Mewseum: Masterpieces – Solve Puzzles to Paint Works of Art

“If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent van Gogh

Overview

Mewseum: Masterpieces is an addictive shikaku-style puzzle game where each solved grid reveals a section of a famous painting.

Gameplay

Mewseum Masterpieces offers over 10 hours worth of shikaku-style puzzles. The museum consists of a number of well-known paintings including The Scream by Edvard Munch, Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, and The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Each one is made up of a series of grids that need to be solved or ‘painted’ with squares and rectangles. Each grid has different numbers on it indicating the exact size of the section that needs painting, and each section must only contain one number.

The game has a hint system available, and since each painting can take 1-2 hours, it also has regular autosaves. This allows players to either get lost in the gameplay or dip in and out at their leisure. Mewseum Masterpieces is currently only available on Windows but would make a great mobile game as the controls and style of gameplay lend themselves to touch screens and portable platforms.

Narrative and Styling

The game does not consist of any narrative elements as the focus is on the puzzle aspects of the experience and the artistic theming. This suits the game and any attempts to shoehorn a story in would have felt forced and unnecessary.

Mewseum Masterpieces uses a pixel graphic art style to depict the museum and the works of art and utilises a range of both muted and vibrant colour palettes. The main scene is fairly minimal but the various masterpieces are represented well, each with a feline touch! The soundtrack is well suited to the gameplay and the artistic theme and consists of classical music such as Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and Für Elise. These tracks mirror the familiarity of the artworks that make up the puzzles creating a mildly cultured aesthetic.

Summary

Overall, Mewseum Masterpieces is a very enjoyable game with satisfying and engaging puzzles. The premise is quite simple but the individual puzzles vary in difficulty and are easy to get lost in. The works of art are depicted in a good amount of detail using pixel art with fun cat additions and the classical soundtrack works well with the artistic theme. I have very much enjoyed this game and would definitely recommend it to puzzle fans, especially those who like a more traditional style of puzzle.

Playthrough

You can watch a playthrough of the Starry Night level here:

Looking for more educational puzzle games? You may also enjoy reading these articles:
Developer Interview – Alblune – Poems and Codes – A Satisfying Poetry-Themed Word Game – Prose and Codes – A New Literary-Themed Word Game

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