Quick Glance: Labyrinth City: Pierre The Maze Detective
Platform - Nintendo Switch (Reviewed), PC
Players – 1
Achievements – Yes, On Steam
Retail Price - $11.99
High Level Premise – Maze game with interactive environments.
Graphics/Style – Storybook layouts with beautiful graphics.
Music/Soundtrack – Relaxing tunes play as you explore the mazes.
Story - Mr. X has taken the stone that turns everything into mazes! Track him down and return the stone.
Replay-ability – Moderate
Time Commitment – Short, automatic saves between levels
I loved mazes as a kid. I used to blow through activity books my parents used to buy from the store and do all of the mazes first. In grade school my friends and I would create complex mazes on lined paper and exchange them with each other. Naturally I would gravitate towards maze-type video games as a kid like Adventure on the Atari 2600. I also was a fan of the Where’s Waldo books, where the imagination seemed endless and hunting for special objects (and Waldo) presented a challenge that I today am still quote fond of.
Pierre the Maze Detective: The Search for the Stolen Maze Stone
By IC4DESIGN, Kamigaki, Hiro
Buy on Amazon
In Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze detective, you step into the shoes of the maze detective Pierre and his friend Carmen needs to navigate the city which has been transformed into a series of mazes by the nefarious Mr. X! You see, Mr. X has stolen a stone that gives the holder the ability to create mazes out of every day objects, structures and even people. This game feels awfully close to something right out of a book, and it should be cause it was adapted from a book series of the same name! Author Hiro Kamigaki and IC4Design have teamed up with developer Darjeeling to adapt this wonderful property to Nintendo Switch and Steam.
Be whisked away to Opera City and explore 10 different levels of chaos and guide Pierre to the goal. It’s not really fair to call Labyrinth City: Pierre The Maze Detective a puzzle game, because it’s not. It’s not really a detective game either. It’s a maze / object finding game with some light puzzle elements thrown in. The charm that oozes throughout the game is directly tied to the city itself. Pierre can interact with over 500 different objects, people, and animals to unravel the mystery of Mr. X and assist in progressing through each maze. As Pierre reaches each checkpoint throughout the maze other paths open or close depending on the area, changing the way Pierre progresses through the maze. There are a lot of collectibles to find in each area such as challenge stars, hidden treasures, and puzzle trophies.
This is a game that should not be missed. For a paltry $11.99, explore Opera City as much as you can. Take your time in interacting with anything and everything you can possibly touch. You will feel a sense of accomplishment by solving all of the mysteries that each maze has to offer, rather than just blowing through each labyrinth. The story is fine, and each scene tightly ties together the hunt for Mr. X. But the real draw to this game is exploring in relaxing and eye-pleasing environments. If you were ever a fan of mazes or hidden object games, this is definitely one not to miss! When playing Labyrinth City: Pierre The Maze Detective, I did not notice any slowdown or choppiness when playing in handheld mode versus docked. This game is definitely worthy of a physical release, hopefully someone will announce it soon because this game is too good to not be preserved forever.