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UMAMI is a simple game idea executed perfectly. You put back together deliciously crafted wooden food puzzles that have been scattered across colorful culinary canvases, complete with adorably fluffy furry animal characters throughout. Each level provides its own theme and foodstuff, like a bee-topped honey waffles stack, or a lovey-dovey bear cake, or a garden vibes bunny baked beauty, just to name a few of the 15 puzzle environments. I was easily whisked away into the cozy cooked comforts with a calming soundtrack, fun little tactile interactions throughout the artfully crafted dishes, and lack of stressful goals like timers or mistake counters. UMAMI is truly about sitting down for a sense-satisfying session of blissful no-stress puzzle solving.
What drew me into the UMAMI experience at first sight was the inclusion of such wonderfully cheerful animal buddies that are highlighted in the dishes and all of the art within the game. It’s all so fun and happy, with surprises around every crispy, syrupy edge. Even more inviting are the oh so pleasant sounds and animations that surprise you with every nudge of a macaroon, cookie, plate, and more. Basically everything is clickable, including some things on the completed dishes! Hidden within each dish is a secret, too, and it was fun getting to find these little “treats” while continuing to enjoy the completed puzzles.
Of course, the main gameplay element is putting together all of these puzzles, and that couldn’t be easier. When you start a level, you’re given a picture of the front and back of the completed puzzle and that’s it. You can refer back to it as much or as little as you want, and I found it quite useful for finding the places of specific pieces using information like “how would gravity affect this butter?” or “I should look for this panda’s paw first!” It scratched that puzzle-solving itch quite well, and the puzzles each varied with how to go about finding the right pieces based on their 3D nature. It was unlike anything I had played before, while still never being too challenging. Plus, the lack of a timer or problem with putting pieces in the wrong spot was welcome. There’s nothing to tell you you have the pieces placed incorrectly, but when you snap them into the right spot and let go, they do lock into place, which I appreciated.
This isn’t a terribly long review because the game itself doesn’t throw a ton of complicated wrenches and challenges at you. It’s simply a cute, tasty, well done 3D puzzle-solving game that is appropriately priced and doesn’t try to do too much. I’m so glad indie dev Mimmox decided to create this little snack for us to enjoy, and I hope they continue growing and creating! UMAMI is richly crafted to just the right depth of flavors, delivering a perfectly crafted puzzle game.
