We rather enjoyed the base A Little to the Left when it finally came to Xbox earlier this year, so when we got a chance to check out some more levels in the Seeing Stars DLC, we jumped in as soon as we could. The good news is that Max Inferno has kept what made the puzzle game so enjoyable, bringing in 38 new levels of varying challenge, each with a neat hook or twist on simply ‘tidying up’.
Some of them are quite fiendish indeed too. One particular level that had us stumped for a while was needing to fill up five drawers with various items – naturally, everything has its place, but finding where to start was tough indeed.
Others fare slightly easier but usually come with multiple (some up to five) solutions, again some of which are quite tricky to discover. As long as we solve one, we can move on, though it’s tough to do so when there are more stars to earn…
There are 100 in total to grab over the 38 levels. While it’s tempting to stick on one level to completion – and lose a few tufts of hair in the process – what we enjoyed about A Little to the Left is that although there’s a challenge here, Max Inferno don’t gate our progress at all. Should we get a bit stumped, we can simply skip the level and come back later with a fresh pair of eyes.
The hint system also returns, this time out showing hints for all solutions in a level which is a great touch. There were certainly a few levels where we had one star left and just needed a nudge as to what to look for to clear the stage. These hints take the form of pencil sketches that have been scribbled over, allowing us to rub out as much or as little as we need to get the idea, going as far as outright showing the completed article.
We still have the same minor complaints in terms of controls though. As we said in our original review, this can’t really be helped, but if you have access to cloud gaming or a PC that can run it, there’s no doubt those are the best places to play. Using a mouse or touch screen is that bit more intuitive, and the amount of times we accidently grabbed the wrong item are lessened as a result. That’s not to say it’s bad on console – far from it – but it’s just not quite as fluid as other methods.
Conclusion
All in all, chances are if you enjoyed the cozy puzzling of A Little to the Left, you’re absolutely going to enjoy Seeing Stars. The new levels are all brilliantly designed, offer multiple tough solutions, aided by a generous and fairly implemented hint system.
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.
