A Little to the Left | PC Review

November 22, 2022 Alyssa White

If you’ve ever been around a cat for a good portion of time, you know that they’re curious creatures. They love to snoop around, bat objects with their paws, and play with your belongings that are definitely NOT their toys. If this makes your heart race with excitement, you’re a crazy cat person like me, and Max Inferno has us covered with A Little to the Left. They’ve placed a mischievous cat in an addictive puzzle game, and it’s an oddly satisfying fit.

The Cat’s Meow

A Little to the Left is purely a puzzler. There isn’t a story, no characters are featured other than the aforementioned cat, and dialogue isn’t needed. Your objective is just to solve a myriad of brain teasers that all revolve around organizing and cleaning household objects. This may sound like a boring concept, but it’s ultimately satisfying and surprisingly addictive. It’s also simple to play, only requiring you to click and drag with your mouse. This would be a treat to play with a group of friends or family. Oh, and the mischievous cat who messes with your puzzles is bound to have you both laughing and groaning at its antics.

Catnip

I finished the entire game in a couple of sittings, rolling credits a little after putting five hours into it. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the bright pastel backgrounds, the soothing puzzles scratched an itch I didn’t realize I had in my brain, and the cheerful background music further immersed me in the clever gameplay. I also like that there is the “Daily Tidy”, which is a, you guessed it, brand new daily puzzle. It incentivizes returning to the game each day and the urge to accumulate the numerous in-game badges will appeal to completionists.

Scratches on the Furniture

I did have a couple issues with A Little to the Left, however. My game completely crashed once and kicked me out to the Steam home page. This wasn’t a big issue, since the game autosaves at the beginning of each puzzle, but it was still a bit of a bummer having to restart what I was currently solving.

The biggest problem I had was the fact that about five puzzles make absolutely no sense and deciphering them relies entirely on either randomly clicking until you somehow complete the brain teaser, or going to the hint section. The hint section doesn’t actually give you hints, though. It flat out tells you the solution to the puzzle. Sure, it gives you control by having the solution be a pencil drawing where you can erase scribbles that are covering it to see certain areas, but it still removes the satisfaction of solving it yourself.

The Final Verdict

A Little to the Left is an addictive puzzle game featuring a mischievous cat that cheekily messes with and/or demolishes your work. The cheerful music, bright backgrounds, mostly satisfying puzzles, and simple controls make this a great choice for any players itching to experience a set of new brain teasers. The “Daily Tidy” provides a great reason to keep returning to the game as well. I just wish a handful of the puzzles had made more logical sense and that the hint system actually provided hints, not just straight up giving you the solution. If you don’t mind these two issues, I think this would be a hit with fans of the genre.

To hear me talk more about A Little to the Left , be sure to listen to episode #424 of The Gaming Outsider podcast which will publish on Thursday.

This review is based on a PC copy of A Little to the Left provided by Secret Mode for coverage purposes. It is also available on Nintendo Switch.