Please, Touch The Artwork 2

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Please, Touch the Artwork 2 is a Puzzle game released on PC in 2024 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2025. After the first Please, Touch the Artwork found inspiration in De Stijl abstract art, one would expect a sequel to either follow suit or find some other form of abstract art that could directly translate into gameplay, and… that is absolutely not what has happened here.

Instead, Please, Touch the Artwork 2 focuses on expressionist and surrealist painter James Ensor, and the connection is not a vague similarity this time, as you will be exploring this artist’s catalogue of works directly, including paintings like The Rower, The Skate, and Christ’s Entry Into Brussels in 1889.

To connect these artworks together, players will be taking the role of a roughly-sketched suited skeletal figure, with the gameplay having a lot in common with Graphic Adventure games, with players using a cursor in the form of a skeletal hand, or the touchscreen, to interact with objects. You’ll be moving through the environments, searching for hidden objects at the behest of characters within said environments, and occasionally doing other puzzles, like patching up damaged paintings via a continuous line puzzle.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a Graphic Adventure, though – the puzzles aren’t about figuring out object interactions or environmental clues, and the game is always willing to give players help if they can’t spot an object they need, or tell them outright that the current scene has no further objects to find.

One thing that helps to take this above the average hidden object-style Puzzle game, other than the character-based navigation, is the presentation. The paintings here are gorgeous, of course, but every now and then you’ll get a quirky Monty Python-esque bit of crude paper doll animation that adds some humor into the mix. Furthermore, these visuals are complimented by some really lovely classical music that makes this a wonderful relaxed experience. And what’s more, these paintings are further brought to life through the use of some really wonderful environmental sound designs that helps these paintings have the feel of real-life places.

Due to both the excellent presentation and the accessible way the game has designed its puzzles, I think Please, Touch the Artwork 2 is better than the average hidden object game, and I like it more than the first Please, Touch the Artwork. If you’re a Puzzle fan or especially an art enthusiast, this is well worth the low $5 price tag, even if the game only lasts about an hour or so.

tl;dr – Please, Touch the Artwork 2 is a character-based Puzzle game that combines hidden object-style puzzles with a few other puzzle types, all in a package based on the artwork of expressionist and surrealist painter James Ensor. The presentation here is excellent and the game does a wonderful job giving players access to hints if they get stuck. This game is only about an hour long, but for only $5 it’s well worth trying out.

Grade: B+

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2025 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Puzzle Game, Best Value, Funniest Game, Best Sound Design

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