Game Review: Embracing Cherished Memories in ‘Pieced Together’
Pieced Together may be one of the most interesting cozy casual games that I’ve seen to date. You’ll be putting together a scrapbook for the main character, Connie, as she tries to reconnect with her childhood best friend. There are six chapters that will take you through various points of Connie’s life growing up as she reminisces about her time with her best friend, Beth.
As each page gets filled up with mementos and stickers that shaped Connie’s childhood, you’ll discover how the friendship began and how that same friendship fell to the wayside. Pieced Together took me on an emotional journey that helped me feel warm inside and left me crying on the outside.
Pieced Together is the first game released and published by Glowfrog Games. Glowfrog Games is a new studio formed by two individuals who previously worked on free-to-play games, led by Kate Killick and Ellie Eady. Along with a team of freelancers, what Glowfrog Games has been able to create here is absolutely phenomenal.
Pieced Together isn’t a long game; in fact, Glowfrog Games advertises this game can be completed in one to two hours, with my first playthrough landing around 90 minutes. While this game is indeed short, do not let that scare you away from purchasing it for PC through Steam, because I most certainly enjoyed my time with what I played.
Pieced Together‘s story and emotional impact of this cozy game
The story of Pieced Together begins with our main character, Connie, attempting to write a letter to her once best friend, Beth. While the gameplay loop is literally just putting together a scrapbook of events and memories that Connie and Beth experienced, I was hit with a stream of emotions during my time with this game.
Hearing Connie narrate her letters to Beth while attempting to find the right words speaks volumes about the character’s emotions. However, once the actual game starts, it is up to you to sort through clippings, photos, and other keepsakes, all while having the freedom to place them in any position. As long as you paste the correct things onto the pages, you’ll discover more about Connie’s life.
The events in Pieced Together move in chronological order, starting with some of Connie’s early memories of moving to London and worrying about whether she’ll be able to make friends. Even though Connie is worried about trying to fit into a new school, she befriends Beth. This friendship goes through many wonderful events, such as birthdays, working while pet sitting, and trying to pick the right university to attend after their secondary school years end.
The last one in particular causes tension between Connie and Beth, not because they fought; quite the contrary. This tension results in the two of them going to different countries to attend the schools of their choice. This separation ultimately led to the two friends growing apart, leaving me saddened by this loss of friendship. These moments make the payoff at the end of the game very satisfying.
There were so many moments when I teared up while finishing pages of the scrapbook. If you’ve read my previous review about imissmyfriends.studio’s game Fishbowl, you’ll know that I don’t have a tendency to get emotional when playing games. Something about Pieced Together and the last game I reviewed have triggered something in my brain to be more receptive to emotional storytelling.
This is part of the reason I enjoy playing indie games so much. Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly larger games with bigger production budgets that are capable of telling a heartwarming story, but there is something especially unique about how indie games do it.
Scrapbooking gameplay and music
The development team behind Pieced Together describes this game as a cozy experience through its scrapbooking gameplay. This is a linear experience where the only decisions you need to make are where to place the clippings, photos, and other items on each page. Each page that you start will allow you to have a free reign of stickers to choose from, placing them wherever to your heart’s content.
Another thing to note is that even though this game is a relaxing experience, you’ll still be assigned to figure out some word puzzles. These puzzles vary enough to prevent the gameplay from becoming stale. For example, you will need to match up words with specific events or descriptions while still being able to experience every emotional beat of the story.
Everything outside of gameplay is also incredibly well done. I found myself invested through Connie’s voice, wonderfully acted by Annie Warburton, as you can sense the melancholy coming out of her mouth. The use of voiced sections in between chapters was a good decision, as it helps with the pacing and transitions from one set of years to another. Combined with the script for Connie’s dialogue, Warburton’s performance is nothing short of excellent. I sincerely believe the casting was perfect for this role.
Of course, how can I forget to talk about the splendid soundtrack for this game? The music is beautifully written and performed by Eric Benaim. I am not very familiar with Benaim’s work, but for what it is worth, his terrific soundtrack in Pieced Together helped bring my emotions to high and low points.
I am not saying that the music alone was the driving force behind making the game’s stronger moments even more emotional than they already are, but it certainly helped. The music and the overall sound design help communicate what Glowfrog Games was going for. Thankfully for those who enjoyed the soundtrack, like myself, the soundtrack can be purchased from the Steam store page under additional content for this game.
Final thoughts on Pieced Together
Every so often, it’s difficult to write a review for a game like this. Because expressing the emotional impact that I had is not always going to be the same for readers. I can safely say that Pieced Together is genuinely a fantastic experience, even if it is on the short side.
The game, for better or worse, is a one-time adventure, and the only bit of replayability comes in at the very end of the game. If the game was an hour or so longer and had more options, like what is towards the ending of the game, I would be giving Pieced Together a full five out of five score.
My rating for this game is: 4/5
That being said, this is a phenomenal game that I recommend to anyone who enjoys wholesome and cozy games that also have low stakes. Does this game have challenging brain teasers or non-linear gameplay? No, but I don’t see these things as a detriment to the overall enjoyment of the game.
I feel like the regular pricing of $9.99 USD is a fair price, but you can grab the game for a lower price if you’re able to take advantage of the pricing from several of the listed game bundles on Steam. If this all sounds great to you, go grab the game right now. I hope you, too, will have as much as a memorable time with Pieced Together as I have.
Also check out: Game Review: Fishbowl Helps Handling Grief with Grace
