Nekograms is a cute and comfy puzzle sport for the Nintendo Swap. It options cats and cushions with the straightforward goal of serving to every kitty attain a cushion so it may possibly take a well-earned nap. Did I point out it’s cute?
The sport started life as a substitute for Picross. Though it began out utilizing gentle bulbs as the primary gimmick, throughout improvement, it developed right into a cat-based model. However don’t let the lovable aesthetics idiot you; this enjoyable puzzle expertise will nonetheless tickle your mind.
Nekograms is full of 120 ranges, offering lots to do. Each is brief and candy, depicting a lot of cats, cushions, and different objects in a grid-based format. The catch is that felines can solely be moved left and proper. These comfortable pillows, then again, solely traverse in a vertical course. Different objects like seashore balls and occasional cups are there to dam your path, including complexities.
Puzzles are unfold throughout three worlds, with forty ranges apiece. You start in a cat café, a really Japanese idea that enhances the sport’s title (“neko” is Japanese for cat, in any case). From there, it’s off to the seashore for some enjoyable within the solar earlier than lastly heading to a beautiful park space. And are these cherry blossoms within the park? Every world is embellished with colourful backdrops that pop off the display screen.
Nekograms retains issues cozy with no time restrict to emphasize you out, permitting you to suppose by way of every puzzle at your personal tempo. Nonetheless, the problem lies within the set variety of really useful strikes assigned to every one. So, whilst you can take so long as you want, completionists (or perfectionists) will need to earn the highest ranking of three stars, achieved by hitting that par variety of strikes.
The menu supplies a neat overview of all ranges, depicting your star scores and making it straightforward to see which ranges it’s essential revisit. New ranges are locked till the earlier one is accomplished, however you don’t want to gather a selected variety of stars to maneuver on. This balances the problem, permitting gamers to maneuver on comparatively simply by including a problem for anybody on the lookout for extra to do. And if that’s not sufficient to maintain you busy, there’s an unlockable limitless mode to maintain you hooked, nicely, perpetually.
The music is easy and candy, completely suited to the cartoony kitties and that enjoyable vibe. The cat noises originated from an actual cat, including to the expertise with an genuine really feel. In case you’re a cat one that loves puzzles, this shall be proper up your alley.
A puzzle sport like Nekograms screams for contact controls. Fortunately, the builders have performed a terrific job holding this intact for the Swap model. The contact controls work completely in handheld mode, permitting you to slip these kitties and cushions to your coronary heart’s content material. It’s intuitive and shortly turned my favourite option to play. That stated, the controls are equally easy and straightforward to make use of, so taking part in on a tv is simply as accessible.
Total, Nekograms is an lovable puzzle sport all about serving to cats take a nap. It simply doesn’t get any extra lovable – however there’s extra to it than cuteness. Nekograms additionally presents a powerful puzzle component with over 100 ranges to beat, together with a star ranking and limitless mode to maintain you hooked. This enjoyable and well-designed puzzle outing is certain to please style followers.
Searching for much more? We additionally spoke to Hungry Sky, developer of Nekograms, at PAX Aus 2024.
