Leaves: The Return

About

Leaves: The Return is a single player puzzle game. It was developed by ZAR 21 and was released on March 14, 2017. It received positive reviews from players.

Mononino and the Treefruities fared well without you - until another disaster scattered the leaves of their home tree. Once more, take on the journey and challenging puzzles along the way.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

88%

Audience ScoreBased on 260 reviews

graphics34 positive mentions

story4 negative mentions

The game features beautiful artwork and a whimsical, surreal aesthetic that enhances the overall experience.
Puzzles are diverse and challenging, providing a satisfying level of complexity that keeps players engaged.
If you enjoyed the first game, you'll likely appreciate this sequel as it maintains the charm and fun of the original.

Many puzzles can feel tedious and require excessive backtracking, which can detract from the overall enjoyment.
The game suffers from technical issues, including a lack of frame rate control that can lead to overheating problems.
Some puzzles are recycled from the first game, leading to a sense of repetition and a lack of new content.

graphics
72 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
47%
49%
4%
The graphics of the game are characterized by a unique and surreal art style that many players find beautiful and imaginative, with detailed artwork that enhances the overall aesthetic experience. However, some reviews note that the simplistic 2D visuals lack depth and quality, with limited options for graphical improvement. Overall, while the art direction is praised, the execution of the graphics may not meet the expectations of all players.
- “The artwork is beautiful and the attention to detail is fantastic.”
- “The graphics were fantastic, I loved the designs and the art style.”
- “The art style and imagination that went into this game is just insanely awesome!!”
- “While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic 2D art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality.”
- “Without any other substantial graphics tweaks, it's not possible for gamers to improve the lackluster 2D visuals.”
- “The graphics are the same as the first game with somewhat odd-looking backgrounds and characters that look somewhat like a surreal Monty Python but not nearly as comedic.”
gameplay
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
68%
11%
The gameplay in this sequel features a mix of new and familiar puzzles, maintaining the same mechanics as its predecessor while introducing some complexity. While the visuals and aesthetics are praised, the user interface and overall technical execution feel dated, resembling a browser game. Despite some frustrations with logic and mechanics, players find the gameplay engaging and enjoyable, with a rich experience that keeps them entertained for several hours.
- “It has some brand new puzzles with a higher level of complexity, and a new take on some old puzzles and mechanics.”
- “As an overall package, this is a puzzle game with fun gameplay and phenomenal aesthetics.”
- “During several hours you won't be bored; the rich gameplay throws you into the magic world of leaves.”
- “This sequel is very much a copy and paste of 'Leaves - The Journey', but with different puzzles; otherwise, the technical aspects of the game (and most of the gameplay) are identical, with no improvements over the first and all the same defects.”
- “For gameplay purposes, the user interface for this game is mostly just 2D static images with a few flash-like sprites and objects on top... it might as well be a browser game.”
- “Unfortunately, just like the first game: unbelievably beautiful, unbelievably illogical, frustrating mechanics, infuriating logic.”
story
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
75%
14%
The game's story is largely criticized for being almost non-existent, similar to its predecessor, with many reviewers noting a lack of meaningful narrative and coherence. Players can engage with the game independently of the previous installment, but the simplistic and often nonsensical storyline fails to captivate interest, overshadowed by repetitive puzzles and linear gameplay. Overall, the story is seen as a weak aspect, contributing little to the gaming experience.
- “Moral of the story: you never know what life has in store for you, and if I had given up when all odds were against me, I wouldn't be where I am today.”
- “The story line is simple, but there are leaves and inhabitants to collect.”
- “[*] wordless storytelling”
- “It's hard to say that the return is a good sequel, since there isn't really any story.”
- “There's pretty much no story whatsoever, same as the first.”
- “Zero story, much more linear with a lot of backtracking, studded with idiotic puzzles, many of which are 'copy this pattern' ones.”
music
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
68%
14%
The music in the game is described as relaxing and ambient, enhancing the overall experience without being overwhelming. While some reviewers found the music and sound effects merely adequate, they appreciated how it complemented the game's beautiful graphics and challenging puzzles. Overall, the soundtrack contributes positively to the atmosphere, making it enjoyable enough that players didn't feel the need to mute it.
- “I relaxed for 5 minutes listening to this music, long enough to realize that I would be okay.”
- “Puzzles are challenging, the artwork is in a style I very much enjoy, and the music is relaxing.”
- “The music and sound effects add dimension to the characters.”
- “The music and sound effects are... well, okay, they're merely adequate.”
- “And still almost no music at all.”
- “I often turn my sound off on my computer while gaming because I just can't take listening to too much game music.”
grinding
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience, with some puzzles being enjoyable and quirky, while others are described as tedious and repetitive, particularly towards the end. The cumbersome mechanics, such as using the spyglass and having to navigate the map multiple times, contribute to the feeling of tedium, although many still appreciate the overall fun of the game.
- “But it was more fun the first hour or two, and got a bit tedious towards the end of the game.”
- “I also found it tedious after a while that using the spyglass (magnifier) was so cumbersome (click on the dangling ball to open inventory, click on spyglass to select, drag it down into main screen to use) - and it would automatically disappear after use, so you'd have to repeat the sequence for each scene.”
- “This time it's during the tedious 'five rings' puzzle, which you have to intentionally mess up and redo again to solve the bug!”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users report significant stability issues, particularly with puzzle pieces becoming unresponsive or visually glitching, such as turning white and being immovable. Additionally, there are concerns about the reliability of different save files, which may also exhibit bugs.
- “In one puzzle, a piece was so buggy that it turned white and I couldn't move it anymore.”
- “But on different save files, because they can be buggy as well.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
75%
The atmosphere of the game is consistently described as eerie, contributing to an immersive experience that enhances the challenging and original puzzles. Reviewers appreciate how the atmospheric elements complement the gameplay, creating a captivating and engaging environment.
- “Eerie atmosphere.”
- “Challenging and original puzzles and excellent atmosphere.”
- “The game has an eerie atmosphere that keeps you on edge.”
- “The eerie atmosphere really enhances the overall experience.”
- “I found the eerie atmosphere to be unsettling in a good way.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with many users highlighting it as the worst aspect, similar to its predecessor. Technical performance issues significantly detract from the overall experience.
- “The worst aspect of this game, just like the first, is the technical performance.”