While I wouldn’t call Chuchel a puzzle game per se (more of an interactive animation), it’s still an adorable and fun time. Amanita Design did a nice job of creating something fresh and original, albeit too easy to count itself as a true member of the puzzle genre.

You play as a small creature resembling a hairball with a hat named Chuchel, as he tries his hardest to retrieve that which he deems most precious, a cherry. Getting it won’t be easy though as he soon finds out, since there is a spiky rodent-like creature after it as well. As if this wasn’t competition enough, at times Chuchel does manage to claim the cherry only to have it snatched away by a larger than life hand. Chuchel might have his work cut out for him, but by no means will you.

Chuchel is an incredibly easy “puzzle adventure” game. I say this loosely because for the most part it only involves you clicking on everything on the screen until something happens. In fact, I can only remember three chapters that gave me any kind of a challenge. That being said, what it lacks in difficulty it makes up for in silliness. It’s cute, zany, and at times downright hilarious. I found myself chuckling at quite a few different parts of the game. From the very first chapter, I was taken in by its weirdness. It seems like something that director and Monty Python member, Terry Gilliam, would have created. I was expecting the giant foot to fall at any moment.

For all of its ease and simplicity, there are some great throwbacks to old school games in Chuchel. Tetris, Pac-Man, and Space Invaders all make cameos in some of the level designs. Since there’s no way to die in the game, there wasn’t the challenge that these other titles bring. However, it still made for some wonderful nostalgia filled moments that I truly enjoyed. I did appreciate that most of the levels tried to differentiate itself from the others enough to keep the whole game interesting. In some, gravity is a factor, some have specific monsters you must appease in a variety of ways, and others actually do make you think for a minute about how everything works together.

Since Chuchel is primarily an animation, the graphics are fairly basic, but well done. It’s nothing mind blowing, but they fit the funny and cartoony nature of the game well. The color palette is simple and vibrant. Much of it looks like something an eight year old would draw, but once again, that’s keeping up with the spirit of the game.

Chuchel features low-key background music for the most part, so the other more garish sounds of interactable objects can be heard as the focal point. There’s no real dialogue spoken, just nonsensical mutterings of various creatures. They do, however, do a wonderful job of conveying the appropriate tone and idea behind their speech, very much like the minions from the Despicable Me movies. They made me laugh, even without using any real words and for that, I applaud them.

 

Chuchel is an absolutely adorable game and one that I enjoyed playing. I’d recommend it for people with children or anyone who’s looking for a laid-back, silly experience.

 

Graphics: 8.0 Fun cartoony animation style.	Gameplay: 5.0 Point-and-click for the most part, but occasionally there are fun old school game mechanics.
Sound: 8.0 Simple music with zany sound effects and silly mumblings.	Fun Factor: 8.0 While it doesn’t pose a challenge, it’s so cute and funny that it’s enjoyable regardless.
Final Verdict: 7.5

Chuchel is available now on Steam, Microsoft Windows, iOS, and Android.

Reviewed on PC.

A copy of Chuchel was provided by the publisher.