There’s been a bit of a surge in a new sub-genre of gaming lately – the cosy game. These offer chilled out, stress-free experiences for players to unwind with. A Little to the Left fits this description perfectly, such as it is a game about neatly arranging things. There’s a puzzle element to it too, but much like Unpacking, if you’ve got the itch to just make the place look neat, then this is the game for you.
Each level presents us with one of a myriad of messes, from wonky paintings to an empty toolbox, cupboard, or set of pencils. Our task is to neatly arrange them, straightening up those lines, putting patterns together, following size or shape order, or any other manner of arrangement. Make it look just right and we get a star for our efforts and move onto the next mess.
It’s extremely cathartic to play, and what initially can look like a jumble of things soon takes shape as we place items just so. Some of the better levels have us slotting items together using the contours of each item, leaving us with a satisfyingly neat pattern to admire.
Some levels have multiple solutions too, but only one is required to progress. It could be that we need to follow a size order for one, but also a colour order or a certain pattern. It’s a great touch that allows for not only an extra challenge, but accounting for the ways in which people might view a scene (whether they spot one particular avenue over another).
In keeping with the cosy vibes, none of the levels are too taxing (though some definitely gave us pause for a bit as we figured the best approach) but should we get stuck we have multiple avenues of support. A hint system shows us an outline layout, giving us the gist of the solution without outright solving it for us, while if we’d prefer we can simply skip the level and come back to it later on with no penalty.
In fact, our only minor sour note with it has been one that’s all but unavoidable; the controls. Max Inferno have done a great job of translating a game that is clearly designed for a touch interface to controller for the most part, with a snappy cursor and the option to flick between objects with the right stick or triggers. But there’s no denying it loses a little immediacy to the feel of sweeping items across the screen or rotating objects. In reality, it’s about as good as it could possibly get, but we’re very keen to check it out on Game Pass Cloud gaming (where touch controls are available) after launch as that feels like the perfect home for a title like this.
The Xbox release also includes the Cupboard and Drawers DLC, bringing an extra 25 levels to play that offer some extra challenging levels. And of course, the Daily Tidy is here too, giving us a good excuse to pop in daily and have a little sort out.
Conclusion
A Little to the Left has proven to be a great ‘night cap’ game for us these past few days, one to play for half hour before bed to unwind. It’s also been a nice palate cleanser in between other, more action heavy titles. It’s the kind of game that will suit almost anyone, offering up a fun, chill, satisfying experience.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
