The last few months we have had an onslaught of insane action games, big titles with huge open worlds taking up hundreds of hours of our time. Fortunately we get a bit of a break with a colourful new puzzle game from three person studio Tiny Monks Tale in the game Woodo. The premise is simple, your stag brings up a blank white canvas and then you need to fill the right shapes in the right areas to restore it and fulfil the level. It is an incredibly satisfying mechanic that provides a large amount of variety and while it may seem simplistic at the start, the difficulty does increase the more you play.
The game feels like a more fleshed out version of Yoshi & The Mysterious Book, replacing platforming with actual puzzle-play, with the scene of what happened in the memory playing out in animation as you fill in the pieces. Each scene is made out of 3D wood blocks, which allows for the exact placement of the blocks to automatically clip in when you hover over it. The trick is making sure that similar pieces are facing the right direction before they can click into place. The game constantly forces you to change your perspective to find the solution, zooming in and out, panning around to find those hidden items that are very cleverly hidden keep things interesting and is almost always the answer when it seems you are stuck and have no idea what to do next. There is a “Hint” feature by pressing X can help reveal the area that the piece you are holding needs to go to, but the couple of times I did it, really felt like I was cheating. It really did force me to slow down and take my time with this game.
Each scene is incredibly detailed, with some truly beautiful original characters and creatures that help make this story come to life. The main character Foxy has moved to a new village and is getting to know the locals through the summer. There are gaggles of geese who are doing what they can to chase the fox and make their life difficult, as much as they tried to be painted as the villain, they were just to beautiful to be taken as serious villains, don’t get me started on the adorable goslings and their crazy poses that bring a lot of humour to each scene they are in. There are scenes outdoors in nature around the village that bring in other characters like birds, frogs, fish and plants, and then some are set completely indoors and involve further intricate exploration like needing to open drawers and cupboards to find where to place items. It’s all set to some incredibly beautiful music, the score is relaxing and can help keep the mood down when the puzzles get more difficult. There are some added sounds from birds and water that really help add to the cosy element of this game.
The narration in this game, tells the story in each scene, re-living details about each memory as you unlock more details about the scene. You can toggle the voice narration on and off, and also add in subtitles if you wish to read rather than listen. I found the voice calming and having the memory read out as I paid attention to the details on the screen added to the coziness of this game.
Woodo is an incredibly relaxing addition to the cozy game genre. I found myself coming home from work and spending 30 minutes winding down with this game. My brain stayed active during the puzzle elements of this game, while the music and cute dioramas kept that relaxing vibe going. The team at Tiny Monks Tale have delivered a solid game that stands out amongst the crowded cozy game genre. The game is really ideal for any age, kids will love the characters and the Pixar-Dreamworks like animation will hold their attention. While the puzzle elements may stump them a little at times, it can be played alone or with other people in the room helping point out the obvious pieces that you missed. It’s a perfect cozy puzzler you can easily get lost in for many hours.
Woodo is available on Nintendo Switch 2, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam.
