Holiday Mosaics Halloween Puzzles is a digital jigsaw game that focuses on Halloween. The game is also available on other digital platforms, such as Bigfishgames. As expected, this review is based on the Steam version. Content-wise, here’s what the port offers. The game hasn’t received any new content. This is disappointing, since there are in-game achievements that should have been Steam achievements. I also suspect that the game was once a mobile/App Store game. The game does let players use in-game coins to buy hints/unlock new levels, like many other games by this developer (such as Alice’s Patchwork).
I think that if the game were on a mobile platform/App Store, it would have featured the option to pay for coins with real money. Regarding this game, it isn’t a mosaic-themed puzzle game. This is a jigsaw game that uses photographs. Even though the game’s title says it is a mosaic game. Really, it’s a jigsaw game with photographs instead of mosaic images. As for gameplay, it’s a gentle game that isn’t very hard to play. As expected, the difficulty increases as you progress. However, I think some level requirements may be a bit difficult for some players. This is mainly because you have to complete the objectives for each puzzle to earn points. Some players would struggle with some of the levels in the main game.
However, there are free-play levels that take a laid-back approach. I like the inclusion of this mode. This mode provides a gentler experience for those who may need it. This game is essentially Alice’s Patchwork in a Halloween costume.
In this game, most of the pictures relate to Halloween, such as children in costumes or pumpkins. However, some images don’t fit the game, such as an autumn scene with leaves and a owl. Since this is a Halloween game rather than an autumn game, it feels a little out of place. Even though I don’t dislike many of the autumnal images used in the game, I think that the game should stick to Halloween instead of featuring autumnal images.
With the jigsaws in the game, I noticed this on many levels. It is easy to find visible cracks in the image, especially when pieces are placed together on the board. I dislike the cracks in the puzzle because they shouldn’t be there. I also don’t think this game really makes you feel excited for Halloween. To me, it’s just a jigsaw game with Halloween images. I feel the in-game music is short on variety and has nothing to do with Halloween. I think this game could be much better with the right adjustments, but it isn’t really what I expected. This game left a sour taste in my mouth because I expected something that would get me excited for Halloween, but it failed to do so. This game also seems to be a carbon copy of other games by the same developer.
The similarities between the two games aren’t limited to genre and design features. The game still has the same issues, such as an incorrect translation for one of the achievements, and the images still have cracks. Even the descriptions of the 2 games in the Steam store are too similar. If you are designing a new game in a series, you should at least try to make the description completely different.  Fundamentally, the only difference between the two games is the soundtrack and the images used.
I feel this game is an asset flip for the reasons above. Consequently, you should avoid this game.
