izigame.me

Delightful pattern-solving logic puzzler with heart and humour
* My VERY BEST recommendation *
What it isn't: another 'Unpacking' (no, it really is NOT), a 'cat game', a decorating/tidying-and-arranging-things-as-you-like-it game.
What it is: an observational, pattern-recognition puzzler, with easy-to-medium difficulty, GREAT artwork, lovely&soothing soundtrack, a charming-but-disruptive cat that pops by from time to time (Rookie!! yes, you can pet him, sometimes...), a great deal of personality, a warm sense of humour and a distinctive 'internal puzzle logic'.
Yes, I know the store blurb says 'tidying', but this is a sorting-by-rules game, and NOT a game for expression of personal preferences or your personal logic of how-I-would-do-this-in-real-life. If that's what you're expecting, you will likely be frustrated and disappointed.
For many puzzles the main challenge is to figure out what the goal of the puzzle IS, rather than managing to do it after you've figured out the goal. So if you need your puzzle games to 'tell you what it wants done', then this may not be a good fit for you.
A GOOD GAME FOR: Great game for all kinds of people, and all ages. Casual and warm-hearted. Works fine on even simple gear. Easy to dip in and out of, for shorter or longer stretches. Will work best for people who have patience, an eye for detail, and logical mind to figure out the goal or pattern of the particular puzzles. Many of the puzzles in the game are easy, but some aren't. Note that this is NOT a game with a smooth ramp-up, the very easy and the more complex are scattered throughout. (There is a Skip, so you can always get back to a stuck one later on).
GAME FORUM: By now a very enthusiastic fan base has made Guides for, well... everything :-). The forum Discussions is a friendly place, and easy to get helpful advice. Also - if you're stuck anywhere - USE the Guides, and the Search function in Discussions. Most likely whatever you're facing is not a bug, and almost certain to have been discussed/explained already.
DEVS: Super helpful and attentive devs - any bugs or glitches sorted out quickly, always helpful with advice, and updates and new content still oncoming. Bug report thread on the Steam game forum, so no tedious redirecting to a Discord if you need help. If you've read early reviews you may have seen comments about some problems, mostly to do with achievements. These bugs have all been sorted out in later fixes.
DAILY TIDY: As part of the main game you also get your very own Daily Tidy puzzle of the day. Every player gets a different one, but within a common theme for that day (currently 15 different categories). Easy-to-medium, with many puzzle types being quite easy, and some more complex. Meant to be solved in 1/2 minute to 5 minutes kind of thing - a little bit of sunshine in your day :-). They drop at midnight, as the date changes in your timezone, so you have only 24 hrs to solve each one.
DLCs: In addition to main game, also 2 pay-for DLCs, out in June 2023 and in June 2024.
Possibly more to come later (?) ... at least that's what the game's fans hope for!
SETTINGS etc: All that you would expect - sounds, graphics, toggles to show stuff, vibrate on/off, tap-to-hold, cursor assist, etc. Reset/replay, skip, level select, in-game Hint .
You can reset levels in settings to collect missing achievements, without losing ones already gained (like the No Hint and Use Hint ach's).
Can be played with controller, Steam deck, kb/m, touchscreen.
Non-gated progression in the main game - all levels available from start. (Thank you!). But the latest DLC is gated to some degree.
A very few levels and achievements require a bit of speed, but was very doable even for this old lady with gnarly hands and slow reflexes on simple gear.
Plus an ARCHIVE of 'Seasonal Special Daily puzzles' from the game's early days so they can be played/replayed in your own time. (After moving to multi-platform releases in 2024, the seasonal specials will not be continued, according to devs, bc too complex timing-wise...)
ACHIEVEMENTS: Many are tied to chapters and levels solved, some to odd things you have to find for yourself. And a handful are tied to the Daily Tidy puzzles.
NOTE for Completionists: Some achievements are tied to number of Daily Tidy puzzles - the biggest of these is the '100 total' (non-consecutive), and the '30 days consecutive'. Some people say they find the 30-day streak stressful because of the 24-hr window for each puzzle, so be aware of this issue if you're an avid achievement completionist. Also, it's a REALLY good idea to play the whole game through FIRST, before attempting the Daily streak, as all the Daily puzzle types are in the main game and best approached after understanding the 'internal logic' of the game's puzzles. Also note that the DLCs have ach's, and that Steam achievements work so that they can't count separately to the main game ach's. So if you don't go for the DLCs, then your completion rate will fall when new DLCs are added. (It's a Steam thing, not a dev thing!)
Specific QoL:
- Colour issues: NOT a good game for people with colour blindness. Many of the puzzle solutions depend on colour differentiation, and often between colour shades that are very similar.
- Hearing: Works fine for people with hearing issues, no puzzles depend on sound (although the soundtrack is very lovely)
- Neurodivergence issues : Some players with selfdescribed neurovariation, OCD, etc., have praised the game as very soothing and satisfying. While others have reported being unhappy with things like Rookie the cat disrupting a solve (yes, he does that sometimes!), or having to follow the puzzle's internal logic instead of their own, or the stressor of the 24-hr window for the Daily Tidy puzzles. If you're unsure if the game will be a good fit for you, then I advise reading through pos. and neg. reviews before buying. (And keep in mind the 2-hr-in-the-game limit for Steam refunds).
Arachnophobia warning: One of the puzzles in the main game features a spider, and which appears suddenly. It's quite cute, but may be too much for people with spider issues. One of the Daily Tidy puzzle categories is also this type of puzzle.
EDIT 2024: An earlier spider-removing workaround mod. made available by a kind player, unfortunately no longer works, as the game has been moved into a different .... uhm, something-or-other technical I don't understand
(Devs have been busy with other things first, but have the issue on their radar and maybe an un-spider QoL mode may be forthcoming...)
Yes, I'm a HUGE fan - I guess it shows :-D