Tents and Trees

Genre: Picross-style Puzzle

Players: 1-4 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Tents and Trees is a type of family-friendly Puzzle that’s somewhat similar to Picross, albeit with slightly different rules. This sort of puzzle has been around for over a decade, but as of this writing this is my first time encountering it on Nintendo Switch, with this specific game releasing in 2018 on mobile devices (under the name Tents and Trees Puzzles), and then ported to Nintendo Switch in 2023.

The game starts with a grid bordered by numbers similar to Picross, with each number indicating how many tents are on that line or column. The grid is dotted with trees, and each completed puzzle must have each tree directly adjacent to at least one tent (corners don’t count) with one tent for each tree. No tents must be placed where they are not next to a tree, and additionally no tents may be placed adjacent to other tents (including corners). Grid squares where you know that no tent will be placed can be filled with grass to mark them as empty.

These rules give players a similar sort of process-of-elimination style of logic-based gameplay as you find in Picross puzzles. If a row or column is marked with a 0 (or all its tents placed), then you can mark all remaining squares in that row with grass. If a tree only has one free spot adjacent to it, you know that a tent goes there, and in turn you can mark all spots surrounding that tent with grass as no other tent will be placed near it. Using these rules, players gradually fill up each level with tents and squares of grass. This is definitely one of those “simple to learn, tough to master” sorta’ puzzles.

As this release didn’t invent the puzzle at its core, it may be best to judge it based on the other factors – how well the game makes this style of puzzle work on Nintendo Switch, whether it is presented well, and whether there is a good amount and variety of content. In all of these areas, Tents and Trees fares surprisingly well.

The gameplay using the gamepad works well, and feels natural. In addition, this game supports the touchscreen, which works even better. However, that’s not to say that playing the game in docked mode doesn’t have its own advantage, since the game supports up to four players in local co-op.

There’s no way to “test-mark” cels, though this doesn’t often seem necessary either. And this game has perhaps the best hint system I’ve ever seen in this sort of game – using it not only reveals a square you can fill with a tent or grass (or points out a mistake you made), but also tells you the rule that would have shown you the correct way to proceed, actively encouraging you to learn how to play better without hints on your own.

The presentation here is excellent too, using simple, clean-looking 3D visuals constructed from simple geometric shapes, given a bit of personality with some nice, low-key animation as they plop into or out of existence. Everything here is easy to parse and looks appealing, even if the game isn’t visually-impressive. These visuals are backed by a really soothing soundtrack that does a wonderful job giving this game a nice, relaxed atmosphere. Unfortunately, I can’t find any links to clean versions of the music here, but a look at a Let’s Play will give you an idea.

Finally, content. This game includes over 500 puzzles, with additional daily puzzles added on a rotation as well once you’ve unlocked them. Solving puzzles gains you access to more challenging puzzles including some with hidden numbers, and you can also unlock additional themes for the game, though the process of doing so can take quite a while. This slow pace unlocking content is probably the biggest complaint I have about this game, and it’s not a very major complaint.

Honestly, it’s hard to find much fault with Tents and Trees. This is a game that doesn’t do anything particularly original or revolutionary, but what it does it does very, very well. As Puzzle games go, this is polished, enjoyable, full of content, with a feature list that ticks off all the right boxes, and a presentation that is perfectly-suited to this style of game. And while this isn’t the sort of Puzzle game that’s likely to blow you away, it’s also not trying to do that. Instead, this is a game that’s clearly designed to provide a nice, laid-back, relaxing experience (though still a challenging one!), and to that end I feel like this game succeeds brilliantly.

tl;dr – Tents and Trees is a type of family-friendly Puzzle that’s somewhat similar to Picross, albeit with slightly different rules. While this iteration of Tents and Trees doesn’t do anything that’s particularly revolutionary, every single part of this game is polished and high in quality, from the great gameplay, good amount of content, and excellent features, to the classy visuals and wonderfully relaxing soundtrack. If you’re looking for a wonderful Puzzle game to chill with, this is an absolutely ideal choice.

Grade: A

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2023 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Most Efficient Use of File Storage Space (151MB)

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