I absolutely adored Doors: Paradox, an oddly satisfying diorama puzzle game that worked together lots of tiny puzzles to unlock a stylised door. Flash forward to 2024 and developer Big Loop Studios is back with Boxes: Lost Fragments. Doubling down on intricate clickity clacks and beautifully crafted boxes, its another slice of excellence, albeit a shorter and smaller one.
Boxes: Lost Fragments contains 25 puzzles – 20 of them being boxes. Each one is uniquely themed and range from turning into a toy train set to becoming a sentient pyramid to having an a kraken tentacle locked treasure chest. Each box is exquisitely brought to life and the whole game is a joy to uncover from an art direction perspective. You might be doing similar puzzles across multiple boxes but they all feel unique and have their own quirks.
Box levels usually consist of a few different puzzle types. You’ll need to scan the box to interrogate it for locks, drawers or hidden elements to push open or undo. You’ll need to use your mouse to motion open drawers, latches and keys which takes a little getting used to but its slightly smoother than it was with Doors: Paradox. There will be find the key to unlock clue puzzles, ciphers, symbol matching, slider puzzles, moving blocks or lights into specific positions, electric current puzzles and so on. Each box will have around 10 of them as you slowly uncover its contents which will be a memory of sorts. The objects that trigger these memories will then help solve a shorter room puzzle. These are often about slotting your memory objects in and working out how they all connect.
This might sound like a deep puzzle game but Boxes: Lost Fragments is on the easier end of the puzzle spectrum. I only got stuck a couple of times briefly and it was usually either because I’d overlooked something or found a slider puzzle was causing me grief (they are my kryptonite). Thankfully, Boxes has the ability to offer hints to show you where to look next and if you are stuck on a puzzle and really can’t work it out, you can choose to skip a puzzle and it’ll solve itself, letting you continue without much fuss. This is great news because this is a linear game and by allowing this kind of easy progression, all players can experience the game in its entirety and seeing the end solution can also give you a head slapping ‘dult’ moment too.
One thing that Boxes: Lost Fragments does so well is being oddly satisfying. Turning keys, cranks, doors and levers all offer a Goonies booby trap effect where one puzzle leads to another. This all comes down the ingenious design of each box. Whilst I can absolutely praise this element, Boxes does carry puzzles carrying over from Doors: Paradox and you can spot puzzles that mimic The Room and House of Da Vinci too. Whilst all these games live in a similar space and I’d argue all are worth your time, sometimes Boxes’ puzzle design is a little too close to home. My only other negative comes from the story, which has an unsatisfying cliff hanger ending. I wasn’t playing for the story but the abrupt ending made it stand out as the weak link in a very strong chain.
Whilst I think fans of The Room and House of Da Vinci may find Boxes: Lost Fragments quite similar, I had a fantastic time playing it. Watching these little creations morph and unveil their secrets was satisfying and immersive. The sound design and atmospheric graphics and box designs do most of the leg work in immersing a player fully into this mysterious world. Whilst I think Doors: Paradox is still by favourite, Boxes: Lost Fragments is a worthy and excellent follow up.
Review copy provided by developer. Out now on Steam.
