GAME: Meow Tower by Studio Boxcat

GENRE: Puzzle, collection

PLATFORMS: Android and iOS

Today’s game is a simple and sweet one. Meow Tower is about collecting cats and learning their secret stories, this while solving nonogram puzzles.

Here, you come across a tower housed by a cat called Momo, who asks you to help him get some furniture for his empty room. You solve the nonogram puzzles in order to get the furniture and decorate Momo’s room. You also bond with him and learn his story. Soon, more cats start moving into the tower and you follow a similar regimen with them. Each new cat has a different personality and story, and finding them all is the point of the game. It’s a portrait game playable with one hand.

Nonograms, also known as Picross, are logic-based picture puzzles. Imagine an empty Sudoku-like grid, where you colour only certain cells of the grid based on given numbers. Finally, all the coloured cells form a pixel drawing. Even though nonograms are based on a similar logic as that of Sudoku, they’re much more visual and much less complex by design.

Coming back to the cats, buying furniture for them does sound like they’re making you do their bidding, and sometimes it feels like that too. But some interactions are wholesome and leave you with a smile.

My favourite moment was when an aspiring musician cat tries and fails to hold the drumsticks in her paws, and then proceeds to energetically play the drums with just bare paws! The game maintains a slam-book that keeps track of your relationship with each cat, although the only way to improve your relationship is to buy them more furniture.

However, the primary thing that keeps you coming back to the game are the puzzles. You can choose between Easy and Hard levels at any time. Easy puzzles are relaxing and take 30-60 seconds to solve, making them a perfect distraction in small breaks.

The hard ones take 5-10 minutes, and are a satisfying challenge when you want some mental exercise. The puzzles always seem doable and there’s hardly ever a point where you feel like giving up. There’s also some excitement to see what picture is created at the end of each puzzle. Unlike Match-3, these levels don’t pinch you by limiting moves. But the Easy puzzles get a bit repetitive after a while, since not a lot of variation is possible in smaller grids. The game also limits you to only eight puzzles at a time, which is restricting but gives you a break from mindless screen time.

VERDICT: Meow Tower is a relaxing nonogram puzzle game with a cute cat collection meta. Interactions with cats are emotional and not overly cheesy, but buying stuff for cats in exchange for their friendship seems a bit shallow. There are, however, good puzzles for challenge-seekers and time-killers alike. If newspaper puzzles excite you, then you should try this out. I’d rate it seven out of 10.