If you’ve been following my reviews at all, you may have picked up that I am incredibly fond of puzzle games and would happily play them all day every day if I could. Cue She Remembered Caterpillars, a puzzle game.
The only caterpillars I found in She Remembered Caterpillars were the bridges scattered through its levels; the things you control look more like tiny men than any caterpillars I’ve ever seen anyway. On the bright side, they are just as colourful and scurry around much more quickly than caterpillars too, as you guide them around to solve some pleasant problems. Your goal is always incredibly simple. Fill all of the exit points with the little guys so they can fly away.
Nothing is really tutorialised (not a word but I’m sticking with it) as you progress, but you instead pick up the rules with experimentation and exploration. In the early levels you’ll learn how to switch who you control, which colours can cross which bridges and generally just figure out how to get from ‘A’ to ‘B’ without getting stuck at ‘X’ on the way. Steadily more mechanics are introduced such as being able to mix colours to cross purple, green, and orange bridges, or you’ll encounter new barriers that block certain colours from passing. The difficulty curve is incredibly smooth and I never found myself stuck when faced with a new idea for long. If you struggle with puzzle games though be warned, there’s no hint system to help you.
I often found the puzzles simple to solve, making for a rather relaxing experience, so I’m glad that the aesthetic and music matches this. The artwork on display is gorgeous and looks great in handheld mode (my preferred way to play) and the music is just as soothing to the ear. This is a great game to chill out with for an hour or two if you want to take your mind off of everything else. The fact the puzzles are pretty free-form helps too; I once found a way to clear a level without using half of the objects on screen at all. Mixing and moving is often enough to get you through as long as you plan ahead.
If solving the puzzles isn’t enough to keep you going though, between chapters you’re given little titbits of a story. These come in the form of paragraphs from the perspective of… someone. I’m honestly not entirely sure as it’s all rather abstract. But they’re usually some sort of diary entry about what I’d speculate is a family member who’s passed away. I wish I knew, but I couldn’t finish the game to find out. That’s the hardest part of this review.
She Remembered Caterpillars was released on Switch on March 28th, over two weeks ago now. And I’ve had the review copy even longer, messaging the devs on March 19th. I was hoping that this bug would have been patched out by now, but it’s not been. Whether that’s the fault of the devs or Nintendo’s restrictive and slow patching process, I don’t know. Either way, I can only play 34 of the 40 levels advertised on the Switch storefront, as when I attempt to load level 35 I’m met with sound glitches and an endless loading screen. I’ve googled, and other players have met with this progress-killing glitch too, so it’s not just me.
To my knowledge the PC version works fine, but if you only have the Switch to play on, I wouldn’t risk purchasing this until a patch comes out. While the game is full of charm and I found the puzzles thoughtful and fun, I simply can’t recommend it in its current state. If only the caterpillars were the only bugs in this game.
A digital review copy of She Remembered Caterpillars for Switch was provided by the developer.
Find She Remembered Caterpillars on Switch here:
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/she-remembered-caterpillars-switch/