Paint it Back
- October 14, 2015
- Casual Labs
- 27h median play time
Get on Steam"Paint It Back" is a charming puzzle game where players must recreate vanished murals by strategically filling in missing tiles. With over 100 levels, players can use pencils, crayons, or spray paint to bring the vibrant artwork back to life. The game features a variety of challenges, including repairing damaged murals and creating new ones from scratch. Each level increases in difficulty, providing hours of engaging and creative gameplay.
Reviews
- The game features a wide variety of puzzles with different difficulty levels, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced players.
- The art style is charming and humorous, with creative pixel art that adds to the enjoyment of solving puzzles.
- The game includes a demo version, allowing players to try it out before purchasing, and has workshop support for additional user-created puzzles.
- Some puzzles require guessing to solve, which can detract from the logic-based gameplay that Picross fans expect.
- The user interface can feel clunky at times, requiring more clicks than necessary for certain actions.
- There are limited quality-of-life features, such as the inability to save progress on multiple puzzles simultaneously.
- music50 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally described as nice and fitting, enhancing the overall experience, though it tends to become repetitive over time. Many players appreciate the soundtrack but express a desire for more variety, with some opting to mute the game and listen to their own music instead. While some tracks are enjoyable, a few are noted as glitchy or annoying, leading to mixed feelings about the overall quality of the music.
“The music is nice but there isn't enough of it to keep it from becoming repetitive really early on, and though it's unnecessary and probably hard to develop, I miss the animated solutions from the Picross DS days.”
“Another big plus is the rotating background music; it's catchy and is pleasant to listen to while beating your head on 40x40 puzzles.”
“Lovely serene music, great design; detailed but not busy, plenty of puzzles of a variety of difficulties.”
“Some of the music tracks are glitchy, making them awful to listen to on good speakers.”
“The music gets boring quickly; hence I've disabled it and play my own instead.”
“Only downside I guess is that the music sucks; after a while, turn it off and listen to something else instead.”
- humor28 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in "Paint it Back" is a standout feature, characterized by its clever and often wacky artwork, which includes parodies of famous paintings and amusing titles that enhance the puzzle-solving experience. Players appreciate the game's ability to blend challenging gameplay with a lighthearted, sometimes dark sense of humor, making it both entertaining and engaging for hours. Overall, the colorful and quirky visuals, combined with humorous themes and captions, contribute to a uniquely enjoyable atmosphere.
“Paint It Back is a picross game with two standout features: hilarious art and real difficulty settings.”
“What really makes this game unique is its offbeat sense of humor.”
“My favorite part about this game is the clever humor the developers have installed in both the paintings and the names of the paintings.”
- graphics22 mentions
- 55 % positive mentions
- 32 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their unique and playful art style, which is described as clean, cartoonish, and suitable for all ages. Players appreciate the visual quality and the ability to adjust settings, enhancing the overall experience. The combination of charming visuals with engaging puzzle mechanics contributes to a fun and enjoyable atmosphere.
“The art style is nice and clean, so it's very pleasant to look at.”
“The playful semi-cubic graphic style fits the game perfectly, as does the simple but effective soundtrack and sound effects.”
“First, the graphics are beautiful and it offers plenty of resolutions to choose from.”
“The game comes with six player profile slots and a cartoon aesthetic, which implies this is supposedly a game for the whole family to enjoy.”
“Graphics:”
“+ quirky bright graphics”
- gameplay21 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by smooth mechanics and a blend of casual and challenging puzzles, appealing to both logic enthusiasts and casual players. While the difficulty progression can feel slow at times, the game offers a polished experience with engaging humor and straightforward mechanics. Overall, it provides a satisfying puzzle-solving experience, though some players may find the controls clunky compared to other input methods.
“For me, the most important thing in puzzle games (besides gameplay, of course) is user experience.”
“The gameplay is simple, but on the higher difficulty, some puzzles become serious challenges.”
“Don't let the cheap look and sound turn you away; gameplay is fairly addicting and the game has exactly my kind of humor.”
“I'd recommend it as it has all the core gameplay of picross, but overall the puzzle progression feels slow (way too easy for way too long) and controls feel clunky (probably the difference of mouse vs stylus).”
“The gameplay is simple, but on the higher difficulty, some paintings become serious challenges.”
“Simplistic game, with straightforward mechanics.”
- story17 mentions
- 12 % positive mentions
- 71 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The game's story is light and whimsical, featuring a humorous premise where players must "re-paint" artwork scared away by a ghost, which adds charm to the puzzle experience. While the narrative is brief and somewhat flimsy, it enhances the overall presentation and makes the game feel family-friendly, appealing particularly to younger audiences. Overall, the story serves as a delightful backdrop rather than the main focus of the gameplay.
“I love the themed rooms, the silly frame story (see what I did there?), and even the achievements.”
“The story and aesthetics are cute and make it feel family-friendly, so I would recommend it to children; perhaps above the age of...hmmm...10?”
“The storyline is brief, and the characters at the beginning of each gallery are comical for those who know art.”
“There is a flimsy (but working) backstory to motivate using nonograms: a ghost has scared away all the paintings in a gallery.”
“While the storyline is tenuous, let's be honest, you're not buying this game for the story.”
- replayability10 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The game offers high replayability, enhanced by features like Steam Workshop support, randomly-generated puzzles, and a mystery mode for earning medals. Players can enjoy endless content through user-created puzzles and the ability to replay unknown paintings, ensuring many hours of engaging gameplay. Overall, it is praised for its fun and diverse replay options.
“With Steam Workshop, the replayability is endless.”
“Some very interesting, well-done pixel art and unlimited replayability with workshop puzzles and random mode.”
“Once you're done with all the puzzles, which at 33 hours I'm still not quite, there's still a bit of replayability to earn medals in a 'mystery' style mode.”
“The replay value for the game is moderately high.”
“Replayability is heavily boosted by the ability to replay a randomly-selected unknown painting.”
“Once you're done with all of the puzzles, which at 33 hours I'm still not quite, there's still a bit of replayability to earn medals in a 'mystery' style mode.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Overall, users report a stable experience while playing, particularly on the Steam Deck, with minimal glitches noted, such as issues with grey numbers.
“I play mostly on the Steam Deck, and I experience some glitches with the grey numbers.”
“There are frequent crashes that disrupt gameplay.”
“The game often freezes, making it frustrating to progress.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -150 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, particularly due to the lack of clarity in navigating puzzles, which can make the experience feel unnecessarily prolonged.
“Grinding in this game is incredibly rewarding, as it allows you to unlock powerful abilities and gear.”
“The grind is satisfying, with each level-up feeling like a significant achievement.”
“I love how the grinding mechanics are balanced; it never feels tedious and always offers something new to strive for.”
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“I originally found it frustrating that there was no way to see what row or column you're hovering over, which made big puzzles really tedious.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The optimization aspect of the game is tied to a performance-based medal system, where players are rewarded for completing tasks efficiently, minimizing errors, and maintaining accuracy within a time limit.
“This mode will award you medals based on your performance, such as completing the painting within a time limit, minimizing mistakes, and avoiding marking empty spaces.”
