Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons (Switch) Review

There are no shortage of Picross games on the Switch. From developer Jupiter alone, there are over a dozen games in the puzzle series.

Now, though, developer Score Studios has released Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons. The game centers around the Picross gameplay with a theme based on the Story of Seasons universe. While there may be a few smaller issues I’ll cover later on, for the most part Piczle Cross is a good entry for fans of the puzzle sub-genre.

If you’ve never played Picross before, think of it as a cross between sudoku and color by number. Each row and column has specific number(s) which need to be filled in via process of elimination, with gaps here and there. By using both rows and columns together, you fill in grids ranging anywhere from 5×5 to 20×20 until you complete a photo.

Thankfully, if you need a bit of help, Piczle Cross does offer some assistances that can be turned on and off. Things such as completing a row and column automatically at the beginning, automatically fixing mistakes or highlighting which rows and columns can be completed at any time are some of the hints that can be used when needed or turned off for veteran puzzlers.

Image Credit: Score Studios LLC

In this Piczle Cross, all art is related to farming, thanks to the Story of Season theme. Each completed puzzle gives a new entry in the glossary, while also moving the game ahead a day at a time, added more to the farm that’s developing in the background.

Overall, there are 350 puzzles to complete, 270 standard puzzles and 80 inside of five giant collage puzzles. The collage puzzles are larger displays made up of smaller puzzles of varying sizes.

However, there are a few small issues that keep this from being one of the top Picross entries. The cursor seems to move a bit slower than other Picross titles, which can add up to quite a bit extra time when you’re moving around larger puzzles or jumping from puzzle to puzzle. Plus, even if you’re doing handheld mode, there’s no ability to use the touchscreen, which makes these types of games much easier on devices such as tablets.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Even with these minor issues, Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons is still a solid puzzle game. It may not be the best one out there, but if you’re needing a puzzle itch scratched, it’s still a good recommendation to any puzzle fans.