Glass Masquerade
Nintendo Switch

Developed By : Onyx Lute
Published By : Digerati
Category : Puzzle
Release Date : Feb 08, 2019

Glass Masquerade on the Nintendo Switch is, in my mind, the perfect definition of a relaxing video game. It invites you into a relaxing environment and that seems to be the one key thing it consistently promotes : relaxation.

This game brings you along to travel the world with it’s clock and stained-glass inspired puzzles, seeing over two dozen different countries and they’re inspired puzzles. Your journey starts in France, building a piece titled “Art Deco” and from there, the spider web begins to expand to all corners of the globe.

The puzzles themselves are a lot of fun. You start with an empty space in the middle of your screen, and all the pieces on rotating tracks on the outside. The first pieces that you’ll be placing are going to be ones that are glowing red with tiny, circular anchor points. These coincide with anchor points on the outer edge of the assembly area, so once you get these pieces down, you’re on your way.

From here, it’s all about filling in the gaps, which are quite uniquely shaped. Each piece of stained glass represents something specific in the art piece, whether it’s a persons arm, a cloud in the sky or a crashing wave at sea. So it’s safe to say that no puzzle has two pieces that are alike. However you choose to do it, whether it’s attempting to place the most unique looking pieces, or maybe trying to complete the outer rim.

No matter your approach, once you are done with your masterpiece (or glass-terpiece?) you’ll be presented with the time it took you to complete, and the opening of some new locations on the map. Like I mentioned earlier, each puzzle is inspired by it’s location, so for instance when you complete Britain’s puzzle, you’re treated with an image of Sherlock Holmes and a background of some very familiar British locales.

While the gameplay in Glass Masquerade isn’t very invigorating, that’s one of the things that, to me, makes this game shine. All the games that I’ve come across in the past that promise this level of relaxation, don’t actually deliver on that. There’s always a clock to race, or a percentage to beat, something that refuses to divulge 100% relaxation. That is most certainly not the case here. Even though you’re constructing puzzles that represent clocks, you won’t see a time until you’ve completed a puzzle.

To top it all off, the soundtrack really strongly promotes the relaxed environment. It’s soft, it’s melodic, and each note almost blends perfectly into each piece of the puzzles, making everything seem intertwined. This is my favorite kind of soundtrack because not only does it mesh so well, but it never even comes close to interfering in a distracting manner. It’s very easy to focus on the music, or just let it dwell to the back of your mind while you assemble pieces.

This game is truly a unique experience. It may not draw in gamers of all backgrounds, but if you love puzzles or beautiful art, you really won’t want to miss this game. And for those of you that might have that slightly competitive edge about you, every puzzle is replayable as a test to see if you can beat your previous time. Head to the eShop and pick up this key piece to your game library.