"Squeakross: Home Squeak Home" is the Picross game I didn't know I needed

Picross has been my go to puzzling experience for decades now. Ever since Mario Picross on the Game Boy dragged me into it, making me forget Tetris was a thing.

The concept of a grid surrounded by numbers slowly becoming a rough pixel image of something ticks off a lot of things in my brain that, essentially, put my autistic bits into bed, tucking them in neatly with a kiss on the forehead singing sweetly to me as if Mary Poppins just sang me a lulling song about a woman guilt tripping you into buy bread crumbs. PIGEON LADY I'M ON TO YOU. cough Anyways.

When I first had the oppotunity to try this game, I'll admit, it flew WAY under my radar and I think it's because I hate the word Squeakross so much. I know it's a play off Picross but my brain won't let me do anything but picture the worst version of Ross from F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

But then I watched a trailer and I saw two things. I saw a really well designed Picross set up, and I saw an Animal Crossing like home designer. It said jump, I said how high.

Yes, you may copy my work on puzzle 22.

In Squeakross, you design a rat first. Because that's important. And this rat gets a home. In order to get furniture for their home they have to use a magic catalogue that produces furniture out of cheese if they solve a puzzle. No, it makes no sense, and yes, it is wonderful.

You eventually unlock all sorts of customization for not just the rat and the home, but every aspect of the game. Check out the screenshot above. You see the background with all the astronaut rats? I made that. I unlocked a bunch of stickers, went into a menu where I can design the backgrounds for all areas of the game, went to the puzzle screen and added a bunch of floaty space bois. And yes those two are holding hands, they're in LOVE.

Yes, I used the Pixigonal colors for my home. Deal with it, I'm a proud site father.

As you unlock furniture, you unlock slightly harder versions of the puzzle for the same piece of furniture. Completing that optional task gives you the ability to not only make as many of a piece of furniture as you could possibly want, but it also allows you to change the color any time you want meaning you can truly make it yours.

Oh, and remember your rat? When you design it you get to also give it a personality. This dictates how they handle their surroundings. And switching to a mode that centers on the rat themselves you get to actually see their thoughts letting you know what they think about the furniture...for better or for worse.

Please don't.

So while most Picross games sort of give you this empty feeling after you complete the puzzles, Squeakross has heart and humor and literally leaves you with 3D replicas of the puzzle solutions allowing you to play with them to your hearts content. It's the perfect cozy game for those with like 20 minutes to kill. Though, I say that as I sit here after playing it for about three hours in a row.

Squeakross: Home Squeak Home is currently available for PC, Mac, and Switch and I can't recommend you get it more. Go. NOW.