edit: still no color customization but the white background was replaced with light gray (review text unchanged).
nonograms are my absolute favorite puzzle type. I have [b]a few basic requirements[/b] and most already fail at the most basic one: individual (or any) mid-level saving. the others are a timer toggle, undo (ideally with redo), no guessing, individual clue fade, cursor stays in line, marked cells can't be overwritten, and no mandatory mistake highlight/counter or level reset. there are more nice-to-haves but these are crucial.
[b]dot art has them all and more, with 3000+ puzzles[/b], a more than reasonable $10 price tag, a [b]very generous demo[/b] (progress carries over to the full version), and an active and responsive developer. apparently, it's a [b]20-year-old, formerly freeware game somewhat modernized][/b], so there are things that are missing or don't work as they should these days (not that most modern titles work properly anyway). lots of improvements have happened since release and it's still being worked on, so I'll edit things later if necessary. I'd normally finish (or give up on) something before a review but this much content makes it one of those forever games. though I did binge a few hundred levels in a couple days.
there are [b]200 15x15 and 2000+ 20x20 classic black & white puzzles[/b], some of the latter in the 'extra' section in various categories. [b]everything's unlocked[/b], titles only revealed after solving them, though some come as riddles with a hint as to what they might be.
still in the b&w section are [b]timed challenge levels that can't be paused or quit until the timer runs out[/b]. not allowing assist features is fine, the usual 'to stop prevent people from cheating' ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ in an offline, single-player game with no leaderboards not so much. the idea is to act quick, guess even, and get time back with correct fills. only [b]100 20x20 levels[/b], so I don't really care, but it should still let people decide when to quit without losing progress. [b]this is the only section with locked content[/b] until previous ones are solved. [b]the timer only starts after the first click anywhere[/b], always from 10,000 (about 100 seconds), but solving levels increases it. it's also a hard limit, can't go over even if you're racking up time bonuses. and there's actually a roundabout way of quitting (progress is still lost), but I only managed it once on accident and didn't bother with these again.
[b]400 15x15 and 700+ smaller than 15x15 color puzzles[/b] are also available. they deviate from classic ones in the usual way: [b]different colors don't need a space between them[/b], so while blue 2 and blue 3 still occupy at least 6 cells, blue 2 and green 3 can fit in 5.
an inexplicable design decision is the omission of a back button on level select. right click and esc work like everywhere else, but if clickable arrows got added in other areas, why not here? [b]inconsistency in fuctionality between b&w and color puzzles[/b] is another one. can change grid color in the latter, not the former. numbers fade/change color in the former but understandably get crossed out in the latter to avoid color mixups, and while you can click b&w numbers to cross them out too, it's not possible to make it happen automatically there as well. weird. [b]mouse wheel to switch colors would be necessary but clicking a number clue also switches to that color, which is great.[/b] another inconvenience, especially on my set-to-less-bright monitor to decrease eye strain, is [b]some dark colors look identical[/b].
obviously, [b]controls are mouse-based with some non-rebindable hotkeys[/b] detailed in the main menu, along with a bunch of [b]instructions on how to play[/b] and use the [b]manual check feature[/b] to see if you've made a boo-boo. [b]can't mark cells as maybe[/b], unfortunately, mouse wheel click should do that, but like I said, [b]settings are plentiful[/b]. only available in the main menu but it's 2 clicks to get there from a level and once everything's set up, there's nary a need to go back.
a few languages, toggles for skip title, back icon, sound, fps, timer and minimap. any game with audio should have volume settings but there are only a few sound effects here and even those aren't necessary in a game like this. [b]no dark mode or alternate backgrounds, everything's very white[/b], and puzzles were designed for 860x700, so anything else can look pixely. well, even more pixely. [b]full screen resolution is 1280x720 with black bars on the sides[/b], welcome to 20 years ago. there's a variety of window sizes, stretching as far and wide as your desktop resolution allows, so if you're rocking 1920x1080, max size is 1.5x (1290x1050), otherwise it goes up to 1720x1400.
[b]good amount of grid customization[/b], including font size, different color for numbers above 10 (never seen this before), options for solved clue color, x or dot and a few colors for crossed out cells, and an optional row/column highlighter. more toggles for auto-fill, start/end numbers when dragging, lock cursor to current axis, keep selection when a mistake is found (if mistake notifications are on) or the cursor leaves the grid. there's also one for 'same-cell detection', every time or once only, not sure what that's about.
and finally, [b]more support features[/b]. can turn off the grid checker, mistake highlighter and clicking on numbers in b&w puzzles, customize auto-fill and when to fade clues (never, on full line solve, one by one if confirmed from the edge). [b]'logical cells' is essentially an optional hint button[/b], can point to a mistake if any, or a solvable cell without revealing if it should be filled or crossed out. has a 3-minute warm-up period and a 1-minute cooldown.
[b]'solvable line' is neat but needs work, as it only shows an arrow if an entire line can be solved as is[/b], and the arrow doesn't go away or change color after. ideally, it'd show any line with at least one solvable cell and keep up with changes. however, you can decide if you want it to [b]fill only 0 or max lines with a click on the clue or the entire line, which is especially handy on color levels[/b] with multiple color changes.
to reiterate, the [b]most glaring shortcomings[/b] are background color customization (the game itself most of all, but also b&w grids), mouse wheel to switch colors, mouse wheel click to mark cells as maybe, a more useful solvable line function, and something that's probably never gonna happen: better full screen mode with widescreen support and higher resolution.
still, [b]plenty to love here, it's really good stuff[/b], and even with its quirks a much better addition to anybody's collection than all the shiny, lazy ♥♥♥♥ with subpar everything, often with a bigger price tag (especially when it's a 'free' game with tons of paid dlc).
