Apple Arcade’s best studio is back with Puffies, a delightful sticker puzzle game that’s eared a permanent spot on my iPhone.
Sometimes, you want a complicated game that’s going to break your brain and push your skills to the max. Other times, you just want to do a little puzzle on your phone.
No studio understands that better than Lykke, a little known studio behind some of Apple Arcade’s best games. Lykke has become a go-to partner for Apple since the service’s launch thanks to creative puzzle games from Tint to Stitch. Now, gaming’s most consistent puzzle makers are back with a new game, Puffies, which joins a loaded month for Apple Arcade additions. While Katamari Damacy and Space Invaders might be more eye-catching to subscribers, Puffies is a the kind of go-to game you’ll want to keep on your phone. It’s another satisfying casual game from a studio that understands the platform it’s developing for better than anyone.A new kind of jigsaw puzzle
Unlike its previous games, Puffies doesn’t invent a brand new genre twist. Instead, it’s Lykke’s take on a jigsaw puzzle. In it, players open packs of stickers and must assemble them onto a sheet. Each sticker has its own distinct shape, so getting each in the right spot is more about paying attention to the negative space on the sheet rather than using a grand picture to deduce what goes where. Each sticker snaps into place when I drag it to the right spot, with a a nice adhesive sound effect that gives each placement some satisfying tactile feedback.
Easy puzzles have me placing a handful of stickers at a time before moving on to a different part of the screen, similar to how Stitch works. Others have me filling in much larger sheets that take 10 minutes to clear. There are some more traditional puzzles too that just give me every piece at once and has me slotting them into the full sheet without guidance. It’s a good range of short and sweet puzzles to longer ones that players can pick at over a few sessions.
What gives this all a little extra spice is its aesthetic. To start a puzzle, I rip open a pack of stickers, not unlike the booster packs I open in Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket.
