Gorogoa is a unique gem that I found highly memorable. Part unspoken story, part puzzler, you must piece together moments in time to progress. The hand-drawn visuals are charming and suit the game perfectly.

There is a square split into a 2×2 grid, and each subsquare can hold a story panel. You can explore a story panel, typically by clicking on object to zoom in, you can also zoom out and pan left/right/up/down in certain situations.

Story panels can be positioned on the grid, and can interact with another panel when positioned correctly – for example forming a seamless double panel. Panels often have a part cut-out, for example a doorway, which lets you overlay a panel over a different one to let yourself travel to a different place. Both of these are the source of many of the game’s wow moments, when you figure out the ingenious solution required to solve a puzzle.

A little patience is required, both to spend a few minutes becoming accustomed to the gameplay mechanics, and throughout to think through some of the puzzles. I liked that you can just progress at your own pace, free of time constraints. Usually I’m against hint-modes, but the default-on one here just subtly indicates which parts of the images are interactive, so it is more of a interface helper.

There is nice low-key atmospheric background music, with the occasional touch of great audio for when the mysterious multicolour flying-coral-fish-being that subtly shows itself at intervals.

It is a very short game, you can probably play through in 2-3 hours. On Switch the price is £11.99, and similar on Steam and GOG. While still recommend it at this price, on iOS it’s just £4.99 on iOS. Having played through the game on both Switch and iOS, the two offer a similarly good experience, even the graphics are identical. Either come recommended, but if you’re torn the iOS version is better value, particularly if you have an iPad or iPhone X you still get a good screen size. Unlike some games, touch-control is the most natural way to play Gorogoa; the Switch Pro Controller is a little more cumbersome but still functions well overall.

There’s a creative mind-bending aspect to some of the puzzles – at the right zoom level panels can be visually combined in clever ways. It really is a very carefully crafted game and I found the difficulty level just right – both pleasantly challenging and satisfying. While over quickly, I really enjoyed Gorogoa.