Wilmot Works It Out Review: A Charming and Chill Puzzle Game

I’m a puzzle fan. They’re challenging yet fun to do, and relaxing. Plus, it’s satisfying watching a picture come together. That’s why I was intrigued by Wilmot Works It Out, a new game from the original creator of Wilmot’s Warehouse, created by Richard Hogg and Hollow Ponds and published by Finji. I had the privilege of being invited to watch a livestream of Wilmot Works It Out being played by the creators, learning how the game and its puzzles were conceived. It made me appreciate this already-great game even more. After putting several satisfying hours into this game, I’m going to tell you why you should really consider giving Wilmot Works It Out a go.

Wilmot Works It Out is now available on PC and Mac via Steam for $14.99. You can also get the game through Itch.io, GOG, Humble Games, and Epic Games Store.

Story – Wilmot Really Likes Their Puzzles

You may be familiar with Wilmot if you’ve played Wilmot’s Warehouse, a fun organizing game. This time, Wilmot the box is at home, and they really like to do puzzles in their spare time. Lots of them. In fact, they’re such a puzzle buff that they’ve got a subscription to a puzzle club, where they get puzzles sent to them via the post. The post is delivered to them by a friendly mail deliverer called Sam.

Sam provides some of the story in Wilmot Works It Out. Like any friendly neighborhood postie, Sam enjoys a chat with Wilmot as she delivers their mail, even sharing her own life events and what’s going on in the neighborhood. I really liked this element in Wilmot Works It Out. It made it seem like there was life beyond Wilmot’s house, and it gave Sam some characterisation. It also provides a little breather between doing puzzles, which there are a lot of. I think it’s time to talk a bit more about them!

It’s nice to have a chat with Sam between doing puzzles.

Gameplay – More Than Just Another Puzzle Game

Yes, Wilmot Works It Out is a puzzle game, where you assemble pieces to create a complete picture. However, it’s not just your bog-standard jigsaw puzzle game (partly because the pieces aren’t in traditional puzzle shapes, but squares.) There’s a lot more to Wilmot Works It Out than just the puzzles. We’ve already discussed Sam the postie, but there’s more that makes this game special.

Doing Puzzles Wilmot Style

This is how it works in Wilmot Works It Out. You play as Wilmot in the front room of their house, and you can move Wilmot around. When there’s a knock at the door, you go to answer it. It’s Sam (or their substitute if she’s away). After an exchange, she’ll deliver a package. This is full of puzzle pieces. You then find any spot you like on the floor to spread the pieces and start assembling them. 

However, not every package has all the pieces for one puzzle, like you might imagine. You may get enough pieces to complete one puzzle, but you get other pieces thrown in there as well. Imagine if at the puzzle factory or sorting house, different pieces of different puzzles got mixed up. That means that when you do complete a puzzle, you’ve got some pieces from another puzzle or two left over. Then in the next delivery, the pieces for those puzzles will be in there, but also for another new puzzle. What’s really clever is that in each package, the pieces look similar, like they might belong to the same puzzle, but they don’t. They might have similar patterns or colors to throw you. 

You’ll find yourself working on multiple puzzles at a time.

The Controls of Wilmot Works It Out

Sticking with the subject of puzzle-making, I should talk about how it’s done. It’s not one of those puzzle games where you simply drag the pieces into place. It’s a little more involved than that in Wilmot Works It Out.

You control Wilmot and move around the space as you work on your puzzles. You have to move Wilmot next to a piece and then select it if you want them to pick it up. You can then move the piece around. You can also push against pieces by moving into them. Multiple pieces can be selected, but you must first select the piece, or pieces, next to Wilmot, then select the adjoining pieces, and so on.

You also have to keep in mind obstacles. Wilmot cannot move through or jump over pieces; they can only go around them. Ditto with the pieces. If Wilmot is carrying pieces, they’ll push other pieces along that get in their path. This isn’t a frustration, but a part of the added challenge in Wilmot Works It Out.

I personally like the approach to assembling puzzles in Wilmot Works It Out. It makes a change from just dragging and dropping pieces across a board.

Wilmot Works It Out doesn’t implement a simple drag-and-drop system when doing puzzles.

Decorate Your Home

Another aspect that makes Wilmot Works It Out easy to keep playing is its reward system. Whenever you complete a season, you get to unlock a new room in Wilmot’s house. There are eight rooms altogether (including the front room where the puzzles are done), one for each chapter in the game. Each time you unlock a room, to get to choose which room you’d like. You get a choice of two each time.

In each room, you can choose the color scheme and wallpaper pattern on the wall, and add items of your choosing. You can place a plethora of house plants, wall decorations, furniture, and activities for Wilmot.

The best part is getting to display your completed puzzles on the walls of Wilmot’s house. The controls to move and select pictures are a tad awkward, but nothing really frustrating. It’s really great placing these amazing pictures around the house and looking back on what you did, as well as adding your own personal touch to each room. 

Decorate Wilmot’s house to your liking with various color schemes, wall patterns, and furnishings, as well as placing finished puzzles on the walls.

Marathon Mode

I couldn’t do this review of Wilmot Works It Out without trying Marathon Mode. You unlock this after completing the game for the first time. With Marathon Mode, you get to do all the puzzles again – but this time, it’s a little different. You have to do all 60+ puzzles together! If it sounds challenging, you’re not wrong. It’s not impossible to do, just time-consuming. However, hard doesn’t mean not fun. Laying out the numerous puzzle pieces and then rearranging them is certainly a challenge, but a good one. I’m certainly going to challenge myself by completing it.

In Marathon Mode, imagine unpacking dozens and dozens of different puzzle pieces in a giant room and then trying to do them all together.

Graphics & Audio – Beautifully Chill

Wilmot Works It Out is presented in a clean and stylized design, which works very well with the game. I especially like the carefully-chosen color palettes used for decorating the rooms. Then there’s the puzzles themselves. They are just so incredible to look at, striking and intriguing. I also have to give props for how clever pieces in the same package can be, looking similar but being two different puzzles. A lot of thought obviously went into these. Some puzzles are harder than others, taking longer to do, but I admire each and every one of them.

I also have to talk about the music, which was put together by Eli Rainsberry. It’s a soothing upbeat jazz-type soundtrack, which plays throughout the whole game, particularly when you’re busy putting puzzles together. I did wonder if I’d eventually tire of the music and end up listening to my own music instead, but that never happened. I grew to seriously appreciate the jazz music that plays in the background as I work on puzzles. It really set the tone for puzzle solving and just chilling out.

Wilmot Work It Out was reviewed on PC with a key provided by ICO Partners.