[b]My Playtime:[/b] 18.5h (finished the game)
[h1]Intro[/h1]
[i]Daydream Mosaics 5: Crimson Veil[/i] is a multi-layered Nonogram game. You'll play 120 Nonogram levels—each level has 6 layers of different colors to work on, resulting in one image that encompasses all of the colors.
[b]Pros:[/b]
- 120 easy levels
- 4 difficulty to play with
- Other minigames to refresh your mind from the Nonograms
[b]Cons:[/b]
- No undo button
- You can fill color over the X mark
[b]Specs[/b]
Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
[h1]Should you buy this game?[/h1]
[b]Yes.[/b]
[i]If you enjoy playing easy Nonogram games, buy it on a sale. I especially recommend it to those who just want to play it to relax.[/i]
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[h1]In-Depth Review[/h1]
[h3]Visuals[/h3]
The portrait for each character looks so realistic, making me think that they were a photo rather than an image. The same goes for the background, although you can notice that they are artificial from the simple animations. The Nonograms, though, were a letdown compared to these. The UI for the Nonogram table doesn't look as grand in comparison, and perhaps it's because the Nonogram images were made in mosaic (which might be where the Mosaics in the game's title came from), but the coloring tends to be off and the resulting images tend to be hard to deduce from what they are supposed to be.
[h3]Story[/h3]
The story follows from the previous game, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2594730/Daydream_Mosaics_4_Shades_of_Blue/][i]Daydream Mosaics 4: Shades of Blue[/i][/url]. However, since I haven't played it, I didn't understand much about it, even with the recap. Luckily, there wasn't much in the story. You only get some cutscenes after and before finishing each chapter, and given that there are only 3 chapters in the game, you won't be missing much.
The story was told in a couple of slideshow images with dialogues shown after a certain delay. I hate that you can't speed up the conversations; you can only skip the whole dialogue in one image or skip the cutscene completely.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3328048239
The ending seems to allow some room for the next title, although it still answers the plot that revolves around this particular title. However, I found some parts of the dialogue to be conveniently placed or confusing. This might be because I didn't follow the story from the previous title, though.
[h3]The Game[/h3]
As I said before, this is a multi-layered Nonogram game. You have 5-6 layers in each level where you need to use the rule of Nonogram to fill the pixels. However, since you have more than 1 layer, you need to keep in mind that these colors will eventually fill the board as you finish with more colors. This makes the puzzle very easy by the time you reach the last color; I tend to find myself mindlessly coloring any empty space in the board because of it.
The multi-layered nature also reduces the difficulty by a lot. Some layers tend to have fewer pixels to color, so even though you have difficulty in another layer, you just need to switch to another layer that looks easier until others are filled with these colors.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3444863485
Each level is at least in the size of 22x15. The size might look daunting for those who are not used to bigger puzzles, but the puzzles are actually way easier than black-and-white Nonograms with smaller sizes. Since the puzzles are large, I'm glad that it offers an option to count numbers when you drag them. However, I didn't like that the game colors over your X marks. It beats the purpose of placing them and I had to spend more time coloring the board this way.
Aside from Nonograms, you also have other minigames that will be playable from time to time. Spot the differences, hidden objects, and jigsaw puzzles will be available after you finish ~5 levels. For the first two, some objects can be challenging to find, although there are hints to help you in case you are stuck. As for the jigsaw puzzles, you can choose the size from a select number of choices, with a lot of options including showing or revealing the resulting image on the background.
[b]Length and Difficulty[/b]
I finished the game in 18.5h. There are 4 difficulties. The first three will check your mistakes, and since I hate that, I chose the difficulty where mistakes aren't checked. It was more enjoyable that way. As for the difficulty, I never had any issues in finishing the game; you can always switch to another color whenever you are stuck with one.
[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
If you compare [i]Daydream Mosaics 5: Crimson Veil[/i] with other Nonogram games, it might look too easy in comparison. However, the gameplay was simple and easy to learn, making it a perfect choice for those who prefer easier puzzles, especially those who are older in age. That being said, I still prefer to recommend this on a sale since it lacks some QoL improvements.
[quote]This game was reviewed with a key provided by the developer for free through Curator Connect.[/quote]
[quote]Follow our curator page: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]IndieGems[/url] if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.
