Glass Masquerade

Does the world need video game ports of jigsaw puzzles? This was the question I asked myself about a year ago when I reviewed Animated Jigsaw: Beautiful Japanese Scenery on the Switch. At that time, I concluded that this probably wasn't needed, but I'm starting to second guess that decision after playing through Glass Masquerade. This is a fun and stylish take on the jigsaw formula that proves that this kind of game can work on consoles. Color me surprised.

Glass Masquerade takes us on a globe-trotting tour through the International Time Exhibition in an attempt to piece together 25 complicated jigsaw puzzles. Instead of just giving us a simple boxy space to fill in, the puzzles here come in a bunch of different shapes and sizes, all designed to look like an incredibly fancy clock from around the world. The goal, as you might expect, is to use all the pieces to complete the picture and move on to the next country's clock.

The designs we're trying to piece together are these incredibly ornate art deco mosaics that represent something about each country. They're bright, colorful and filled with so much detail that it's almost overwhelming at first. This isn't like the typical jigsaw puzzle where you're looking at a field or building or animals, these are complicated works of art that distill hundreds of years of culture and history into 25 incredible pieces.

What sets this apart from the other jigsaw games is that Glass Masquerade actually feels like it was designed to be a video game. Where something like Animated Jigsaw tossed a couple hundred tiny pieces on the screen and made you sift through them, the 30 - 60 pieces you need in this game are all cleanly lined up on a couple of spinnable rings. The interface is simple and clean, and I like that the pieces don't all look exactly the same. The big difference is that you're often matching the shapes and not necessarily looking at the pattern. The puzzle designs are so complicated that trying to match the pattern can be more of a hinderance than a help.

You would think that Glass Masquerade would be perfect in handheld mode, but I found that to not be the case at all. In fact, I had a much easier time playing the game with the boring old Joy-cons than the touchscreen. The problem is that the pieces are so small that you end up covering them up with your finger. What makes this even more frustrating is how the unused pieces are displayed, which is pointing in a random direction and cloaked in a dark silhouette. But even if that wasn't an issue, simply placing these small pieces into place is incredibly tough with your finger covering everything. Some of these problems could have easily been resolved by allowing you to set down the piece or zoom in on specific parts of the puzzle, but everything is so small and unruly in handheld mode that I ended up just going back to the controller.

Speaking of which, the analog controls are also a little weird. Although the gameplay is pretty much what you would expect, there's a floatiness to the movement that you have to put up with. It's almost as if moving the pieces builds up a momentum that is hard to stop. It's not a deal-breaker, but the movement in this game is definitely odd. On the other hand, I like that you don't have to rotate the pieces. It's also nice that you can be a little off in your placement and still get credit for finding the right spot. There's a lot about the user interface that really shines here, so it's a little disappointing that the movement is so floaty.

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The other knock against the game is that it's not very long. There are only 25 puzzles to piece together, most of which can be completed in five to ten minutes. There are a few larger and more challenging pictures that took me closer to a half-hour, but it won't take dedicated jigsaw fans very long to complete the game. And there isn't much more for you to do once the puzzles are assembled, unless you want to go in and beat your time. It's fun while it lasts, but I'm not sure this is the kind of game you'll revisit much after the initial play. Your mileage may vary.

While not the most exciting game you'll play this year, Glass Masquerade is easy to play, hard to put down and full of gorgeous artwork. This is a jigsaw puzzle game that actually feels like it was meant to be a video game, and is a big step up from some of the other recent iterations of this genre. Sadly, the game is marred by a floaty cursor, questionable touchscreen controls and a trip around the world that only features 25 puzzles. Those complaints aside, Glass Masquerade makes a strong argument that jigsaw puzzles can be a lot of fun on home consoles.