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In the game you’ll play as Violet, a teenage girl who is in a hurry to grow up. Falling asleep with frustrations on her mind she finds herself in an odd dream world, needing to solve a series of challenging puzzles in order to learn what has happened and how to escape. Even with some of the spells you’ll learn to help you clone yourself, walk on water, and more at the end of the day this is mostly a classic “move the boxes without getting trapped” kind of game. There are elements that up the challenge a bit, and you’ll find that you often need to move boxes a “half move” over to effectively block two spaces, but many of the puzzle variations end up feeling quite familiar. One of the convenience features that is worth mentioning is a button that allows you to roll back moves you’ve made, something that’s always a time saver, especially as you get into more elaborate puzzles and a stupid death is incredibly annoying. Beyond the style of play and the variations Waking Violet offers there are some points worth considering as well. Most notably the pacing is a bit slow and the control can feel a bit janky at times. Visually lining things up in the right spot, especially when they’re near walls, can sometimes be a bit visually weird. Of course this is the sort of thing that makes the rewind ability incredibly useful but I noticed it more than once even when I was aware it could happen. Another small quibble is that in order to push boxes you need to be centered on them and this, paired with the somewhat sluggish movement speed, can make the pace a bit stale when you’ve figured out what you want to do and executing your plan just takes a bit longer than you’d like. Even with as visually simple as the game is the load times can be oddly lengthy. It’s not a big deal but it does seem unusually long for a title lacking in visual intensity. All things considered Waking Violet is all about the audience and what sort of puzzle experience you’re looking for. There are certainly examples of games in this genre on Switch that aren’t as well conceived or executed but that isn’t to say this is the most thrilling title on the block either. It has a few new variations to try to give the old “position boxes” style a shot in the arm but there’s no getting away from well-known common problems and solutions. Throw in the pacing and and though Waking Violet has its merits it’s likely not a must-have title even for puzzle fans.
Justin Nation, Score:Fair [6.5]