Sometimes in this line of work, you see a game that immediately catches your eye in passing at a showcase or an event…and then that game seemingly disappears for years. You forget about it, only to be wonderfully surprised again when it finally shows up, looking even better than it did the first time you saw it. That, for me, is Woodo, a cozy puzzle game about assembling little wooden dioramas themed around country living. And wow, it’s come a long way since its debut trailer at the Wholesome Direct, five whole years ago:
In Woodo, you’re presented with a little diorama scene entirely made out of wood blocks, where most of the pieces are whited out. Like this:
In the panel to the right, you’ll be presented with a bunch of blocks that fit into the blanked out spaces in the diorama. You have to figure out where they fit, then click and drag them into place. It sounds like an easy task, but there’s a Where’s Waldo?-like difficulty to figuring out where exactly each tiny, specific shape might belong. I was genuinely surprised at the growing complexity of the dioramas with each new puzzle I solved: I had thought Woodo would end up being embarrassingly easy. I won’t call this game difficult by any stretch, but it’s got the same mental stimulation going that you might get from a couple-hundred-piece puzzle, and it’s possible that later levels are even more complex.
You can rotate the diorama, zoom in and out, and focus in on smaller items (such as a set table in a larger setting of a kitchen) to help you out. The pieces in your inventory rotate with you, so if you’re looking at a shape from one side, rotating the entire diorama might help you see it from another angle and determine where it might go. Some pieces might go inside drawers that you can only open once you’ve filled in the outside shapes of the drawer. Sometimes you need to open a chest to find missing pieces you need inside, or find a key to open said chest that’s sitting on the ground behind another object, or is hiding inside another object such that you can only see it from a certain angle. Often finishing one section of a diorama will be dependent on finishing another, which will in turn be dependent on a third, and so forth. There are lots of little tricks like this that turn Woodo into more of a chill puzzler than just a “find the shape” game.
The dioramas are all genuinely adorable, and just so pleasant to look at. It’s all depicted as lovingly carved, smooth little wooden toys and figures, with scenes starring an anthropomorphized fox, frog, and other characters like geese and roosters living in a charming agrarian village setting. The dioramas are just stuffed with detail, with little hidden birds, tiny scenes taking place in the backs of buildings, and sometimes smaller little events layered within larger ones. If you’re into the overall aesthetic of coziness, especially in association with nature or the general idea of escaping to the country, you’ll probably like the puzzle themes themselves. The music is peaceful, and there are bird sounds. There’s nothing hostile about Woodo at all.
I’m especially fond of thoughtful little elements like the pleasant, satisfying “click” each wooden puzzle piece makes when it falls into place. Similarly, I love that once a piece is in its right spot, most will have a tiny animation and sound that plays if you mouse over it, which helps bring the dioramas to life and add a bit more energy to the scene as you’re putting it together. In fact, Woodo wants you doing this as much as possible, because some missing puzzle pieces are hidden under others, and can only be revealed when they animate. In keeping with its story and design, Woodo is asking players, too, to be mindful of detail.
There’s one thing I don’t like about Woodo, and it’s the narration. There’s a story to Woodo, and the game defaults to a voiceover narration and subtitles. I don’t care much for the line delivery, which I turned off after a few puzzles, and honestly I think I’ll probably turn the subtitles off entirely, too, because the writing also isn’t doing much for me. Woodo reminds me a bit of Unpacking: its dioramas tell a story visually with no help needed, and I don’t feel like having what’s going on explicitly spelled out for me after every few pieces I place does anything other than distract me. I suppose it’s nice to have the option available for those who want it, but I wish Woodo had trusted itself enough to let the little wood puzzles speak for themselves.
I’m nitpicking, though. The overall experience of Woodo is just pleasant. Nice. Calming. I really liked taking a break in the middle of a hectic workday to play it, and as a wind-down in the evenings amidst my, uh, far more intense and stressful gaming endeavors of late. It embodies the idea of “ease,” not just in its gameplay but also in its story, its sounds, and the gentle look of each little wooden toy, so carefully sanded down I can easily imagine running my hands over it. In a crowded field of “cozy” games that I’m starting to get just a little burnt out on, I found Woodo‘s stand-out look and careful attention to detail a a relieving reminder that I do still like this aesthetic and genre an awful, awful lot.
