Video Game Review: LOVE – A Puzzle Box Filled with Stories

LOVE – A Puzzle Box Filled with Stories

Rocketship Park

Puzzle

Nintendo Switch

Love can be a fickle thing. At times, it can feel like a jigsaw puzzle, with the pieces scattered across the table with no place for them to fit. But once they come together, a picture forms, telling a story all its own. It all comes together in LOVE – A Puzzle Box Filled with Stories. 

Gameplay

The puzzle takes place in a single building, where the central theme is the connection between the past and the present. Players can rotate the individual floors of the building, revealing locations from the past and in the present that follow the stories of the characters. Selecting a character or interacting with the environment helps draw connections from the past to the present, which players take a picture to place in a storybook to track progress. The missing pictures also give clues about where you need to go in the past and present to complete the puzzle. Despite some puzzles being mildly esoteric and some being distinctly convoluted, it allows for depth in a first playthrough. 

Audio

The audio is primarily an acoustic guitar instrumental that plays over the puzzles that the players do. There is one song with lyrics that play over the introduction and the end credits. The lyrics speak to the overall themes that the game tries to evoke. There are also small sound queues here and there that help to give feedback when you take an action. Overall, the music is solid and did not detract from my experience.

Art

The art uses a blocky style that is reminiscent of older styles of painting where the characters are more abstract and use their posture to describe the action. This interesting style helps make events and character traits more clear in places where voice lines would normally occupy that role. Sometimes though, it feels like it’s making up for where other parts of the game are lacking.

Conclusion

Overall, LOVE – A Puzzle Box Filled with Stories is a heartfelt game that tells a story that is relatable to many in its audience. While the puzzles may be wonky at times and the audio is a bit repetitive, the interesting gameplay and deep message can draw you in for a good experience.