Towards the end of last year, I made an unexpected discovery: jigsaw puzzles are actually pretty great. It all started during a COVID quarantine when my wife and I were looking for ways to keep ourselves entertained indoors. But even when we weren’t confined to our home, we found ourselves drawn back to the allure of a good puzzle every few weeks. So, when Wilmot Works It Out—the much-anticipated sequel to 2019’s top game about organization—dropped this fall, it couldn’t have been more timely. It’s arguably the best gaming ode to jigsaw puzzles I’ve ever come across.
In this sequel, Wilmot has traded the hustle and bustle of the warehouse for the comfort of his own home. He’s now a proud member of a puzzle of the week club, tackling each delivery with the same organizational prowess he once used at work. The game sets the tone with its breezy, airy music and a delightful storyline involving the postal workers who ensure the puzzles reach Wilmot. Unlike its predecessor, there’s no clock ticking—just an endless stream of puzzles waiting to be conquered.
The journey begins with puzzles as small as nine pieces, which don’t expand much beyond that. The trickiness comes from the fact that your puzzle packages often come with extra pieces meant for another time, either in the past or future, serving up some delightful distractions. This clever design sidesteps the often-daunting mass of pieces you’d encounter at the start of a standard jigsaw puzzle, while still allowing you to dive in and find your own method to the madness. And that’s crucial, because the magic of jigsaw puzzles lies in their self-guided nature: whether it’s gathering edge pieces, sorting by color, or hunting for that elusive piece that will complete a section.
Even though you’re not physically touching the pieces, assembling them in Wilmot Works It Out feels surprisingly hands-on. As you connect the right ones, they click together like magic into a single piece. Since all pieces share the same humble square shape as Wilmot himself, you rely heavily on the artwork to guide you—thankfully, you won’t need to worry about rotating them. As you progress through a few puzzle “seasons,” you move from simple early designs to more intricate, complex illustrations. These not only challenge your pattern recognition skills but also contain playful little “jokes” within the artwork.
In essence, Wilmot Works It Out captures that exhilarating “AHA” moment when you find the exact piece you need, and everything falls perfectly into place.
For those interested, Wilmot Works It Out is available on both PC and Mac platforms.
