You like Picross, we like Picross, everyone likes Picross, right? It's just as well because Jupiter's been pumping out nonogram games like there's no tomorrow — Picross S6 was the latest, and while it provides more of the same solid puzzle action, we wouldn't mind a little more variety when it comes to the tried-and-true formula.
That's where Pictooi comes in. Coming from Limited Run Games and developer Atooi (of Mutant Mudds and Xeodrifter fame), this is a new spin on the picture-revealing logic puzzle we all know and love that's launching tomorrow on the US Switch eShop, with a European release to follow on 7th July.
The game is designed to be approachable for newcomers and veterans — the aesthetic certainly looks familiar to anybody who has played one of Jupiter's many offerings. It'll feature 300 puzzles across 5x5, 10x10, 15x15, and 20x20 boards, and the game also keeps track of your progress on a calendar so you can see yourself improve over time.
Here are a few more details from the PR blurb which includes an introduction from one Professor Ishida, who will apparently be your "host, mentor, and friend" throughout the game. We've also added some screenshots to give you a flavour of the game's UI:
"Oh, hello! Did you know your brain is kind of like a muscle? Let's exercise your brain by challenging it with logic puzzles. Solving logic puzzles can expand your mind! I look forward to sharing our journey together." - Professor Ishida
Classic mode features ten neatly categorized pages of 180 logic puzzles, including fun categories such as nature, music, and space! It is fun to discover how the puzzles on each page relate to one another.
Diorama mode contains ten mysteriously silhouetted dioramas, featuring 120 logic puzzles. Solving each logic puzzle reveals a portion of a diorama. Revealing each mysterious diorama is very satisfying!
Pictooi is priced at $9.99 / £7.49 / 8,29€ and launches in the US on 2nd July and Europe on 7th July.
Let us know below if this take on the familiar formula tickles your puzzler bone.
Comments 29
Pretty cool, I reckon I'll grab this up.
If Limited Run Games are giving this a digital publication, then it'll get a physical down the line too, maybe.
Will give it a go as I love these types of games, but I swear that name feels like “legally distinct name so we don’t get sued+ dev name pun”.
Edit: it is a joke about the similarity in name to Picross.
Picross is fine, but it gets old way too quick for me. Conversely, something like Sudoku, which I'd argue has a lot of similarities with Picross, can keep me engaged for long periods of time.
@Ryu_Niiyama
Nintendo didn't invent Nonogram puzzles, Picross is just their brand of them.
So another Picross despite the fact there's like...12 Picross games on the eShop already. Best of luck to this game, hope this yields a profit for them.
So many nonogram games now! Not a bad thing, though this one looks dangerously similar in all the UI and visuals.
Did Chicken Wiggle ever come out...?
@duffmmann I feel very much the opposite way about those two games. Each to their own!
@Ogbert
Still radio silence on Hatch Tales for Switch as it's now known.
I don't get what Atooi is doing sometimes. The physical 3DS release of Chicken Wiggle as part of Atooi Collection has a fatal bug on the final levels that will crash the 3DS every time you attempt it.
I have plenty of Picross games on Switch, and while I usually welcome more, what I don't have is a copy of Chicken Wiggle (Hatch Tales) that I gave Atooi money for over 3 years ago and haven't had so much as a Kickstarter update in 8 months. Maybe we should hold devs accountable for such behavior, even if it's just a footnote in an article about a brand new surprise game they've apparently been developing on their backers' time and money.
I love me some Picross. I prefer button controls, but I wonder if this supports touchscreen controls. Many want those controls for the Jupiter games.
I played many Picross games on 3ds, and I tried the Picross on switch. Picross is good, but . . .
Travel Mosaics is far better, in my opinion. The UI is easier, more fun to use, the color on the pictures really pops out. Also, there are different ways to set difficulty.
That said, I recently started 3D Picross again on my 3ds, it is a great game.
@RupeeClock I wasn’t talking about Nintendo. I was talking about the Picross vs Pictooi (and the name was likely chosen to invoke consumer familiarity with the Picross brand and is plain to see it worked as people are talking about Picross in the comments) similarity. My joke is valid no matter who originally made the game.
I would have said the same if Atooi made a Castlevania type game but named it “Keepvaniatooi”
Looks fun. I love Picross and this developer has a great pedigree. But, seriously Jools is never going to finish that Treasurenauts game is he?…
The Hatch Tales (formerly Chicken Wiggle Workshop) Kickstarter hasn’t had an update from Atooi since October 2020. Now it is revealed they were working on another game that is complete and releasing tomorrow? This is not how you treat Kickstarter backers.
Not interested in anything from this specific developer.
@Seacor @BooJoh @RupeeClock @Ogbert Chicken Wiggle was a lot of fun on 3DS. I enjoyed 100%-ing the game and playing the higher ranked user levels.
I just wonder if re-doing all the graphics slowed the port down. 3DS graphics on a giant TV probably wouldn’t look great. But it would be the perfect game for handheld mode & Switch Lites.
I did back the Kickstarter and am still hoping it gets fulfilled.
After playing several Jupiter Picross S games over the last few years, I kind of hit a wall. Then I discovered the Travel Mosaics series and bought the first couple on sale a few months ago. Although they are well done and a change of pace, not a lot of variety in the actual puzzles, at least in the first two games.
I also enjoyed the 3D picross games on DS and 3DS. Hopefully a new iteration will come to Switch.
Did someone spit out the title of this game?
@Tandy255 No idea but the radio silence and then releasing this does not look great.
Touchscreen controls is all I want. Why is it so hard?
I wonder how this will be different.
so far I am playing all those on the SNES Picross 1-9, Marios Picross, the 9 on the 3ds, 6 (so far) on the switch and both 3d versions, and the original on the DS..... that's 27 various Picross games not including those nanogram ones also that I've purchased. INterface and options make all the difference.
@MindfulGamer I liked PictoQuest and Piczle Cross Adventures enough to complete both.
Just checked my KS. Prior obligations are meaningless to some people.
@MedusaMadman77 I actually did play PictoQuest and found it reasonably entertaining. Will probably look into Piczle.
I would like to see another nonogram game take a story approach like Murder by Numbers.
@MindfulGamer I'm worried that Murder by Numbers didn't sell well enough to get a sequel. It was quite good.
Jools should offer the Chicken Wiggle backers a code for this instead.
@Broosh I think the Nonogram genre has plenty of room. Think of each title as a unique or mostly unique puzzle book.
I should of commented on these articles earlier as I feel very strongly about this whole situation with Atooi and their big mistakes, with my own position as yet another Hatch Tales Kickstarter backer.
@dartmonkey Gavin, I have a simple, rational question to ask you, gamer to journalist: why have you not covered this topic in these newer articles? It seems incredibly wrong to me to see this site seemingly ignore the greater issue at hand over a year later. Unless, as of this comment, I'm missing something in terms of coverage on this website.
The developer has been doing what many would arguably consider unethical and very unprofessional behavior. Communication has been poor the entire time, backers are ghosted, and promises are given but never kept.
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