You know the German city Nuremberg? Yes?! It’s famous worldwide for its sausages – “Nürnberger Rostbratwurst” –, its gingerbread, its castle in the city and, of course, for the biggest Christmas market on the planet! And now it will become famous – for an independent developer too!

“Pixel Maniacs”, a little gaming studio in this quaint old German city, created a unique puzzle experience for Nintendo’s Switch console. On the first look you think it must be “Portal”: a gun, white rooms, firing and shooting only to solve puzzles – yes, you have a gun, white rooms and you solve your puzzles, but you do it by colorizing your surroundings. You paint little flying balls and the walls next to them and – when they get the same color – a door will be opened.

Sounds easy, and yes, that’s the whole game. But the puzzles become more and more complex and it’s great fun to “shoot” through the game from the beginning to the end. You have to solve 8 chapters with 58 levels – so a lot to do for mental acrobats!

The graphics are suitable, but the game could run without problems on a weaker console too – it reminded me more of an N64 game than a game on Nintendo’s next generation system. But that’s not a bad thing – it is a puzzle game and it doesn’t need spectacular graphics. All has to work well and it works well. So, well done, “Pixel Maniacs”!

There is some music too – but only to have some in the game. It’s completely in the background, like music in an elevator or in a shopping center. It’s OK, it hurts nobody.

My result: Buy it. Support them. Have fun and solve your puzzles. The technical aspect is spartan, but nothing that will annoy you. It works. And the puzzles are great. That counts.

The Good

+ Challenging puzzles

+ Great for beginners and pros

+ Well made controls

+ Relaxing music

The Bad

– …it can be too boring sometimes

– Outdated graphics

Soup Verdict: Give this soup a try, it looks boring and unspectacular, but tastes good! The next tasty meal from Nuremberg beside the famous “Bratwurst”.

A review copy was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.