Wilmot Works It Out Review

Yay! Another Puzzle Club package! I wonder what this week’s puzzle is.

I loved Wilmot’s Warehouse (and you can actually check out my review for it here). It was unexpectedly addicting and it managed to be chill, have stressful bouts, and be challenging enough to keep me engaged as I chased the 100% achievement completion. I have played games the developers have made since, but I was not expecting to see a sequel to Wilmot’s Warehouse. Of course, I had to check it out. Especially after I checked out the demo and enjoyed it. So, how was the full game?

Instead of taking place in the warehouse again, Wilmot Works It Out takes place in a home. Wilmot’s home to be exact. We got to see what he did for work and now we get to see what he does when he’s off of work. After a long day of work at the warehouse, Wilmot comes home to unwind and do some puzzles. Time seems to just pass by when he’s doing puzzles and he likes doing them so much he joined a subscription service called Puzzle Club. Puzzle Club sends boxes with puzzle pieces every week and Wilmot is locked in for the full eight season release. Plus, this does give him an excuse to talk to Postwoman Sam (who I like to think is his friend) every time he gets a Puzzle Club package. Sam strikes up some small talk every time Wilmot gets a package and sometimes, you’ll get the option to ask a question to get some more details if you want to.

The game starts with you hearing a knock at the door and receive your first Puzzle Club package. Wilmot does all of his puzzles in his hallway so you’ll be unpacking them there. You can pick any spot you want, as long as there’s nothing obstructing the outline, and you get to see all the pieces that Wilmot received. If you played Wilmot’s Warehouse, even if it’s been years, you’ll already be quite familair with the gameplay here. Wilmot can pick up any pieces that are around him, pick up multiple pieces if needed, carry them wherever you need them to be, and rotate them around you if you need to. You can also just push the pieces around. Each piece are squares like Wilmot, but instead of each square representing a warehouse item, they are just a part of a bigger picture. All you have to do is put them together to form the complete image just like a jigsaw puzzle. You also do get a subtle confirmation when you have pieces that fit together in the form of a flash and a confirmation ding sound. Which is helpful considering these are purely squares without the tabs and blanks. It’s also pretty helpful that Wilmot, by default, picks up clicked together pieces as a group.

It seems easy, but it does bring in a surprising challenge. It comes from various aspects and the difficulty of the puzzles do increase as you progress. Each puzzle do vary in how many pieces there are, some are four while some have a lot of pieces. Some have a simple image while some are more complicated. You’ll get various themes and it is easy to tell if pieces do belong in the same image, but there are some tricky ones. There were two instances where I thought a group of pieces belonged to the same image, but came to realize they didn’t. Or I thought they belonged to different images, but they were from the same image. You’ll find yourself analyzing all the pieces longer than you think; or putting two pieces together hoping they’ll fit together as sometimes the shared part of the artwork can be subtle. It also doesn’t help that a package won’t just have pieces to one puzzle, but will have pieces for a future puzzle that you’ll get the rest of soon. You are guaranteed to be able to complete one puzzle per package, with it tripping you up with being able to complete two once in a while, before Sam comes with the next package. Luckily, all the pieces are always in their correct orientation so that’s one less thing to worry about.

But oh man, does it bring in so many different satisfying moments. Like when it just clicks and you put all the pieces together in a row like a pro, finally being able to see the full picture after struggling, and when you finally find the piece that clicks to another.

Wilmot and Nora <3

Once you finish a season, excluding the last one, there are a few things that happen. You get a nice screen where you get a view of all the framed puzzles on the wall, how many puzzles you solved, and how long it took you. You’ll also be able to unlock a room, giving you a choice between two options. There are eight rooms in Wilmot’s house, including the hallway, and you’ll unlock seven as you progress. Don’t worry, this only dictates their position as you won’t miss out on a room. Once you pick, you’ll be able to choose the wallpaper pattern, the color of the room, and if you want to put all the puzzles you just completed in there. That’s not all, though. You can also add accessories to decorate the room, like plants or a bookshelf. As you unlock more and more rooms, you’ll also unlock more room customization options. While you only get a limited list when you first unlock the room, you’ll be able to pick from the whole list when you go to edit the room afterwards, more accessories are added, and you can rearrange the framed puzzles on the wall and between rooms. I didn’t realize this until the last season, but you can also change the frame style of a framed puzzle and tilt them. Wilmot even adopts a pet and you can pick who you want.

Don’t worry, you can rearrange and decorate these rooms at any time and you can stay in a save file for as long as you want.

