The Clutter games are fantastic, and I believe that this entry is the best one to get started with if you're new to the series, as it explains everything very well for new players. For the most part, Clutter is an "un-Hidden Object Game" with a bunch of variations of "find pairs of matching items in this messy pile", but there's a lot of variety of image sets and level gimmicks to increase the longevity of the format. There are also other activities, such as Box Quotes (rearrange the letters in each column to spell a quotation) and Sliders (reassemble a picture which has been sliced up). A key feature in these games is just how customizable they are. Don't like the pressure of trying to beat the clock? Turn the clock off. Don't like levels which change the colors of the objects or make them move around chaotically? Turn that off too. Don't like the developer's comments (ranging from autobiography to game design tidbits to semi-philosophical musings) which constitute the quest's story? Turn that stuff off!

The best way to enjoy these games is to play the 100-level main quest to get a sampling of everything Clutter has to offer, then explore the 1,925 levels in the other areas to explore your favorite variations even further. As these levels are designed to be infinitely replayable, you can mark your favorite levels with a star, and then play an endless shuffle of just those levels to really extend this game's lifetime!

The Clutter games are simple enough for anyone of any skill level with even the slightest inclination towards puzzle games to understand, yet even an advanced puzzle game player will find them surprisingly addictive and a welcome addition to one's game library. They're like a low-to-medium-impact workout for your brain!

Addicting, mesmerising and entertaining in equal measures. Can be frustrating at times - you know that there is match, you just can't see it - but that just adds to the "one more level" appeal of the game.

The HD facelift is a boon and I'm digging the soundtrack. Overall a worthy addition to the Clutter catalogue.

Best of the Clutter series so far. I still wish that these games had achievements. Maybe sometime in the future.

Commentary goes very strangely into victim blaming at the end of the 'main quest'. Like, hey, those people who want to kill you because you exist, maybe they were just raised that way and you should just be okay with it. It's a weird take to come out of the blue and not really necessary for a puzzle game. I'd still recommend the game as a whole, just maybe skip the bits in between the puzzles.

I mean it was in a pick n mix for a couple of USD and had good reviews. It is something to take your mind off of things. Just enough thinking and yet you can tune out, if you play w/o timer, which is what I did.

6/10. Seems like the dev is an interesting character and it was inexpensive the way I got it. Full price, probably not. Look for at least 50-75%

Another satisfying entry in the Clutter series. The HD treatment and the more typical options screen in this version add a lot.

I love this game. It's relaxing and casual.
It's nice to be able to play a game like this once in a while without the kill or be killed mentality.
It's colorful and highly addictive.
I highly recommend this game for all ages.

Great game play great on the steam deck

I'm gonna give Joe (of "Puzzles by Joe") some credit here (and I'm only mentioning him because he introduces himself at the start of the game and often speaks directly to the player). I'm genuinely glad he's apparently made a few of these games and seems to enjoy doing it. It's clear he put much of himself into this game (he regularly includes anecdotes or memories from his life in between puzzles) and I like the idea of game development putting more emphasis on the "personal" part of personal expression. Also, I appreciate the quality of life features such as allowing you to continue to play a level after the timer has run out. There's also nothing wrong with a game focusing on a simple matching mechanic. There is inherent satisfaction in making pairs and watching a scene get less cluttered. I just finished enjoying "Hidden Cats in Paris" so I'm someone who enjoys chilling out with relaxing, simple games.

Having said that, holy jeez do I hate this game. Here are my main gripes:

- It's probably the ugliest game I've ever played. The visuals are absolutely hideous and a literal eyesore. The clashing cacophony of chaotic clutter just offends me on a level so deep I'm honesty caught quite off-guard by it. The (stock art?) images used are incredibly gaudy and vibrant in a way that, individually, wouldn't be an issue. They're well-lit, well-shot images that would look fine on a white background, individually. But when the screen is full of dozens of these images, they just clash with each other so fiercely that it's honestly hard to look at. They often don't even share a theme, so you'll be seeing dials and gauges (there are, like, a bunch of images of dials and gauges) along with various sports equipment and fast food and antique dolls and puppets... it's all over the place.

The visual clutter isn't the only issue with the game's visuals, though. The UI is also quite unappealing, and there are some odd design choices like matches you make flying to the middle of screen and temporarily blocking your view of the things you're trying to match. Oh, and because the images' hitboxes are tied to the visible pixels, if you click on the center of a donut (which you're likely to do on the stage where you match donuts) your donut won't get selected because you clicked on the hole!

- Despite this ostensibly being a "casual" game, it seems like it was intentionally designed to give me anxiety. It starts off easy enough, but after only a handful of levels they start to include a ton of images with NO matches. There's a stage where you have to match flower halves together, but TWO THIRDS of the 135 overlapping flower halves don't have another half. Ironically, because all the images were flowers there were a lot fewer violently abrasive color combinations, but this actually made the level harder since many flower halves have similar color palettes and look like they should be able to match when they don't. When my eyes find themselves scanning the same several flower halves, trying repeatedly to find them matches but failing, it starts to actively stress me out. Oh, and the timer periodically lets out a loud "clang!" that's incredibly jarring (to be fair, the game does tell me I can play without the timer).

I could see something like this working if the image sets were more thematically coherent and also contained colors and visual elements designed to accommodate a "matching" mechanic, but I get the impression this game exists because Joe bought a ton of clip art assets, thought "How can I turn these into a game?", and went with pair-matching.

Again, I respect Joe and wish him nothing but the best! I hope he continues to do what brings him pleasure, and perhaps I might find myself impressed with his future projects. This game, however, is not for me.

it has all the good things about clutter games in it

An absolute triumph. If you like I Spy books or the card game Spot it!/Dobble and aren't put off by a bit of challenge you will like this.

This is the first Clutter game I've played and i regret not finding these games sooner. It takes the simple concept of matching two of the same image and turns it into something so much more. There is a good deal of variation of how the matches are made, such as having moving objects or matching halves of objects. And the randomization is sufficient that each of the 2025 levels is infinitely re-playable all on it's own.

It's also quite challenging despite seeming so simple. Beating the optional timer is very difficult, Many of the levels so far have taken me about twice as long to finish. Though it does start to get easier the more you get familiar with the images.

I could see some people be put off by the low-fi cheap,clip art graphics. But I find it calming and a bit nostalgic. The background music is also just perfect, it doesn't distract or get annoying. The presentation and the little story snippets(Which can be turned off if you find them bothersome) Really set a cozy mood. (Which can feel a bit at odds with how tough the game is, but I really enjoy both the challenge and the cozy aspects so it really hits the spot for me.)