Sunday, May 31, 2026

Kiddos Puzzcade by Gretgor

 
In a lazy and mundane day, four children were playing in the woods. As night approaches, they realize they lost track of where the way back home was, and decide to try asking for help within the gates of a suspicious looking place. As they walk into the walled garden and search for anything that looks like a house, things get strange, and they see themselves trapped. That's when their bizarre adventure begins.
 
 
Kiddos Puzzcade is a lighthearted puzzle game with four playable characters. In each of this game's eight levels, you must alternate between the four children and interact with the scenery in order to open up the door that leads to the next level. Each kid has a special ability that comes in handy in different situations:

Jack is a brave young buy who loves adventure and exploration. He's the strongest of the four, being the only one capable of moving heavy boulders around. 
Russel, the helmet boy, is an intelligent, but rather insecure lad who tries to avoid taking risks. He has a special... gift at breaking brittle rocks, one he still doesn't know is rather unhealthy. 
Anne is a tough and independent girl, she's quite a bit irritable, but always resourceful and reliable. She jumps higher than most kids her age. 
Marie, the ribbon girl, is the prettiest girl in school. Pampered as they come, she always has the most expensive things at her disposal. She might be fearful and spoiled, but she's truly loyal to her friends no matter what. 

 
Random Fact: this game is an improved version of the original one made by Gretgor for a tiny contest in the long gone (and short lived) Foolish Forums community back in 2008-2009.
 
 
Final Verdict: Kiddos Puzzcade is a really inspired and creative lighthearted game: the system made me remember The Lost Vikings videogame, a quite similar '90s Amiga puzzle-platform where the player had to control alternatively three vikings with different skills. Well, Kiddos Puzzcade is basically the same game without monsters and with four characters instead of three. Is it fun? Yes, very much, and as I said before my complaint is that it's pretty short, despite having enough elements for many more levels and challenges. There isn't much to criticize here, there are no issues, no bugs, no mapping errors. It's a simple little puzzle game and it works, the plot and dialogues are minimal, but all is done with attention to the details. Well done!

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