking on the first hint, you may optionally unlock the second hint, which only gives general advice. Lastly, the third hint gives very specific advice, e.g. where to place a puzzle piece. Hints don’t give answers away entirely, only enough information to help you move forward.

Most importantly, you can hit the “Skip” button any time. “Skip” auto-solves the puzzle but won’t show you the correct answer.

LadiesGamers Treehouse Riddle
I loved the multi-layered hint system.
LadiesGamers Treehouse Riddle
Example of a math puzzle.
LadiesGamers Treehouse Riddle
A sliding puzzle. The goal may be obvious, but getting there isn’t always easy.

Thanks to this carefully designed hint system, I could finish Treehouse Riddle and Elder in 7 to 8 hours. Sometimes I needed hints, other times I didn’t. Occasionally I skipped puzzles outright (usually math ones I didn’t enjoy as much).

By the way, the game’s autosave is super handy. You can even leave a puzzle unfinished to work on a different one. Puzzles don’t return to their original state unless you hit the “reset” button.

We Have An All-Rounder

Marudice has covered all bases: On top of a simple but mysterious backstory, I enjoyed the pixel art, beautiful setting, and atmospheric soundtrack.

What makes Treehouse Riddle interesting and unique as a puzzle game is its story. Nothing elaborate, but it gives context to this random collection of puzzles. Riddle is quiet and sentimental, almost bland. But Treehouse Elder is dramatic and funny, ramping things up. I recommend playing to the end of Elder.

LadiesGamers Treehouse Riddle
What could this be?
LadiesGamers Treehouse Riddle
Another sliding puzzle. Harder than it looked.
The game is not only pleasant to see and hear, but also provides a satisfying tactile experience. The controls are smooth, and it feels good to hear puzzle pieces click into place. You can use Joy-Con controls, but touchscreen is the superior choice.

The only thing that didn’t feel absolutely perfect was translation. Still, the Japanese-to-English was a pretty good translation and I rarely encountered hints that were unclear.

LadiesGamers Treehouse Riddle
One of my favorites. Also trickier than it looked.
LadiesGamers Treehouse Riddle
I was a big fan of the sliding puzzles.
LadiesGamers Treehouse Riddle
These pieces are chess queens. Can you guess what this puzzle is about?

Conclusion

You don’t have to be a logic puzzle buff to enjoy this. For a game with such challenging puzzles, Treehouse Riddle does a fantastic job of offering assistance to players who need it. The hint system is great, the presentation is solid, and the overall execution is polished. So even though I didn’t enjoy some puzzles (math riddles just aren’t my cup of tea), I can’t help but give this Two Thumbs Up.

Final verdict: Two Thumbs Up

Two thumbs up

2 comments

  1. Saw this on my Google news and really enjoyed the review! I like the specificity, I really got a good feel for the game without touching hard on spoilers. Might check this game out later!

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