Solving puzzles takes up a large part of our everyday lives, whether we realize it or not. Tidying a messy garbage drawer so everything fits neatly or categorizing a bookshelf are subtle mental exercises that stimulate our logical thinking and creativity. A Little to the Left illuminates these everyday tasks with dozens of challenges that encourage organization and the satisfaction that comes with it, making for a uniquely enjoyable experience.
A Little to the Left puzzles present tasks as simple as arranging pencils by height or stacking spoons by size. These bite-sized exercises don’t always make me sweat, but I enjoy the tactile feel when I’m, say, clicking and dragging crumbs off a dining table to create a clean surface for placing plates on. If you enjoy even the simplest forms of tidying up, you’re likely to sink into this game right away, and that intangible X-factor makes the experience satisfying.
Some puzzles have multiple answers. For example, you can arrange books by height or thickness, and I liked finding two or three alternative solutions to a simple problem that I wouldn’t normally consider. Eventually, things get a little more complicated. What is the best way to arrange spice shakers with different quantities and color patterns? What time should I wind up the hands of a clock so the shadows line up a certain way? These harder puzzles add a nice bite to the game, and I find most of the solutions clever; at best I walk away feeling part Marie Kondo, part Einstein. But some issues feel too open in their answers.
For example, when I arrange piles of different seashells or leaves to form a hidden pattern, I stare at the screen for a long time, wondering what the hell I should do. Each puzzle has a certain logic and tinkering will eventually lead to a breakthrough, but sometimes I still don’t understand the problem even after solving it. This is probably more of an “I” issue; I’m most comfortable with less abstract puzzles, like figuring out the best way to hang tools on a board of nails. However, others require objects placed a little too precisely. While tipping picture frames on a wall, I fiddled with one for far too long before, to my annoyance, it randomly adjusted to a pixel-perfect angle that I’d covered many times.
The game’s inventive hint system, where you manually erase an opaque scribble to reveal a puzzle’s correct configuration, is cute and can be helpful, but it has flaws. For one, I usually only wanted to uncover a specific piece of the puzzle, so erasing the needed section required careful precision in order not to reveal too much. Because clues are black and white, color-based answers don’t translate as well. Ultimately, just looking at the solution isn’t the same as understanding it, which is why I wish the game presented hints with more direct instructions. Luckily, A Little to the Left doesn’t require you to solve a puzzle to proceed (at least for most of it). Selecting “Let It Be” allows you to skip segments without consequences if they prove too difficult or just aren’t that much fun. The game wants you to think, but not at the expense of its relaxing atmosphere.
A Little to the Left gives me a good mental start to the day, so I appreciate Daily Tidy. These once-a-day challenges provide a decent dose of brain food once you’ve devoured the 70+ main puzzles, or a good warm-up for them. So far most of the ones I’ve seen are variations of puzzles I’ve encountered, so I’m hoping to see even more unique challenges pop up in the future.
A pleasant and sometimes playful soundtrack, fun visual effects and occasional light interference from a mischievous cat all add up to a charming overall package. A Little to the Left may have scratched my head in confusion at times, but more often I’ve been delighted and content with the neatly arranged spaces I’ve created.
