I'm the type of introvert who's made an art of choosing the right seat in public places. With such honed skills, I assumed a puzzler like Is This Seat Taken? would be second nature, and I was mostly right. This adorable indie might not bring anything radical to the table, but it's a perfectly pleasant pick-up-and-play experience, that will undoubtedly scratch any low-stakes puzzle itches.
Strung together by a loose story about a rhombus with dreams of treading the boards (yes, really), Is This Seat Taken is about organising people into the right spots so that everyone's preferences are satisfied. This might be at the cinema or museum, a taxi or a boat, but each person (well, "shape" might be more accurate) has their own conditions to meet, and they can be rather fussy.
Things start simple: slot this handful of shapes into a taxi, and make sure persons A and C are sitting by the window. But each stage brings a new challenge. In the cinema screen, some guests will use their phones or chat. On boats, you'll get party groups who need to be kept separate from those who just want to sightsee. And everyone wants to steer clear of guests who forgot to shower.
The idea of performing such feats of organisation in the real world is enough to break me out in a cold sweat, but Is This Seat Taken couldn't be more chilled. There's no timer and no punishment for putting somebody in the wrong place. Heck, you can even finish the level without everyone sitting comfortably — though you'd lose valuable 'thumbs up' points, and my respect, in the process.
Busier stages can feel a little trial-and-error-y, and the absence of any kind of hint system meant I had to pull everyone from their temporary places and start from scratch on more than one occasion; I would love an undo/reset button for this kind of thing. Fortunately, no puzzle outstays its welcome. I polished off every level (in which there are five or six stages) in around six hours, and stages themselves are broken down into micro-challenges, primed for anyone who wants to squeeze in 10 minutes of gaming while the pasta's cooking. It feels tailor-made for precisely this.
The onscreen cursor is smooth and intuitive, the characters are cute, and you can even use touchscreen controls in handheld. If it all sounds rather mobile puzzler, that's because it is — I appreciated every new challenge and tweak when I'd come back to the game, but two or three levels on the trot felt a little repetitive.
All in all, Is This Seat Taken is solid pick-up-and-play puzzler. It may not do anything new or unique, but the condition-meeting gameplay loop is primed for anyone after a low-stakes distraction. It won't keep you occupied for hours on end, but it'll do an almighty job of reminding you that your seating preferences are not to be scoffed at.





Comments 27
Thanks for the review, this piqued my interest also during the Indie World and so I'm definitely giving it a try when I can (getting it as soon as possible at least considering also its starting price) - an undo/reset button seems like a good potential addition, fingers crossed they'll be able to implement it at some point!
First comment!
Anyway, my sisters have watched this on YouTube while eating lunch and I've watched snippets of it in the process, what I've seen of the game is good. Hopefully, anyone who plays it enjoys it.
Edit: nope, too late for first comment by about 1 minute, my mistake.
I'll be grabbing this, it looks brilliant. After, of course, I get my fill of UFO 50, which will be taking up most of my precious gaming time for the foreseeable.
Got it for my phone instead. A great game for the phone but yes I agree with the "cons" mentioned above.
This game stood out with its cute visuals. At first I thought it was from the development team behind Snipperclips but apparently not. I might have picked it up if I weren't already playing too many games, like Bananza and UFO 50.
Spot on review I think, a very solid 7 out of 10 and cool to see this doing well after featuring in the Indie Direct and getting a launch day release on Switch. I’m about halfway through and enjoying it a lot, there’s definitely some more challenge in the later levels but the trial and error part isn’t much of a detractor for me.
Love this game, very chill and cozy (and has a great sense of humour that I vibe with).
Exactly the kind of title I like to play when I want some downtime. I’d probably give it a point or so higher in the scoring overall but otherwise the review is along the same mark as my thoughts.
Worth a pickup for the price for sure, this game was made with love.
Really love this game, refreshingly original and as someone very particular about seating I feel represented! There's a demo on Steam BTW
@ShieldHero It’s always a gamble trying to state first comment, but one always worth taking!
As an aside, is there mouse mode for those with Switch 2?
Repetitive? With the concept of the game, the only thing to build upon is having more constraints for a given shape/person.
Trial and error happens closer to the end of solving a puzzle, but there are many types where that happens.
I will agree with the reset button being a really great feature, but I do recall only doing a full reset once for 3 different puzzles.
I’ve beaten the game. It was cute, and definitely short; it could’ve been longer. I’d give it a point higher.
@chewytapeworm No mouse controls. Controller and touch.
Bought the game right after the direct and I really like it. I'm worried about its length and as expected it seems to be rather short. Maybe we're lucky and the devs follow up with some free updates (if it sells enough).
Mouse controls is first thing I thought of seeing this but alas! Looks super fun n cute tho def want to check it out
The American Law School Admission Test just got rid of these types of brain teasers (on disability grounds since they required drawing diagrams), and now they're showing up on my Switch. Just put a 2 minute timer on it, and it could have been prep.
It reminds me of a hilarious viral browser game where you have to choose which is the most socially acceptable urinal to use when there are no walls between them.
Now I want to play Zoombinis again.
Sadly no mouse controls as it's a switch 1 game. Would love if it was an option.
"It may not do anything new or unique"
Wait, what other games are there like this where you have to seat people according to preferences? Unless I'm missing some similar games I don't know of I can't agree with that at all. :-/ It seems a very original idea and I've not played anything quite like it.
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This interested me during the Indie World, and once I saw it was only $10, I bought it right away. It’s so cute, and it’s great for pickup and play. Some of the puzzles really make me think, and I like that gameplay flow a lot! If I had known it was on mobile and not just switch, I probably would’ve gotten it there and played it on my iPad.
This and Tiny Bookshop are both rated "Overwhelmingly Positive" by Steam users, the highest possible rating.
I was interested but the fact that it’s just kinda stolen the character design of Snipperclips (the faces and shoes) has put me right off. If it were the same artist that’d be fine but from what I have found online it’s not. Which is a shame as the rest of the art is nice and original enough.
@Suketoudara It's not a full game but there is an episodic mini game in Professor Layton and The Curious Village on DS which I think has kind of slightly the same principle. Layton & Luke have taken rooms in an Inn and you are given furniture and items and you have to place them in their rooms, and this affects their happiness. Based on their preferences and tolerances to lamps, stuffed animals and chairs
https://share.google/v5Nm3irif0GJ8iROQ
I've played a bit of this, only because my wife got stuck on a few of the puzzles. Between us we blew through it in around 8 hours. I like it, it's cool.
@Overzeal not sure how that's a grammatical error, but ok.
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I consider myself a puzzle game afficainado and this one hit all the right spots for me.. really solid 8.5/10, easily worth the asking price.
In regards to a rewind button, there was not a single time in my play through that I felt the need for one, and fixing mistakes never felt like a chore to me.
Great review. I've only just gotten into
Pixel Game Maker Series Puzzle Pedestrians and it's fun enough, challenging but I just have to work around it.
This kind of gives off similar to how to put people in the right spots. Or I guess a more expanded version of pen and paper like versions of this.
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