Picross: Lord of the Nazarick

Genre: Picross Puzzle

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Picross: Lord of the Nazarick is a Picross Puzzle game that combines the classic puzzle design with the Overlord anime characters and world. However, since I haven’t watched this anime, I can’t really comment on how well it depicts that world and those characters. I know the anime was like .Hack and Sword Art Online in that it depicts a character trapped in a fantasy MMO videogame. However, here as far as I can tell the game seems to take place entirely within that fantasy world.

For players who don’t know this franchise, it’s going to feel like you’re getting bombarded by character and location names one after another, and while the game takes a style of plot that has the main character solving the game’s puzzles to remember past events, none of this really helps to acquaint player with the story, since it seems like just a random mishmash of fictional characters and items.

As for the puzzles themselves, this is pretty standard Picross fare, spread across a variety of types of Picross puzzles over the course of the game, including black/white and color variants, as well as “clip” Picross levels that use multiple puzzles to form a picture, and “Mega” puzzles that include numbers that straddle multiple lines.

I had a few issues with the gameplay here. Firstly, it’s not easy to see when a number has been “greyed out” to show that it has been completed in a row. Also, there doesn’t appear to be any way to check your work – you either solve the puzzle or you don’t. The game does offer players a “hint roulette” that solves a random row and column before the puzzle starts, but I tend to think that most players will likely prefer to go without this feature. Also, the completed puzzles are often such an abstract depiction of what they’re trying to represent that it’s hard to consider them “pictures” at all. And finally, the game has no touchscreen support, which seems like a huge oversight for a Picross game.

Visually, the game is adorned with barely-animated art from the show and it has a soundtrack that’s fitting for the theme, but overall nothing here jumped out as particularly interesting or appealing.

In the end, Picross: Lord of the Nazarick seems like a game designed with fans of the Overlord franchise in mind, as it does a poor job acquainting those unfamiliar with the franchise with the anime’s story. For those who just want a decent Picross game, this works, but it has enough flaws that I’d recommend most players to stick with one of the many other good Picross games on the Switch.

tl;dr – Picross: Lord of the Nazarick is a Picross Puzzle game with the world and characters of the Overlord anime. Unfortunately, the game does a poor job acquainting those new to the Overlord franchise with its story, and the actual gameplay has numerous flaws. Unless you’re a fan of the anime, stick with one of the many other Picross games on the Switch.

Grade: C

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