A little tease for the next episode of the podcast: I’ve been playing a lot of Squeakross: Home Squeak Home, a super-cute Picross (Nonogram) puzzler that launched on PC and Switch back in June. As a self-proclaimed Picross Sicko, I have fallen for Squeakross hard, pouring an easy seven hours into its pictorial brain teasers over the last four days.
Beyond its excellent puzzles (and they really are best-in-class, both in the design of its Picross and its array of quality-of-life features), the main appeal of Squeakross is in its framing. Unlike Jupiter Corporation’s long-running Picross series, which I often find cold and sterile in its presentation, the overarching goal of Squeakross is to design the perfect home for your fully customisable rodent. Much like Animal Crossing, it lets you plonk stylish furniture in a room and position it to your liking. Flooring, wallpaper, and even walls can also be adjusted, providing a surprising amount of flexibility for those looking to create the rat/mouse/gerbil house (nest?) of their dreams.
The brilliant bit? All of this stuff is unlocked by completing each Picross board. Unlike other games, where the reward for solving a tricky Nonogram is a pixel image of, I dunno, an apple or whatever, here the reward is an actual 3D object that sits in a room and potentially gives your rodent an existential crisis (a frequent occurrence, which raises some uncomfortable questions about what kind of damage a cordless phone and a lava lamp inflict on a rat’s psyche).
Anyway, all this is to say that Squeakross has given me an idea so deranged that I’ve decided that following it through is not only wise, but inevitable. I have decided that by the end of 2025, I am going to complete all 650 puzzles that Squeakross (currently) offers. I am going to become fully Squeakross-pilled. I am going to alienate everyone I love for the sole purpose of making sure my beloved rat, Princess Scromples, lives in a house so luxurious everyone will assume she’s either a British royal or the techno-fascist CEO of Mouse Twitter.
I’ll update you on my ongoing quest as often as I can. So far, I’ve finished 68 puzzles. That’s over 10%! At my current cadence of 17 puzzles a day (on average), I should be finished in just over 34 days. September 16th, to be exact. Considering I’m giving myself until New Year’s Eve, this should be a cakewalk.
So, yes. This isn’t a review of Squeakross by any means, but it’s certainly a glowing endorsement of a puzzle game so pleasant I’m risking my mental health in pursuit of making a 3D model of a rat happy. Anyway, I’d best be off. I need a wee, and toilet breaks are the perfect opportunity for polishing off a Picross puzzle.
Comments: