Mewseum: Film Festival

A solid sequel, more of the same good concept and lovely pixel art style. The gameplay loop stays untouched to the first game. It is still very relaxing to "paint" the picture gallery section by section. The new jazz soundtrack fits superb. The perfect game to start when you want to relax, just play some minutes and enjoy this sense of achievement when a poster keeps unfolding before you.

Bigger posters, more puzzles, and a bold new philosophy that 80% is basically 100%. Mewseum: Film Festival has done something increasingly rare in sequels: it kept the puzzle concept from the first game and resisted the urge to verschlimmbessern it - that splendid German art of "improving" something until everyone quietly wishes you hadn't. The familiar Shikaku-style puzzling is still here, now used to uncover lovingly made cat-themed movie posters, and mechanically it remains as pleasant as before. Unfortunately, the posters are much larger this time and contain far more puzzles than the paintings in the original. This occasionally turns a relaxing little logic exercise into something closer to completing the annual tax return, except with more cats. Apparently the developers noticed this as well and arrived at an elegant solution: once you've completed about 80% of the areas, the game simply reveals the remaining 20%. Brilliant. Nothing says "satisfying puzzle completion" quite like the software eventually deciding, "Oh, never mind, I'll do the rest." I felt slightly cheated - albeit very efficiently. The classical music has also wandered off and been replaced by something considerably jazzier. Perhaps this is an improvement. Perhaps civilisation is ending. I couldn't say, because I play the game without music anyway. Consider this one entirely a matter of personal taste rather than grounds for convening an inquiry. And yet, irritatingly, the game remains charming. The attention to detail is excellent, the film-poster ideas are genuinely clever, and there is enough affection poured into the whole thing that I ended up recommending it despite my grumbling. If you liked the first Mewseum and don't mind larger puzzles, longer posters and a game that occasionally completes itself out of apparent concern for your remaining lifespan, you can buy this one quite safely.

I do recommend this and the previous game, Mewseum: Masterpieces. But this comes with both a caveat and criticism first. The caveat is that this game is Shikaku -- it's easy to find Shikaku to play for free online. I really hope the devs weren't dishonestly hoping to convince people they came up with this game. As such you don't need to go to either Mewseum game to get this itch scratched. Let's get the criticism out of the way: let me express my intense disappointment at the complete lack of "nya" in any of the movie title puns. It's BEGGING to be there. The Nyavengers, Mission Nyanpossible and so on, it just fits so easily. Not every space has to be weeb colonized, but this is a Japanese puzzle game to begin with. So let's give Japanese cats their due. Might I suggest a Nyakira poster as a compromise? Okay. All of that out of the way, I think both Mewseum games are worth playing and the most worthwhile way to experience Shikaku I'd seen. The music in both games are soothing, the interface and visuals and just everything about the UI feels good. It's the gaming equivalent of enjoying a nice cup of cafe au lait. Shikaku is also a very very satisfying and under-loved game -- it's the lesser known sister of Sudoku by the same creators but is less about counting numbers and more about drawing squares and rectangles. It hits the part of your brain that gets satisfaction from Tetris or word searches. Both Mewseum games gives you hundreds of Shikaku puzzles to play and the presentation is impeccable. You'll get your money's worth in time/quantity as well as in puzzle solving stress relief hormones. (I was adjusting to a move across the country when I played Masterpieces and it came in clutch during that time)