I often catch myself thinking about what a scary place the world seems to be today, and I doubt I’m alone in this. Whenever your mind wanders into that dark place, it always helps to have a distraction, and video games are a great form of escapism. In those moments when you need a distraction, a simple, relaxing game can be just what the doctor ordered. With this in mind, I was very excited to discover A Little to the Left, a gorgeous, touching puzzle game and the first creation of developer Max Inferno.
A Little to the Left offers the player a series of nebulous puzzles to solve. These puzzles are completely devoid of any instructions. The player is presented with an assortment of household items, with no additional context to navigate. You may find yourself looking at a row of books on a shelf, a row of batteries lying next to a tray, or several spoons of different sizes.
The task at hand is to analyze the objects in front of you and make a conclusion about what to do with them. Look for patterns that may be out of order or differences that you can correct. Try to arrange these books from highest to lowest. If that doesn’t work, maybe there is some pattern on the spines that can be used to arrange them. Should you stack these cards on top of each other, or can you create a bigger picture by arranging them correctly?
The sense of accomplishment that comes with solving these puzzles is incredible, because it doesn’t really feel like you’re solving a problem that someone else has put down for you. There are no hints or templates. There is nothing but your own observations and any clever solution you can find.
What is especially charming is the fact that all the objects in the game are items that you often come across in your everyday life at home. Calendars, detergents, cups, picture frames; all these and more are the center of your puzzle solving journey. Having to analyze such ordinary everyday objects through hyper-observation forces you to reconsider how you see them. Playing a little left made me stop and think that there might be more to the mundane aspects of my life than I previously thought. I had never before thought about how bread labels fit so neatly into each other, or how jars look so much better stacked together with others of the same color.
If focusing on household items doesn’t create a feeling of warmth and comfort, the presentation of the game will. Each level is filled with the warmest music imaginable, with soft emotive piano and whimsical xylophone. The music is so cheerful and playful that listening to it, you can’t help but remember the easy days of childhood. This is the kind of music that evokes nostalgia, even if you have never heard it before. The art direction perfectly matches this happy tone; each of the objects represented in the puzzles is illustrated with bright pastels and soft texture similar to pencils.