Please, Touch The Artwork review for Nintendo Switch, PC

Platform: Nintendo Switch
Also on: PC
Publisher: Nakana.io
Developer: Thomas Waterzooi
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E

There are two things I?m sure of after playing Please, Touch The Artwork:

  1. I?m terrible at it; and
  2. It?s absolutely gorgeous, provided you?re into abstract art.

The latter is thanks to the fact that the game was heavily inspired by the works of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. The entire game is built around recreating works of art that are distinctly Mondrian-esque, all straight lines and basic colours.

As it turns out, Mondrian-inspired art is actually a great fit for puzzle games given how basic everything is (or, at least, how basic it seems). Please, Touch The Artwork asks you to draw lines and fill in colours simply by touching around the screen, and it has a very handy button for erasing your mistakes.

In fact, not only does it make it easy to erase your mistakes, the whole game?s vibe is incredibly relaxed. It eases you in with a friendly security guard who asks your mood and who explains everything, and then it scores your experience with a light, jazzy tune. It all feels very cozy and comfortable.

Mind you, as I said, I?m still terrible at it, no matter how forgiving the game may be. As simple as Mondrian?s art looked, the game is deceptively challenging once you start playing around with colours ? you press a square, and it immediately colours in everything around it. That?s fine when we?re only talking about to colours, but once you get to the point where you have all four at your disposal, it gets a little tough.

But that doesn?t take away from the fact that Please, Touch The Artwork is a nice-looking puzzle game that leaves you awash in good vibes. Forget debating whether video games are art ? here?s a game that asks whether art are video games, and then shows that the answer is a pretty clear yes.

Nakana.io provided us with a Please, Touch The Artwork Switch code for review purposes.

Grade: B+