Try to imagine something cozier than wearing a big, cozy Christmas sweater, a fire burning, and you calmly and methodically placing pieces of a beautiful 1,000-piece puzzle. It’s holiday idyll, you can almost see the first snowflakes falling from the icy windows when a friendly aunt storms in with a delicious cup of hot chocolate for you. And while all of that may sound ridiculously unlikely this year, you can come very close to recreating it Puzzle Dreams.
This is unlike any other puzzle game you may have seen on Steam. First of all, everything is set in a 3D house that you can decorate as you like. Second, it includes physics where every other puzzle sim subverts the concept of all of their tangible life. Whether you’re at a table, on the landing, or just stretched out on the living room floor, you can adopt any of the game’s dozens of puzzle designs, or import your own image and then click it all together. You can choose how many pieces go up to ridiculous numbers in the high thousands, then meticulously sort the edges from the inside, stack them or spread them out however you like and get to work.
It’s such an authentic recreation but with an unlimited number of puzzles, no clutter and no lost pieces on the couch. (Though you can really drop them off the table given the accuracy of the physics.) — John Walker
