Puzzle Galaxy

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Puzzle Galaxy, released on Nintendo Switch in 2022, is a free-to-play Jigsaw Puzzle game where players piece together both hand-drawn cartoon-style art and photographic images. The free version of the game comes with 25 puzzles that players can determine the piece count for, and there are multiple DLC packs containing additional puzzles ranging from $4-$5 each, or players can instead opt to get an “All DLC” pack for $10

The more cartoony artworks here aren’t much to look at, but may be appealing to younger kids. Meanwhile, the photographic puzzles here are quite nice, featuring a good amount of color, and some of them will even play a video of the depicted scene upon completion. There are some light effects here for placement, but nothing fancy, and certainly nothing to justify the slight slowdown you’ll get while moving a piece around. And while players piece together these puzzles, they’ll have a light, relaxing soundtrack playing in the background, which works perfectly for this sort of quiet, contemplative game.

When piecing together puzzles, players only have access to a limited number of pieces at any given time, but can tap a button to clear their queue and get a random assortment of new pieces. Unfortunately, these puzzles don’t allow players to leave pieces in the vicinity of where you think they go – either you will place it correctly, or after a few attempts the piece will be returned to the queue, a reminder that not knowing its exact position means that you shouldn’t be trying it. This can be pretty frustrating, but before long you get used to the limited way this game forces you to focus on only pieces you can be certain of their placement.

While this game does have its limitations, it does offer a zoom option (only two levels of zoom though), and the option to see a preview of the finished puzzle for those who want things a bit easier. What’s more, while this game’s gamepad controls are decent, the touchscreen controls are fantastic, and feel very natural.

Overall, I’m really disappointed in the few areas where Puzzle Galaxy is noticeably flawed, because for the most part, I think this is a pretty ideal puzzle game. The controls work well, the photographic art at least is excellent, the music is fitting, there’s a decent amount of content, and of course the price is right. However, the way the game limits you to only placing pieces in correct spots and only gives you access to a limited number of pieces at a time is frustrating, and I feel like without these issues this could very well be exactly what one could want in a Jigsaw Puzzle game. Still, if you’re even mildly interested in Jigsaw Puzzles, this is worth checking out – it won’t cost you a single cent, and the microtransactions are all expansion content on top of an already decent amount of content. Give it a look!

tl;dr – Puzzle Galaxy is a family-friendly free-to-play Jigsaw Puzzle game with some good art (the photographic stuff, at least), a calming soundtrack, good controls, and the monetization is really quite reasonable. There are a few flaws here and there, namely limitations that prevent you from playing the way you may want. However, for the free price tag, this is definitely worth a look, especially if you crave a decent Jigsaw Puzzle game on Nintendo Switch.

Grade: B-

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