[h1]A sokpop take on the tile-matching genre: a small, quite enjoyable game with enough content and the usual sokpop quirks (and flaws).[/h1]
I start the review from the game loop, which is very simple as per sokpop tradition. Every game starts on a 3x3 board filled with tiles, plus a reserve (it can contain 20 tiles at max). Each turn, you must push a new tile into the board, at the start/end of any row/column (which also removes the tile at the opposite side of the board). If you create a square/rectangle-shaped group of tiles of the same type (the minimum group is a 2x2 square), the grouped tiles are removed from the board and: (1) grant a certain amount of points (different for each type); (2) partially replenish the bottom of the reserve. By gaining points, you level up and you're offered a few options: to add a new tile type to the board/reserve; to remove a tile type from the board/reserve; to enlarge the board (4x6 at max); to add 10 tiles to the reserve. The ultimate goal is to unlock/use a very specific tile (the [i]rocket[/i]) or simply get the highest score, and you lose if you run out of tiles.
Does the game work? My (personal) answer is yes, the game has a very small scope but enough content to entertain. Actually, there's some depth to this one compared to other games from the same team: there are more than 30 tile types (some have their own rules), a few tech trees, some objects and power-ups, and even enemies to deal with. For this reason, you cannot play the game on autopilot and you won't probably last long if you don't plan your moves tactically. Some RNG is involved too but the balancing is good, considering the game isn't aimed at hardcore players of the genre: overall, I've rarely felt like I lost a game just because of bad luck. Anyway, even though the game isn't difficult once you get the hang of it, this (small amount of) complexity may catch off guard players looking for a very chill experience, not to mention that the absence of info on how to proceed makes it difficult to finish the game for some players. The game's tutorial is basic and provides no clues about tech trees, so it's totally up to the player to figure out how to unlock new tile types.
There's little to say from an artistic point of view, especially if you are used to this team's games. The graphic style is quite basic, "doodle-esque" at times, but the tiles are sufficiently differentiated and thus generally recognizable (perhaps just a couple may be confusing). The result is that the board usually looks nice, especially when it's filled with many tile types and animals/enemies. The background music loop features very few tracks, they're ok for my taste but they won't take long to repeat.
Again as per sokpop tradition, the game optimization leaves a little to be desired. For example, the windowed mode of the game doesn't allow manually resizing the window itself, it just automatically sets the window to the minimum 640x480 resolution or to the full screen resolution: for the former, the game looks too small on a high-resolution screen; for the latter, the game view is stretched while the game UI internally keeps the proper proportions, making quite frustrating to interact with the game (in short, all buttons must be pressed in a different position from where they are on screen). I managed to properly play the game by using an additional program to manually force the window size, but I would not call such a thing "user-friendly" (to put it mildly). In addition, it seems that Steam achievements and in-game challenges are a little buggy, especially the in-game challenges sometimes don't unlock even if their requirement is fulfilled. Anyway, I point out that I still managed to complete the game without too many issues, so I wouldn't be worried about it.
All in all, Tile Tale is the epitome of sokpop philosophy: a small game providing little but enjoyable content, with some compromises in terms of QoL and optimization. Personally, I had a lot of fun playing it, so much so that I extended my playthrough by unlocking all tile types (not required to complete the game). If you like this genre of game or if you are simply a sokpop fan, I recommend it... with only one reservation: at the time of this review, it is not possible to save the current game, therefore it is not suitable for eat-and-go sessions.
