It all starts with crackers. A load of crackers and various toppings to slap on them. And from thereon, it only gets more and more convoluted. Welcome back to A Little to the Left, developer Max Inferno's hypnotic and oh-so therapeutic tidy 'em up puzzler – the game concerned with the cleaning up of messes (and, on occasion, the batting away of interloping cats), incisively tapping into my obsessive nature. Everything has to be just so. Suffice it to say that if you've spent a disproportionate amount of time organising the attaché case inventory in Resident Evil 4 (like I have), then this is right up your street. And the game's new Seeing Stars DLC only offers more of that same gratifying thing. What's not to like?
Happily, Seeing Stars leans into the slotting together of parts and the perfect placing of items into compartments – easily the best bit in the base game and the Cupboards & Drawers DLC. You'll go cross-eyed popping toy figurines into a box, forming a beautifully complex tapestry of wizards, goblins, and, errr, cowboys; tidying away a big pile of tools; rearranging stacks of food storage tubs; packing away stationery into a pencil tin; placing clockwork robots into their compartments, making sure they're all in the correct configuration first; and myriad other puzzles, some of which can be a little more esoteric than others.
As expected, some of A Little to the Left: Seeing Stars' conundrums involve pattern recognition, or a touch of weirdness, like moving wool-munching moths around a jumper into a specific arrangement. Some levels have multiple solutions, so you might arrange a shelf in one way, only to discover that there are two or more other methods that are every bit as legitimate. Discovering every single one of those solutions to achieve the elusive 100% proves to be just as satisfying as it was in the main campaign, and a handful of minor twists to the formula keep things interesting.
Seeing Stars comprises a total of 38 new messes to tidy up, with 100 stars to earn, so there's a good amount to work through here. One highlight involves shoving four pieces of tooth-marked chewed-up bubble gum into a case, while other memorable puzzles include the laying out of origami models, putting away a medikit, and, Max Inferno injects a similar sense of fun into the new achievements, which includes one for sticking the aforementioned chewing gum to a lollipop. It’s all remarkably good, not always clean, fun.
Accessing the final few levels requires racking up enough stars to unlock them, too, so there's an emphasis on acquiring 100% and witnessing the bonus finale for your efforts. If A Little to the Left's tidying up already has its hooks in you, then Seeing Stars is guaranteed to scratch that same itch, satiating the urge to sort out mess. This emerges as a fine slab of DLC, then, boasting another couple of hours of mischievous felines, and, crucially, more addictive, pleasing, and enjoyable tidying up puzzles.
A Little to the Left: Seeing Stars is out now for $8.99/£6.99 and adds ten new achievements worth 200 Gamerscore.
Monday, July 01, 2024
It all starts with crackers. A load of crackers and various toppings to slap on them. And from thereon, it only gets more and more convoluted. Welcome back to A Little to the Left, developer Max Inferno's hypnotic and oh-so therapeutic tidy 'em up puzzler – the game concerned with the cleaning up of messes (and, on occasion, the batting away of interloping cats), incisively tapping into my obsessive nature. Everything has to be just so. Suffice it to say that if you've spent a disproportionate amount of time organising the attaché case inventory in Resident Evil 4 (like I have), then this is right up your street. And the game's new Seeing Stars DLC only offers more of that same gratifying thing. What's not to like?
Happily, Seeing Stars leans into the slotting together of parts and the perfect placing of items into compartments – easily the best bit in the base game and the Cupboards & Drawers DLC. You'll go cross-eyed popping toy figurines into a box, forming a beautifully complex tapestry of wizards, goblins, and, errr, cowboys; tidying away a big pile of tools; rearranging stacks of food storage tubs; packing away stationery into a pencil tin; placing clockwork robots into their compartments, making sure they're all in the correct configuration first; and myriad other puzzles, some of which can be a little more esoteric than others.
As expected, some of A Little to the Left: Seeing Stars' conundrums involve pattern recognition, or a touch of weirdness, like moving wool-munching moths around a jumper into a specific arrangement. Some levels have multiple solutions, so you might arrange a shelf in one way, only to discover that there are two or more other methods that are every bit as legitimate. Discovering every single one of those solutions to achieve the elusive 100% proves to be just as satisfying as it was in the main campaign, and a handful of minor twists to the formula keep things interesting.
Seeing Stars comprises a total of 38 new messes to tidy up, with 100 stars to earn, so there's a good amount to work through here. One highlight involves shoving four pieces of tooth-marked chewed-up bubble gum into a case, while other memorable puzzles include the laying out of origami models, putting away a medikit, and, Max Inferno injects a similar sense of fun into the new achievements, which includes one for sticking the aforementioned chewing gum to a lollipop. It’s all remarkably good, not always clean, fun.
Accessing the final few levels requires racking up enough stars to unlock them, too, so there's an emphasis on acquiring 100% and witnessing the bonus finale for your efforts. If A Little to the Left's tidying up already has its hooks in you, then Seeing Stars is guaranteed to scratch that same itch, satiating the urge to sort out mess. This emerges as a fine slab of DLC, then, boasting another couple of hours of mischievous felines, and, crucially, more addictive, pleasing, and enjoyable tidying up puzzles.
A Little to the Left: Seeing Stars is out now for $8.99/£6.99 and adds ten new achievements worth 200 Gamerscore.