Pieced Together Review (Xbox Series X|S)

I’m a sentimental fool, so I get it. If there’s something that reminds you of the past, or if there’s something that holds emotional weight, then there’s no better place to put it than in a scrapbook for safe keeping. I understand it, as do I resonate with the concept that Pieced Together wishes to convey with its binder. The high school photographs, the scrap materials, and the little tokens of memorabilia that once held some form of special significance. It all means something — and it all deserves to be preserved for future generations. I love the idea, and I feel as if it brings a good lesson to the table that ought to be taken seriously. If it makes you feel something, then it’s worth holding onto.

Pieced Together isn’t about chronicling the journey of a blessed heroine, but a regular, relatable character who, like many, simply wishes to document her life. It isn’t about journaling a whirlwind adventure across the far reaches of the globe, nor is it about tracing the steps of a fledgling astronaut, a secret agent, or a world class celebrity. Rather, it’s about stitching the small details into a comprehensive portfolio—a warm and personal binder that documents the time periods, the high and the lows, and the little things that matter most in life. Friendships and keepsakes bulk out its pages, and it’s your job to embellish the content.

There’s a gentle story here that doesn’t divulge much more than the bare necessities of an entry-level puzzle game and the timid heart of a young protagonist. As a scrapbooker with a handful of materials, mementos, and photographs, you have a simple task: to navigate the pages of a book, and to decorate each panel with a glue stick, an item, and a memory that holds a special place in your heart. As you sift through the contents and compile the index, you learn more about the past, the present, and the future. Life, as you come to learn, is precious, and the little things that you add to your scrapbook are there to remind you that, regardless of the time, the condition, or the outcome, everything is worth cherishing.

Similar to Sticky Business, Pieced Together hands you  a collection of pages to flick through, each of which feature a unique style, theme, and connection to the underlying story. As it is, above all else, a puzzle game at its core, it invites you to highlight fragments on each of its pages, complete missing sections, and build images that reflect a memory. For example, in one section you have contents that pertain to a particular adventure in the Paris catacombs. With a hand-drawn note to guide you, you must compile pieces of a map in a jigsaw-like fashion, and complete the story by adding all of the correct details, routes and images. It’s a simple “puzzle” at best, but it’s also charming and interesting enough to keep you busy as you flesh out the backstory.

Pieced Together is all about celebrating the blissful moments of life, of friendship, and of growing old. As you turn the pages, you learn more about the keeper, as do you unlock additional passages from their past. As an observer, you need only apply the glue that binds the memories together. With no strenuous tasks to complete, uphill battles to overcome, or perplexing choices to make, you more or less find yourself with a more relaxed schedule and objective — to retain the heart and soul of a character, and to cherish each and every moment that makes you, well, you. It isn’t a difficult game by any means, nor is it one that forces you to think outside of the box. Rather, it’s a charming sticker-centric puzzler that simply wishes to tell you a story and to hand you the pieces to bridge the gaps.

Without spoiling the plot, Pieced Together aims to provide a relatable coming-of-age tale that strongly captures the spirit of youth, of adolescence, and of the bonds that strengthen as innocence transitions into adulthood. Granted, it isn’t anything that we haven’t already seen a hundred times before, but it is a strong story that proudly illuminates the importance of life and friendship. And, again, that’s a concept that I can gel with rather easily without needing to ask a dozen questions. Sometimes, you just need a scrapbook and a ticket stub, a note, and a photograph to convey a message. Pieced Together knows that, and it does a beautiful job of showing it in its lightweight form.

Blended with its crisp sketchbook aesthetic, acoustic score and floaty voice acting, Pieced Together builds a strong and comfortable composition that is just as easy to flick through as it is enjoyable to complete. While it is a rather short game (ninety minutes, give or take), it does manage to deliver its message and commit to its goals in a way that compliments the cozy theme, the story, and the lightweight gameplay elements. Frankly, it doesn’t need to do a lot more than that to make an impression. As simple as it is, it makes for a pleasant gift that, when all’s said and done, is a perfect fit for the “wholesome” genre.

Verdict

Pieced Together chronicles a heartfelt scrapbooking adventure that it both creatively engaging and oh-so-relatable, with an intuitive and lightweight gameplay feel, a calm acoustic ambiance, and a treasure trove of simple, sweet, and satisfying puzzles that make you appreciate the “little things” in life. To that end, it feels like an easy choice to make, especially if you’re a fan of wholesome puzzlers à la Sticky Business or A Little to the Left. Although it might not make you shed a boatload of tears in the long term, it should, with any luck, unlock a few doors and give you something to either write home about or reminisce on. That, at least in my eyes, is what any good story-driven scrapbooking game should be.