Game Review: Find-o'-Lantern

By Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC

It's the spooky month, and that means all sorts of Halloween and horror related nonsense. As far as gaming goes, there are a lot of horror titles out there that we can discuss and examine. When bringing up said spooky-related titles, it's not often that a puzzle game enters the chat. Find-o'-Lantern is a simple game that's somewhat reminiscent of Sudoku, but uses pumpkins and tombstones as playing pieces. It's out now on the Nintendo Switch, and we're going to examine it today and if it's worth playing during these cold October nights. This is going to be a quick one, so let's ditch the intro and dive right in!

Find-o'-Lantern is a rather simple puzzle game, with an even simpler premise. It actually feels a bit too simple as far as writing a review goes, but I'm going to give it my best try nonetheless. You start out with a square area of play, which can be anywhere from 5x5 to 10x10 spaces big. A pumpkin must be placed into each line of the puzzle area corresponding with the amount of squares it has. That means that a 5x5 puzzles will need five pumpkins placed to complete it, a 6x6 one will need six pumpkins, a 7x7 will need seven pumpkins, and so on. Pumpkins can't just be placed randomly though, as two pumpkins cannot touch each other in any way. This means that they not only can't touch as far as side-by-side or top-to-bottom goes, but they also can't touch via their corners either. Also, there can only be one pumpkin in each horizontal or vertical line. Sounds simple enough, but then the colored spaces come into play.

Each space in Find-o'-Lantern has a color to it, and the patterns all seem to be randomized. Some colors only occupy one space, and others spread out for a good chunk of the stage. No matter how big or small the area they occupy, only one pumpkin can be within each colored area. This was probably the most obnoxious rule for me, as the colors used are not color blind friendly. Colors blended together for me, and I had a lot of trouble clearing even simple puzzles. You can rotate the colored patterns a bit, but that doesn't help much if you can't tell the colors apart in the first place. That pretty much covers all the rules, with the only other noteworthy aspect being that later puzzles, staring from the 8x8 size I believe, require two pumpkins to be placed on each line. The rules are the same otherwise, but now you're allowed to have two pumpkins on each line and colored area.

A level ends automatically once the last correct pumpkin is put into place. There is no fanfare or score, you just get a "Congratulations" screen and are moved to the next puzzle. You'll know that you're on the right track if placed pumpkins are orange, and you'll know if you broke a rule if the pumpkins are purple. Besides pumpkins, tombstones can be placed onto spaces to mark squares you know can't have a pumpkin in them. You don't need to use the tombstones at all if you don't want to, but they can help with setting up a no-go area in the bigger stages. I guess that somewhat disjointed explanation covers all the gameplay, so let's move on to wrapping up this review.

There are plenty of puzzles to complete within Find-o'-Lantern, a total of 180 as a matter of fact. I played the game for over an hour, completing well over 100 puzzles, before I learned that you can simply skip over ones you're having trouble with. This might not matter to everyone, but it can be an important fact to keep in mind when you're stuck on a particular puzzle for minutes on end. Not only did I not know that you can jump around the puzzles themselves, but it also took me far too long to learn about the color change mechanic. That's actually one of the biggest problems with the game, its lack of coherent tutorials, and just bad presentation overall. The tutorial doesn't do a good job explaining what is expected of you, and you'll more than likely stumble around the first few puzzles blind before you get the hang of things. To make matter worse, the controls are basically broken and defy normal gaming logic. Moving around the stage is done with the right analog stick, with the left being used to cycle between pumpkins or tombstones. It's such an unintuitive system that I found myself pressing the wrong thing even at puzzle 150. Despite these issues though, I do have to admit that there was something that kept me locked into completing the game. Perhaps it was the simplicity of the puzzle system itself, or maybe it was the fact that I had to get enough content for this review, but either way I ended up playing it to near completion.

Even though I found something resembling fulfillment during my time with the game, I don't know if I can recommend Find-o'-Lantern to the casual player. The graphics leave a lot to be desired, the controls are a mess, and the music almost non-existent. There aren't even many sound effects to speak of, and I think I did a far better job explaining the game here than the game does itself. Adding insult to injury, Find-o'-Lantern currently has a price tag of $6.70. Though admittedly low, I can't help but feel that that's far too high for the game I've just described. I have played similarly simple puzzle games that cost a mere $2.99, but look and play far better than this one. There really isn't anything wrong with Find-o'-Lantern, but there isn't anything worth mentioning that would convince someone to pick it up. I'm at a loss as to what else to say about the game. If you really have to grab every Halloween-themed puzzle game out there, then at least wait for it to go on a steep discount. Other than that, you're better off simply saving your money. See you in the next one.

Check Out Find-o'-Lantern on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/find-o-lantern-switch/

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Story: N/A
Gameplay: B
Graphics: C
Music/Sound: C
Value: C

Overall: C

Pros:
+ A simple puzzle game that can be somewhat addicting.
+ The premise is interesting, and could work in a more polished game.
+ There are 180 levels to get through, each varying in difficulty.
+ If pumpkins and tombstones are you're thing, this game has them.

Cons:
- Simply knowing how to play the game can be very confusing due to the wonky tutorials that feel very incomplete.
- The controls are a total mess, and I never properly adjusted to them.
- Graphics are bland, music is barely there, and there aren't many sound effects either.
- The simple "Congratulations" screen that greets you for completing each puzzle almost seems to mock you at times.
- Seems very overpriced even at just $6.70.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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