It’s only recently that I’ve discovered a new trend of cozy puzzle games. These games contain a collection of several puzzles to complete, ranging in difficulty, designed not only to exercise your brain, but also help you unwind. One game I recently reviewed that matched this theme was Raccoon Cocoon. At Christmas, a new title that fitted this niche genre released, titled Softly Placed.
Released exclusively for the Nintendo Switch, Softly Placed includes 40 puzzles with a cozy theme. As part of the cozy puzzle trend, is this a good entry?
Softly Placed is now available on the Nintendo Switch for $7.99.
Story – No Story, Just Puzzles
Some puzzle games have a story or some kind of narrative to it – but not Softly Placed. There’s no story here, just a collection of puzzles to enjoy. In the context of this game, a story really isn’t necessary. It wouldn’t add anything to it because the puzzles in Softly Placed have a variety of themes that don’t link together.
Gameplay – Plenty of Cozy Puzzles
Softly Placed is a cozy puzzle game through-and-through. It contains 40 different puzzles to complete. You must first do them in order to unlock all of them, and then you can go back and repeat the ones you enjoyed most, or try to get more stars (more on this in a bit).
Organize, Sort, Assemble, Etc.
There are a variety of puzzles to solve in Softly Placed. You may have to piece a picture together, or organize objects into a particular order. One type of puzzle that crops up repeatedly involves completing a series of steps to finish a task, such as crafting a figure out of acorns or creating a kite. Similar puzzles include assembling a lunchbox or rucksack, in which items have to be paired up before tidying them away.
The puzzles are good fun to work through and will exercise your brain without overstraining it, meaning you can relax and unwind while completing them. Some are certainly more challenging than others, especially since you’re not spoon-fed the answers on how to solve the puzzles. You may be given a clue or hint on what the ultimate goal is, but at the end of it all, you have to figure out what you have to do.
Organizing a shelf full of items is a classic cozy puzzle.
Your Reward Is a Star
After finishing a puzzle, you get awarded with at least one star. Most puzzles only offer one star just for completing them, but others provide more. Upon first completing all the puzzles in Softly Placed, you get a message informing you that you can return to previous puzzles, where there may be alternative solutions.
However, it’s not always that obvious what these “alternative solutions” are when working through them again. Is it doing the puzzle in a different order? Moving objects around less times? Completing the puzzle in a faster time?
There’s no physical reward for earning all the stars, except a sense of accomplishment, so this is more for completionists. At the end of the day, the main goal for Softly Placed is to relax while completing puzzles, so the desire to “be the best” is optional.
Some puzzles have more than one star as a reward.
Graphics – Soft Visuals
Like other cozy puzzle games I’ve played, Softly Placed has an easy-on-the-eye art style to match. These are what I like to call “children’s storybook” style. It’s not childish, but it contains subtle-yet-vibrantly-colored graphics that are pleasant to look at. They’re not dull, but they don’t hurt your eyes either. For Softly Placed, this art style suits the game beautifully.
Also, this art style works well with working on the puzzles. Everything is clearly defined. It’s obvious what you’re looking at and it all has a clean presentation, making puzzle completion that little bit easier, even the harder ones.
Audio – Nice Sound Effects, but Slightly Distracting Music
Regarding the music for Softly Placed, I have to admit I only found it okay. It wasn’t obnoxious, but it did get a little grating at times, especially when I was stuck on a puzzle. I did have to mute it a few times so I could think more clearly, which isn’t exactly ideal for a cozy puzzle game. Softly Placed needed music, but I just found it a little distracting. It wasn’t terrible though.
The sound effects used in Softly Placed are generally very good, but what I didn’t pick up on right away was that in the puzzles where you craft items, there’s an audible cue whenever you move an object over another object that pairs up together. I thought this was a nice touch, and handy if you’re ever stuck.
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- Some puzzles are as simple as arranging pictures on a wall.
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- Making this sandwich is fun, but you have to figure out the order and how to do it.
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- Packing a bag is easy enough, but you have to organize the contents first.
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- One puzzle involves locating specific items in a drawer.
