A Little to the Left (2022)

I wasn't thinking anything great about this game because it didn't look like it would be good and I saw so many bad reviews here, but I decided to play it anyway and I love it! This is one of these pc games that I start playing without great expectations but it ends up surprising me :>

I liked how the game doesn't give you tutorials or story, it's just straight to the point. It chapter has its own theme and it gets better with each chapter. Chapter 3 is definitely the best one and the fact that there is a DLC with similar theme proves that I am not the only one who think this way lol Chapter 4 is the weakest of them, I didn't like to trim plants and other dead leaves and rocks and that weird stuff and that is the only reason I didn't gave the game 5 stars and it was right after the best chapter so it made their differences more obvious.

I think that all the puzzles were pretty intuitive, the only level that I thought that wasn't intuitive was the one with bread tags because in my country we don't use this thing, so I thought that it were random puzzle pieces and I didn't know where to put the small things (bread crumbs) but I saw on the wiki and understood.

I didn't like the level with a cat's skull in it, and the tupperware tower was too laggy.

The cat was cute, but it didn't make any difference in the gameplay. By the game icon and main menu I thought that he would get in my to order the stuff but he was just a cute mascot (my cats were sleeping in my desk and using the keyboard as a pillow so I can't complain that this part didn't happen lol). Also, I think that the cat's owner shouldn't keep a ton with plants anyway if he has a cat.

I saw people here comparing the game to Unpacking and I think that this game is better than Unpacking. If you loved to order the stuff in Unpacking but hated that the game was short had to had some story, this game is way better.

I am not used to creating reviews to every game I play but I wanted to create this so other people wouldn't stay away from this game if they saw the bad reviews lol and as a side note, I am a person who really likes to order stuff. I actually enjoy organising stuff in real life and digital stuff so if are also like this, I think you should play this game!

I'm not the most intelligent person out there but (most) of these puzzles have the most abstract solution to them. I dropped it for several months until I hired a friend to act as Navigator with a guide pulled up to give hints or share solutions. "Oh, you're going to hate this one" was often said when the answer was truly ridiculous. And it often was.

I'm hate playing this game since I bought it and all the DLC but do not recommend.

Gosh, I'm a little torn on this one. The concept is brilliant, scratching a unique psychological itch. The presentation is delightful, with a simple, illustrative quality that's very warm and inviting. And most of the puzzles are rewarding to solve, proving the strength of the idea and the potential of the execution.

But there are also quite a few puzzles that felt really finicky given how little feedback you're given, similar to old-school point-and-click adventures. Multiple times, I would find a solution, nothing would happen, I'd go on a wild goose chase trying different things, give up, come back later, try my original solution again, and this time I'd see a 🌟 animation. I don't mind a challenging puzzle when the solution results in that "a-ha" moment, and it delivered plenty of that, but there were also quite a few puzzles that ended with more of an eye roll or a sigh... "I tried that already!"

The campaign also ended somewhat abruptly. I'm not criticizing the game's length... I'm a fan of concise experiences... it's more an issue of pacing, maybe? I said "oh, already?" aloud when the credits rolled. There's a "daily tidy" mode, but the puzzles I tried were simple remixes of those from the campaign, so I don't know that it'll hold my interest.

Absolutely worth playing, but in hindsight I would have tempered my expectations a bit!

Après le très bon Unpacked j'avais besoin d'un autre puzzle game cozy.

J'avais déjà joué à la Démo de A little to the Left donc j'étais contente de l'acheter car le concept d'organiser des trucs me plaisait bien.

Malheureusement malgré une direction artistique et une musique au poil je me suis retrouvé devant des puzzles très répétitifs sur la longueur (sans doute lié au grand nombre de niveaux) et pour certains frustrants tant je ne comprenais pas la logique derrière les énigmes même avec les indices ingame...

An awesome concept with super charming art, let down by disappointing puzzles

• Concept is appealing enough that I powered through. Love the little story with the cat.
• The game feel is great. Great sound effects.
• At its best, it scratches an itch and feels like a cozy game to unwind with.
• At its worst, the game tries to up the difficulty, and there are virtually no shared mechanics to speak of. This means puzzles don't make you feel smart, they simply make you sit there thinking "what does the designer want me to click on".
• By the end, the game design actively harms the experience. Some of the puzzles are genuinely frustrating, yet the game ends with what is supposed to be this euphoric climax of coziness. It unfortunately fell flat.
• Ultimately, it's fine.

I played this with my girlfriend. She loves jigsaw puzzles and values tidying things up so its was a fun experience.

Most puzzles are the right level of engagement. Some are a bit hard, but most of them are relatively obvious and the core idea is for it to be cosy and cute. Contray to other reviews, we only found one puzzle to be unintuitive, but we just skipped it with no penalty and returned to it after finishing the rest of the puzzles. There were too many puzzles that were just arrange things symmetrically and those we didn't like.

The main issue with the game, I think, is that it doesn't feature the cat enough. The ending has this whole elaborate splash screens with the cat, but she's barely there for the rest of the puzzles. I think her paw appeared trying to mess up a puzzle 4 or 5 times tops.

The graphics and idea of this we're nice. It was calming to play while I was off with a cold, but don't think I'd play it again.

Some of the stages really needed the clue to even have an idea of what to do. There's stages that have multiple ways to solve it, but they'll only give you a clue for one way.

It was quite short as well. Found I complete the basic stages (without replaying to gain extra stars for the alternative solutions) in about an hour or so.

Felt closer to a free mobile game rather than a PC/Switch game that costs £12...

I love the game's "go at your own pace" vibe and the grainy pastel style. And I do think a lot of the puzzles are clever, and of course I like that they offer you multiple solutions!

But there were no "Aha"s. Not one time did I solve a puzzle and say "Aha! That is what I was supposed to do!" Maybe that is a silly way to judge a puzzle game, but I feel a little let down. I was hoping for something a little more complex than Sudoku, but what I got is more on the challenge level of Where's Waldo. And I'm not saying that Where's Waldo as a concept can't be refined into something artistic and beautiful. It can. They made that game and called it I Am Dead.

I think A Little to the Left is a ten out of ten for what it is trying to do. I just think these simple puzzles are a seven out of ten for me at their best.

If this seems real cool to you from a trailer, maybe pick it up. But if you aren't just absolutely going monkey mode for the idea of sorting silverware, this might not be terribly memorable.

Also the music is mostly Sims level chill, but there is one song that was so obnoxious and anxiety inducing that I turned the sound off. Rotten apple spoiled a musical bunch. Oh well.