Developer: Error 300
Publisher: Error 300
Platform: PC, Mac
Tested on: PC
Mosaic Chronicles – Review
If you think puzzles are relaxing, but physically buying and fitting them together in real life is too much of a hassle, then there is a genre of games specifically for you. Jigsaw puzzle games are games where you quite literally don’t do anything except make a jigsaw puzzle. Mosaic Chronicles is one of these games. This game is Error 300’s first project but you wouldn’t be able to tell from playing it, as it’s a really cohesive and polished experience.
Story
Mosaic Chronicles has two stories for you to explore: A Bit of Horoscoping and The Lucky Knot. Both of these are creations by Belarusian author Olga Gromyko, who writes fantasy novels. Don’t panic if you don’t recognize that name, her work isn’t actually that well-known, so you probably have never read her books. Regardless, she was an excellent choice for this game, since her tales have a classic fairytale quality to them, which works great in Mosaic Chronicles combined with its art style and general atmosphere.
The plot is revealed bit by bit similar to a storybook, with you receiving a few lines of text to go with every picture you’ve completed as a jigsaw. At the end, you can pop into the gallery and read the entire story with the illustrations in one go to get the full experience. There’s not a lot of story content, but compared to some other jigsaw games, it makes for a nice framing device to tie the puzzles together.
Graphics
Another great selling point of Mosaic Chronicles is the art. Every picture is a unique and truly beautiful stained glass artwork, stunning in both its use of color and shapes. Not only does it make for a whole series of pretty puzzles to work on as you’re playing the game, but the art also stands on its own quite nicely in the gallery once you’re done. With these graphics, Mosaic Chronicles feels much less like a childish jigsaw puzzle game, and much more like something intricate that people of all ages might enjoy.
Sound
The music in Mosaic Chronicles isn’t terrible, but it’s not the game’s strong suit either. Overall the soundtrack consists of a lot of whimsical, fairytale-like instrumental tracks, which play in the background as you relax while solving puzzles. They fit the atmosphere, but that’s basically all it does. The songs aren’t very long, meaning they loop quite often. And overall, especially as you get to the more time-consuming puzzles later in the game, you might be inclined to turn off the in-game music in favor of playing your own instead. There are some sound effects present, though they’re negligible.
Gameplay
Mosaic Chronicles is a story-driven jigsaw puzzle game with not a lot of fanfare. What you see is really what you get with this game. Both stories are playable from the start, though within them you will have to solve each puzzle in chronological order to unlock the next one, gradually getting harder as you go, but never annoyingly so. There are three different difficulty settings as well, truly driving home the idea that this game is meant to be a casual experience more than anything. If you’re getting frustrated you’re probably doing it wrong.
The gameplay is extremely simple: they first show you the completed picture before dropping you on a nearly empty screen. A few pieces are already placed on the board and all the rest are off to the side, ready for you to fit these together. You can turn the pieces with the press of a button, and once you drop them in the correct spot, they glue into place, so it’s easy to tell if you’re doing your job right. There’s also a hint button that shows you where one piece is supposed to go, though it has a cooldown so you can’t spam it. Lastly, there is a button to clear all stray pieces off the board. This comes in handy if you’re board is getting cluttered.
As with real-life puzzles, your best bet is to start at the edges and work your way inwards. That’s all there is to Mosaic Chronicles. With its fifty-some puzzles to complete, you will still be occupied for a lot longer than some other indie titles that cost the same. You can always start redoing puzzles you’ve already completed if you wish to continue playing the game.
Conclusion
Mosaic Chronicles is a simple game, and you get exactly what you expect out of this title. This can be a good thing if you’re looking for a fun but casual jigsaw puzzle with gorgeous art against a backdrop of fairytale storytelling. We enjoyed the simplicity, the accessibility, and of course, the overall atmosphere. This is one of those games that is fun to play to relax. Only those that expect this game to spice things up with original mechanics, befitting of a fairytale adventure, might end up disappointed.
Related Items
1 Comment
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
[…] rather new game developer on the scene. Only less than a year ago we reviewed their first release, Mosaic Chronicles, which was a simple puzzle game with some story for added charm. Today we’re looking at their […]