Wilmot Works It Out [Review]
Help Wilmot escape his terrible puzzle addiction.
Wilmot Works It Out. Credit: Finji / Richard Hogg / Hollow Ponds
Wilmot joins a puzzle club that sends him puzzles to build by mail. He develops a serious addiction, not noticing the time fly by as he feverishly builds them. Wilmot doesn’t eat or sleep. He builds. By the time he’s finished a set, Sam the Postwoman is already knocking on his door, delivering the next puzzle package. Sam repeatedly asks Wilmot to join her for lunch or other outings, but he never shows up because he is incapable of leaving his puzzles unfinished. Wilmot’s fixed smile is a mask for the terrible spiral of addiction that consumes him.
The story is much more lighthearted than that, but imagining it this way was funny as I was playing. In truth, publisher Finji and developers Richard Hogg and Hollow Ponds’ Wilmot Works It Out is laid-back and incredibly charming. The game is a follow-up to Wilmot’s Warehouse, using some of the same gameplay mechanics. I loved Wilmot Works It Out so much that I played and completed its New Game+ mode immediately after I finished the base game.
Wilmot Works It Out. Credit: Finji / Richard Hogg / Hollow Ponds
Each day, Wilmot gets a package full of square puzzle pieces. You open up the package, which spreads the pieces out on the floor in a square or rectangle, and then push or grab one or more pieces to move them around and assemble the puzzles. Finish a puzzle, and you can hang it on the wall; once it’s impossible to build more, a knock on the door will herald the arrival of the following box. The piece organization and movement mechanics work exactly like in Wilmot’s Warehouse, but the lack of a timer here makes this a far more relaxing experience.
Puzzles are organized into seasons. Once you complete a season’s worth of puzzles, you open up a new room in Wilmot’s house to decorate with your completed puzzles and other cosmetics. Though achievements are connected to this aspect of the game, decorating is not required to progress.
Wilmot Works It Out. Credit: Finji / Richard Hogg / Hollow Ponds
The game packs pieces for two or more puzzles—often featuring images with similar patterns or features—in each box you receive. Frequently, you’ll have pieces left over that belong to future puzzles. The beautiful pictures you build are cleverly designed to make deciphering them satisfyingly challenging despite their relatively low number of pieces, especially since you don’t get a reference for the final image as you would on the box of a physical puzzle. Finishing a puzzle and putting it up on the wall is always satisfying.
After you finish the game, the Marathon New Game+ mode opens up. In this version of the game, there are no seasons. Boxes arrive immediately, one after the other, with pieces from all the puzzles in the game mixed up at random. New puzzles you haven’t seen before also appear in the mix to make things trickier. Thankfully, the room is much larger in this mode, giving you the space to organize your pieces and build several puzzles simultaneously.
Wilmot Works It Out. Credit: Finji / Richard Hogg / Hollow Ponds
When all was said and done, I spent around 20 hours with the game and still wanted more. If any DLC or sequels are in the works, I’ll immediately buy them when they release. The addict I described in the opening paragraph of this review was actually me.
Wilmot Works It Out is available now on Mac and PC via Steam.
Overall Score: 10/10
Played on: Steam Deck
