Developer: Score Studios LLC
Publisher: Rainy Frog Co. Ltd.
Platform: PC, Switch
Tested on: Switch
Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons – Review
Those who are familiar with farming sim games will probably also know the Story of Seasons series. These wholesome farming games often let you restore a derelict farm to its former glory, and they even allow you to start your own digital family as you progress through the story and objectives. We have had our fair share of encounters with the franchise, and for the most part, we loved nearly all entries. Today, however, we will not be looking at a new farming sim but a puzzle title instead, as the latest Piczle Cross title has been released with a cute Story of Season theme.
Story
Even though this newest Piczle Cross title does bear the Story of Seasons subtitle, it does not really have any story value. As you progress through the many puzzles, you’ll see the backdrop change and the farm will evolve thanks to the items that are uncovered when completing puzzles. Other than that, you’ll also unlock entries in the almanac, which also add a bit of information about the world and inhabitants of the Story of Seasons games. As this is just a themed puzzle game, we didn’t mind the absence of a story.
Graphics
Graphically, the game is nothing to truly write home about. Don’t get us wrong, for all the game’s intents and purposes everything looks good, but the revealed pictures from the puzzles are low-res pixilated images of items from older titles in the series. We sometimes even struggled to recognize the item(s) we uncovered when the game revealed them to us. Nonetheless, the overall colorful visuals and the changing backdrop as you progress do add a lot of charm to the mix. You’ll see your farm evolve as you solve more and more puzzles, but the 3D-rendered animations do look a bit dated here.
Sound
The sound design is decent, and the overall cheerful soundtrack does ooze that iconic Story of Seasons charm. We would have perhaps loved a bit more track variety and some tunes that wouldn’t loop as fast as they currently do. Even so, this is one of those games where you could easily turn the sound off and put on your own tunes instead. The SFX are decent and provide proper feedback for the onscreen actions.
Gameplay
Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons is a puzzle game that’s all about so-called nonograms. Nonograms are grid-based puzzles where each row and column has numbers next to it, and this shows you how many numbers you’ll have to color in. If there is more than one number next to a column or row, this means there are multiple sets of numbers to find there. You’ll have to make sure everything matches and that you don’t color in too many tiles as you try to complete the puzzle. The overall concept is very simple, and you’ll get the hang of things rather quickly.
If you don’t figure things out that easily, but you still enjoy puzzles like this, don’t fret, as the game has quite a few options to help you out. At the start of each puzzle, you can already have the game help you by revealing one random row and column to get you started. You can also use the hint system and even check if you have made any mistakes. Things are all very straightforward and the game will not hold that many surprises. There is some replay value to be found if you wish to try puzzles again with no help, to make things a bit more difficult.
The game does have more than 200 puzzles for you to complete, and there are also a few bigger puzzles that are comprised of smaller nonograms. You’ll certainly have quite a few hours of work cut out for you if you wish to complete all of the puzzles. We did regret one thing, however, as the game does not support touchscreen controls. We understand it would be a bit harder to perfectly pinpoint the correct tile(s) when trying to fill in bigger puzzles, but we still find it a missed opportunity to omit touchscreen controls from Nintendo’s Switch.
Conclusion
Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons is a fun puzzle title for lovers of nonograms, even those who aren’t that familiar with the Story of Seasons franchise. You’ll be treated to solid puzzling action and there’s more than enough content to keep you occupied for quite some time. The game sadly didn’t support touchscreen controls, but that didn’t take away from the overall fun to be had. On top of all this, the game’s very cheap asking price is something also worth considering.
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