Then there’s Chess, Sudoku, and Crossword. The player character is Pixel Girl, a superhero with the ability to solve pixel puzzles. It features five wannabe superheroes who have the most useless super powers since the Inhuman who had barfing-up-objects powers in Marvel’s Secret Empire. Whereas that game’s story fit in with all of the puzzle solving, PPML tries to force the puzzles to fit like the wicked step-sisters trying on Cinderella’s glass slippers. While I agree it can be challenging connecting a puzzle game with a story, especially a dating sim, I will happily point to Murder by Numb3rs as a game that does it extraordinarily well. It’s a good thing they take up about 75% of the game, because they’re one of the game’s only saving graces.

There are really no problems with the pixel puzzles themselves. After my first failure with a 15×15 puzzle, that baby went bye-bye. Timers ruin most games for me anyway, and I don’t like feeling rushed when solving a puzzle. If the timer runs out before completion, you have to start over. One thing I did turn off within five puzzles was the timer. You can customize your puzzle-solving experience as well, such as auto-filling completed rows/columns and turning hints on or off. I enjoy pixel puzzles, so it’s hardly surprising that I loved the puzzle portions of the game.

When it comes to otome and dating sims, that’s saying quite a bit. While the gameplay is fun, if you enjoy Picross puzzles, the story holds water as well as a sieve. Pixel Puzzle Makeout League unfortunately doesn’t have much of either. There’s just something sickeningly sweet about a romance-choose-your-own adventure, especially when they have deep stories, or, at the very least, a fun hook to them. I’ve made my love of otome games rather clear.

New pixel puzzle