Review: Wilmot Works It Out is puzzling for squares

Wilmot Warehouseone of the indie hits of 2019, it appealed to those with a specific kind of organizational mind and appreciation for whimsical aesthetics. The follow-up, then, should come as no surprise: a puzzle assembly game called Wilmot works it. The overlap of interested players is great, but it’s different enough to provide a new gaming experience for the same players.

In many ways, it seems Wilmot works it it began as an exploration of what the developer could do with the existing warehouse engine Wilmot collects and moves squares in a similar way, and takes “deliveries” in the form of puzzle packages rather than warehouse shipments.

The premise of the game is that Wilmot, the rather square-faced little fellow, has signed up for Puzzle Club, a puzzle-by-mail service that doesn’t always give you pieces of the same puzzle. Each shipment guarantees that one puzzle can be completed, but often includes many other pieces for future puzzles. The chaos is somewhat reduced by the chapter presentation, which contains each set within its own package.

Along the way, you’ll also talk to postal workers who give you boxes, and there’s a bit of narrative here. It can serve to immerse you in the world and provide a “cozy” experience, but it also brings a sense of dissonance. They explain the world to you, and even tell you to take part in it. You adopt a pet! Go to the park! But don’t do these things, do main puzzle in your lobby.

There are a few efforts to break up the experience, both through these story bits and chapter interludes that have you move completed puzzles to other rooms in the house. And while there’s no real time pressure, there’s definitely the appearance. The moment you complete a puzzle, the postal worker will knock on your door and leave a note if you’re even slightly careless about moving that puzzle to the wall to get it out of the way. It makes organizing the remaining pieces feel like a chore at times. Finally, we learned to leave a puzzle piece one square away while cleaning, just to avoid guilt.

It’s important to note that while it’s all about puzzle assembling, fans can only find half of that experience here. Putting together a puzzle involves two considerations: matching the pictures and finding the right shapes. Both help narrow down the possibilities and find the right piece. with Wilmot works iteach piece is a cube. And a rounded until it is placed, therefore! Since you can’t use the shape as a limiter, losing artwork detail around the edges also makes a noticeable difference.

The early chapters are very easy and only get to the kind of fun tricks we wanted to see later in the game. That said, it doesn’t wear out its welcome! We completed our paused game in less than five and a half hours. At this point, you unlock Marathon mode, which shuffles all the puzzle pieces and gives you a bigger room to turn it into a Wilmot’s Warehouse-like organizational challenge.

In many ways it seems that Marathon could have been the initial idea. After all, controlling the chaos was everything Wilmot Warehouseand this is more like this. We probably would have liked something in the middle, with a little more grouping to finish some puzzles earlier. As it is, our floor was almost full before we had the pieces to finish anything but a few puzzles.

We really like the premise of Wilmot works itand you don’t mind a shorter experience! But the game only really hits its stride in the final chapters, leaving us wishing it expanded its later offerings at least a little. Still, it’s lovely, and if you really want to delve into Marathon after the game, it’s worth it.

Wilmot works itdeveloped by Richard Hogg and Hollow Ponds and published by Finji, it launches on October 23, 2024 on PC and Mac.

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Wilmot works it

Wilmot Works It Out is a puzzle building game about completing beautiful pictures and using them to decorate the walls of your home.

We really like the premise of Wilmot Works It Out, and we don’t mind a shorter experience! But the game only really hits its stride in the final chapters, leaving us wishing it expanded its later offerings at least a little.

Food for thought

• The illustrations are lovely and fun!
• Rearranging completed puzzles on other walls at the end of chapters can be a bit of a chore! Hopefully the patches will at least smooth this process out.
• Our favorite puzzles to assemble were the ones with strings or wires or collections of objects. They seem tailor-made to be interesting to complete, while the more landscape scenes tend to be a bit too much about lining up cloud textures or what have you.

The publisher provided a copy of this game for review. Reviewed on PC.