A Little to the Left review – A whole lot of right

It’s the time of year. Pretty much everyone feels burnt out, physically exhausted, psychologically frazzled and completely at the mercy of the rat race. You’re not powering that hamster wheel; it’s making you sprint to keep up… or else.

It’s times like these that quiet moments and small wins, such as folding the laundry and reorganising the cutlery drawer, become invaluable. These are typically things we do have control over, and every accomplishment is good for the mind and soul. That’s exactly the role that new indie PC (and Nintendo Switch) game A Little to the Left serves, and it couldn’t release at a better time.

From two-person Canadian studio Max Inferno, and publisher Secret Mode, you can consider A Little to the Left a cousin to last year’s similarly casual and cozy puzzle game Unpacking. A Little to the Left doesn’t have the slowly pieced together (and compelling) narrative of Unpacking, but it does provide a similar sense of satisfaction that comes from perfectly arranging a domestic space.

In A Little to the Left, neat freaks have over 80 levels, spread across 5 chapters, to tidy up items found in a typical household setting. Featuring a charming flat illustration style, the challenges range from simple tasks like size-ordering spare change, and setting a place at the dinner table, to more complex asks such as pruning plants and hanging a vast set of DIY tools on a pegboard. Occasionally, for some extra fun flavour, you have to work fast, contending with a mischievous cat that enjoys destroying your hard work with a single paw swipe.

While you’re puzzling away, a combination of aural and visual cues – the latter indicated by items snapping into place – let you know when you’ve got things placed just right.

Max Inferno have clearly put a lot of thought into making a puzzle game that is, for the most part, relaxing without sacrificing cerebral challenge. Players are given a number of options to suit their playstyles. There’s a “two-factor” hint system in case you change your mind at the last minute (or maybe open the Hint screen by accident). Stumped by a particular puzzle? Choose Let It Be, and you can skip to the next activity. Your progress is never gated, and you can always go back later to reattempt whatever was giving you brain strain.

Importantly, the developers acknowledge, via a star system, that puzzles may have multiple solutions. For example, a row of colouring pencils could be arranged according to colour, length or even sharpness. Beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all that.

Of course, this isn’t the case for every challenge. Some are frustratingly obtuse, but such is the nature of puzzle games. People’s brains don’t work the same way – some of us gravitate more to organisation based on colour, while others prioritise shape, size or symmetry – and A Little to the Left recognises that, making the game more accessible in its own way.

For the record, on PC, A Little to the Left can be played with both mouse and controller, although it’s a rare instance where gameplay feels more comfortably quick and responsive with mouse. On that note, it’ll be interesting to see if A Little to the Left migrates to other gaming platforms in future, as it seems ideal for mobile tactility especially.

One final surprise from A Little to the Left is also one of its standout features. The game includes an additional non-campaign mode called the Daily Tidy Delivery. Perfect for those of us who still religiously do the Wordle every day, the Daily Tidy offers a new puzzle every 15 hours or so. These are reportedly unique to each player, based on their campaign performance. It’s a great incentive to bring people back, with badges rewarded for up to 365 puzzles completed. These tasks won’t take you long, but technically, thanks to the Daily Tidy, that’s a whole year of play provided by one little indie game that otherwise features a standard playthrough of 2.5 to 4 hours.

There isn’t much more to say about A Little to the Left, which keeps its pleasures simple and sweet. The game is best enjoyed in shorter sessions, of a puzzle or two at a time. That said, the final chapter, which gives its naughty feline more of a starring role, should be experienced in a single sitting, as it plays out like a fever-dream musical number, building to a goofy crescendo that will leave you grinning from ear to ear.

A Little to the Left releases tomorrow, 8 November for PC, Mac and Nintendo Switch. If you need a little more convincing before purchase, you can try out the game demo on Steam now.