PictoQuest Review

As far as simple puzzle-type games go, Steam is sorely lacking in what many might consider of the classics. From Sudoku to Nonograms, finding a straightforward and addictive title to jump into is a struggle, and for those who prefer Valve's client as their one-stop shop application for all things gaming, it can be a tad disappointing.

This is where NanoPiko and PID Games' PictoQuest fills an all-too-empty niche. Mixing in RPG elements with the Nonogram (also known as Pictograms, hence the name), it’s full to the brim with a large number of stages to complete, including quests to finish for villagers with unique twists.

It's a surface-level puzzler that seeks to add a level of combat and strategy to the mix, and it doesn't hide its scope: without much of a narrative to behold, you’ll take control of either Flöh or Arvel to restore the paintings of Pictoria and save the day. With nary a story to follow henceforth, aside from the funny quips the villagers give throughout their sidequests, it’s off to solve Nonograms and repair the pixelated pictures.

To fix the pictures, you’ll engage with the Pictograms, which plays like a reverse Minesweeper: each row and column has a series of numbers that dictate how many filled-in squares appear in that line and how they're grouped. For example, if a 5×5 row shows "2 2", there are two clusters of two filled squares, with at least one space between them. The visual nature of the puzzle makes it easier to grasp than it sounds on paper, and once you get the hang of it, the gameplay is intuitive and accessible, especially if you've seen similar puzzles before.

Though it starts beginner-friendly with a 5×5 grid that works perfectly to come to grips with the mechanics, it slowly builds up into the gargantuan 20×20, which, for the uninitiated and beginners (much like myself), can be a jarring growth in difficulty. It’s still a slow and gradual build-up that doesn’t cause whiplash in practice, and easier levels are offered at the start of these challenge bumps, like fighting foes with slower attack speeds, to let you come to grips with the new grid size.

The way PictoQuest innovates on the simple puzzler is by bringing RPG elements into the mix. Restoring pictures will net a bit of Gold to spend in any Shop in order to acquire Skills to make some of the harder stages easier, which could feel like a necessity at times, depending on the complexity of the specific puzzle.

The skills can range from extremely useful to barely noticeable, with only a few of them worth the effort and price to acquire. The fireball takes the trophy by far as the most helpful ability, revealing an entire row and column's connected squares temporarily, which offers the opportunity to fill them in before the indicator disappears.

The versatility of the fireball works in wondrous ways, providing the opportunity to catch some of the most important sections without having to risk making a mistake. At times, PictoQuest offers up a free power-up if you can complete a specific row or column within a small time frame, but this leads to making mistakes too often and is unreliable at best. However, taking a hit mid-run felt far more logical than forking over the egregious amounts of money that the cleverly-named Sellork (a salesman orc) demands for his wares.

Pictoria is a capitalist nightmare: completing puzzles nets varying Gold depending on the difficulty, going as high as 50 in the later stages. However, acquiring items — even a single-use fireball — is criminally expensive, and my wallet quickly ran dry of money whenever I went down the spell-casting route, with fireballs costing as much as 130 Gold, and half a heart for just 30 Gold. This made utilising abilities stressful when it didn’t feel strategic enough, which was a shame, considering using these moves felt like a much-needed innovation and a highlight of the experience. It’s a logistical nightmare when you get into the nitty gritty of the economy, as the numbers just don’t add up favourably towards the player, and I found myself having to grind out the specific items or Gold to accomplish what I would head out to do.

Health upgrades in and of themselves play as part of the problem: starting with just three, you should be able to tank around six blows from any given enemy (barring crits and misses). You can — and should — buy more from Sellork at expensive prices: 1000 and 2000 gold to go up to five total hitpoints, which will become a necessity in the later levels, but this further eats into your item-purchasing budget that feels too limited.

Thankfully, failing any given quest isn't punished unless it's a chest world (which reduces total Gold per failed square). Scattered throughout the numerous worlds of Pictoria are enemies trying to prevent any sort of progression, and fighting them is the only way forward.

Throughout combat, the enemy will attack after a set period of time, having the chance to miss, deal half a heart, or deal a critical hit that costs one total heart. Completing a column or row reduces this attack timer (often exponentially) and deals some damage in return, which is entirely useless until the later stages, where numerous enemies are introduced at the same time. 

The number of foes can go up to as high as three total, which quickly can become overwhelming when struggling to complete enough rows or columns to prevent damage. In fact, taking a hit is pretty much inevitable, as not only do enemies attack when their timers run out, but a single mistake leads to an instant hit from the foe, so playing perfectly would be a must, but it feels counter-intuitive in the long-run whenever making a mistake can reveal important information on the board.

Bosses were a highlight, as though they weren’t overly complex, their attacks nearly always critically hit. But when I found myself in a groove and completing quests at a quick pace, the upbeat music made me feel like a true hero, even if all I was really doing was clicking a few squares and hoping for the best. I did find myself dancing along to the upbeat tunes, which may have just been a tad distracting and causing me to make more mistakes in the long run, but enjoying the music was worth the hits.

The puzzles and Nonograms are brilliant in and of themselves, and the unique blend of RPG makes PictoQuest an interesting pick-up, but it fails most at its newcomer accessibility. Unless you know enough about Pictograms and are willing to learn a few tricks, 10×10 grids and higher will prove a blocker to progression, and the game doesn't provide tips for those wishing to learn and adapt — you get one tutorial, and then good luck.

On the contrary, even simple math can make a puzzle tolerable when you start understanding the nuances and unspoken rules of Nonograms, and it works as a great way to learn new tricks without being spoon-fed how to do things. It's a callback to gameplay that didn't hold the player's hand, and while it feels brutal, it can create engaging gameplay that, despite being a beginner, had me going through all the levels until I brute-forced my way into learning tricks to handle the 20×20 grids.

The hardest point to argue against is the accessible price point. While there are countless Nonogram websites and free applications that offer the same essential gameplay loop, few incorporate that fantasy RPG itch: often, it's a blank paper with some numbers at the sides. Priced at £5.79 (or as low as £0.57 at it’s historical low discount of 90%), it's hard to argue against picking the title up if you're already interested in Nonograms, but as a novice and newcomer, prepare to struggle past the halfway point of the game until you wisen up enough to learn new tricks.