Once you put together all the puzzles through all eight seasons, and thus finish the game, you unlock another mode. This acts as the game’s New Game+ and is called Marathon Mode. I didn’t look at what this was beforehand, so I thought this was sort of a speedrun mode, but nope. This puts us in a more Wilmot Warehouse style of gameplay and the hallway room is much bigger. Instead of getting deliveries from Sam the Postwoman and being drip feed the puzzles, you get a slip where you can request deliveries at any time and packages will have randomized puzzle pieces. Yep, you’ll be tasked to complete all the puzzles together. Since all the pieces are in the draw pool, there’s no telling what you’ll get and you’re not guaranteed to have a complete puzzle in a package. Not to mention there’s no way to tell when you’ll get another piece for a specific image if you’re going to focus on completing one puzzle at a time rather than keeping track of multiple ones.

This mode is definitely harder as it does require you to generally know what pieces belong to the same puzzle. I’m also sure it helps when you know what each completed puzzle looks like and how many pieces. This mode can also be pretty stressful and overwhelming. I know it was for me.

While there technically isn’t a story here, I do like how this game is framed. It was pretty smart to have this be when Wilmot is off of work rather than trying to see how to shake up the warehouse gameplay enough to justify a separate game rather than a DLC. I also did enjoy the unexpected inclusion of Sam the Postwoman. I was actually fine with just doing the puzzles with some nice background music, but the inclusion of another character did add to the experience. The game only takes place in the confines of Wilmot’s home and we only see him solving puzzles like a montage, but through Sam we get to learn about his neighborhood, his neighbor(s), what Wilmot has been doing, and about Sam herself. It’s nothing too detailed, but just enough to give you an outline. I like this and I liked how we got some continuity to certain aspects that are brought up.

Gameplay-wise, I really liked it. It was a fun twist on Wilmot Warehouse’s mechanics and it’s so satisfying as you complete puzzles and progress through the game. You wouldn’t expect it to also bring some challenge, but it does. The control scheme can be a bit awkward, but it’s simple, easy to pick up, and pretty relaxing even when you find yourself stuck. I’m neutral on Marathon Mode, as it does bring in more difficulty, but it is also pretty overwhelming and it’s needed to 100% it.

I do have a few complaints that were just minor inconveniences. I found the knocking to blend into the music, enough tow here you can miss it. Granted, I was always ready at the door after completing a puzzle so I didn’t have any trouble. Either way, there’s no penalty to missing a delivery as a slip will be pushed through allowing you to schedule a re-delivery. Which spawns Sam immediately. Other than that, it can be a pain decorating or redecorating the rooms. It can be a pain trying to select what painting or decoration you want to move or remove (and it’s especially so when you want to do it for more than one item and the selection or position resets).

The music and art here are also delightful. The music is delightful as it helps set the chill, relaxing atmosphere of Wilmot completing puzzles. The art is also simple and so charming. It was great seeing Wilmot again and the various artwork for all of the puzzles you’ll put together look cute and interesting. I liked how there were various themes and complexities to keep it fresh and exciting to see what a full image looked like. Not to mention that all of them were different, even within the same theme, and a lot were a nice surprise to see what the completed puzzle looked like. It certainly helps drive the player to want to complete puzzles and play a part in how satisfying it is to complete one. I did also really like the design of the house and the various different customization options. I looked forward to seeing how each room looked and I was not disappointed. I loved how some rooms have Wilmot and possibly his pet hanging out when you’re in there. Wilmot’s pet is also so cute. It was pretty weird seeing that there are people that look like humans, but I did like Sam’s design (and the other postman) and how you can tell her mood visually; as well as see the weather both from how it looks behind Sam and how it’s interacting with Sam. So all in all, the music and art for Wilmot Works It Out is delightfully charming.

Verdict

I really enjoyed Wilmot Works It Out. Every element works together well in making a chill and relaxing experience, even with some difficulty sprinkled in. It was also great to see Wilmot again and learning more about him when Sam comes to deliver his Puzzle Club packages. The music is relaxing and makes for a good “doing jigsaws at home” vibe, the gameplay was simple and satisfying, the game did well balancing the puzzle difficulty, it was great talking to Sam the Postwoman and learning what’s happening around Wilmot, I liked the inclusion of being able decorating Wilmot’s house, and the art was cute, charming, and every piece was unique. It was a great idea to make a Wilmot puzzle game and I definitely recommend it for anyone that likes doing jigsaw puzzles.