Solid Void: Topsy Turvy World Review
A Picross and jigsaw hybrid where each system undercuts the other, turning both into easier, less satisfying puzzles.
Solid Void: Topsy Turvy World. Credit: InfiniteZone
The oddly titled Solid Void: Topsy Turvy World from InfiniteZone is a nonogram (Picross) and jigsaw puzzle hybrid. I was hoping for something inventive, something that truly combined these two kinds of puzzles. Solid Void isn’t that.
The game lifts the conceit of Mark Ffrench’s excellent Proverbs, making you solve puzzles to reveal Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Netherlandish Proverbs, but without saying anything very interesting about the artwork. Solid Void divides the painting into 256 square puzzles, ranging from 5x5 grids to 15x15. While Proverbs rewarded you with the meaning behind each proverb, Solid Void simply reveals a square section of the image.
Rather than truly blending nonograms and jigsaws, Solid Void simply stacks them by dividing each puzzle into two phases. First, you solve the nonogram, then you build the puzzle on top of it, with each piece representing a filled or empty shape in the nonogram. Both parts of the puzzle are always visible—the jigsaw pieces sit next to the nonogram—undermining both halves. Because of this, each phase lets you cheat on the opposite one. You can use the jigsaw pieces as hints to solving the nonogram, and when the grid is solved, the jigsaw becomes trivial because you now have a map that tells you precisely where each piece goes. It makes the jigsaw bit feel more like a gimmicky hint system than an actual puzzle.
Solid Void: Topsy Turvy World. Credit: InfiniteZone
The game’s nonogram implementation is rough, to say the least, so bare that it’s equivalent to solving the puzzles on paper. You move a stylus freehand with the analog stick and decide whether to mark squares as positive or negative, like you would with a pencil. There’s no way to snap between cells with the directional buttons. On top of that, the game doesn’t grey out the clues as you fill in the grid, forcing you to keep track mentally. Seeing that information at a glance is a quality-of-life feature that’s been standard for years, at least since Jupiter’s Picross DS in 2007. Solid Void fails at providing the two most basic features I’d expect from a nonogram game. This is the barest of minimums instead.
Solid Void comes in at a price point of $4.99, really the only reason I’d ever recommend it. Even then, I’d implore you to spend a few more bucks and get one of Jupiter’s Picross titles instead.
Solid Void: Topsy Turvy World
A puzzle hybrid where solving one half makes the other pointless, leaving both weaker than they should be.
