Thirty years on, Super Mario 64’s influence continues to be felt. Just like how manipulating Mario’s pudgy face taught the basics of analogue controls, Woodo’s title screen involves grabbing and slotting wooden letters into their designated space to form the logo. This teaches the basics of this tactile puzzler before even meeting central character Foxy, a timid city girl on summer break.
Foxy reluctantly heads to a quaint countryside village on her lonesome, carrying a backpack full of coloured pencils and her trusty gaming tablet. What then ensues over the next 5-6 hours is a mild epiphany, with Foxy making a friend in the form of Ben the frog, who gladly shows her what the countryside has to offer. She gets the rare chance to connect with nature, one minor squabble aside, and is joined by a recurring cast of cutesy characters, including a family of geese with their goslings, and a mouse and a spider who have managed to become pals.
The story is spread over several days, with each scene taking the form of an interactable animated diorama. Each takes around 40 minutes to complete – give or take 10 minutes either way – and is intended to be enjoyed at your own pace. You’re free to grab and cycle through objects from a sidebar before placing them appropriately on a blank canvas, bringing colour to the world. True to its name, it has a wooden aesthetic that suits the tone perfectly, as if every object and character is finely handcrafted. Almost everything is animated, too – wave the cursor around, and you’ll see characters spring to life and interact, while everyday objects topple and wobble, sometimes revealing a secret or an in-joke. The goslings get up to all sorts, seemingly entranced by the world just as Foxy is.
Essentially, then, it’s a hidden object game. But it’s one far more creative and polished than most. No scene simply involves grabbing and placing objects ad nauseam, as some have dioramas within dioramas, along with vital pieces to find such as keys. Cupboards and fridges can be opened, too, adding to the level of interactivity. One scene also provides a single item at a time, while another sees items floating around, meaning you must grab them out of the air. Of course, the dioramas increase in size and complexity, with the penultimate challenge being a multi-floored windmill with interior rooms.
Handily, it’s possible to reveal a hint, with the cooldown for further clues being just a few seconds. This proves very useful when you’re left with just a few small, hard-to-recognise pieces. Object magnetism can also be increased so that objects are drawn into their location from further away.
It’s wonderfully presented, with numerous subtle effects applied to backdrops, along with playful water physics. Once a stage is complete, a photo opportunity is given, acting as a reward. It’s a nice diversion, as a handful of achievements/trophies are linked to snapping certain sights. Completing puzzles also unlocks illustrated storybook pages, while the map screen likewise springs into life over time, adding characters that run around and snooze. Music is soft and tranquil, while voice acting is predictably twee, but never unbearingly so.
If there is a problem with Woodo, it’s that it isn’t best suited to long sessions and is ideally played for an hour at a time before taking a break. Indeed, it’s easy to get the impression that this is how it should be experienced due to its bite-sized challenges. Tedium did emerge towards the end, after having to place individual floor tiles, leaves and other small pieces – some of which became lost in the background, even after zooming the camera in as far as it allows.
While the story may not resonate with everyone, spanning the entirety of Foxy’s idyllic summer break, it’s hard not to be impressed by the polished presentation and the variety of the challenges, with each diorama trying to put a new spin on things – even if some of its new ideas are less impactful than others. It puts other hidden object games to shame, making the vast majority appear flimsy and throwaway in comparison, and while you may not be any wiser or more dexterous for playing it, you may have a rekindled sense of patience.
Daedalic’s Woodo is out 16th September on PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, Switch and PC. Developed by Tiny Monks Tales.