Wilmot Works It Out Review - Why This Vibrant and Charming Indie Puzzle Game Should Be on Your List
Wilmot Works It Out offers vibrant puzzles, a relaxing jazz soundtrack, and charming visuals. Discover why this indie game is a must-play puzzle game of 2024!
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Good Game Lobby review of Wilmot Works It Out. This is the second title released by the indie studio Hollow Ponds this year, following Flock, a game I reviewed and loved, released earlier this past summer. You can read review here.
Plentiful Ponds
The core team at Hollow Ponds on game development, along with Eli Rainsberry on the soundtrack, are back together. Their beautiful connection shined in Flock and has done the same here in Wilmot Works It Out.
Let me go into a bit of the story and introduce you to Wilmot. Originally released in 2019, Wilmot’s Warehouse was a puzzle game about organizing your warehouse to run it as efficiently as possible. Once your co-workers needed certain items, it was up to you to locate them and deliver them on time. While Wilmot’s Warehouse leaned towards a more stressful, time-based design, Wilmot Works It Out takes a completely opposite approach.
Wilmot is a cube who still enjoys keeping things organized, even in his home life, but he prefers a more casual approach here. You’re part of a puzzle club and receive new puzzles throughout the season. The delivery woman, Sam, is your main point of contact, and you become close friends, chatting about neighbors, animals, vacation plans, and the weather—as you might with your local mail carrier.
Wilmot Moves It About
Your main area is Wilmot's large house, which feels a bit oversized for a small cube person. You assemble puzzles in the spacious living area, which is perfect for sorting pieces across multiple puzzles.
Upon opening a package, you’ll find random puzzle pieces. Using the left thumbstick, you move pieces around by pushing them, or you can highlight a piece with the right thumbstick, pressing A to pick it up and B to put it down. I recommend grouping similar pieces, as I’m sure most people do with puzzles. Often, you won’t receive a complete set of pieces right away, so you’ll need to wait for the next delivery. The game cleverly includes extra pieces that resemble those in your main puzzle, allowing you to guess where each might belong.
Each chapter of the game represents a season. I spent around 30-50 minutes per season, with eight seasons in total. Every time I saw a completion time of 38 or 54 minutes, I was surprised, as it felt like only 10 minutes had passed. With each puzzle you complete, you can put it up on your wall and decorate with nice frames. At the end of each season, you get to choose between two new rooms in Wilmot’s home to display these framed puzzles. You can also select wallpaper, color palettes, and accessories like video game consoles, plants, and more. Initially, I didn’t think these touches were necessary; I was eager to return to the puzzles. But with the music, art style, and overall ease of play, I was fully enjoying it by the end. You even get to choose a pet companion—either a cat or a dog!
Vibrant and Alive
Let’s talk about the beautiful visual design.
Wilmot is simple: a square with bead eyes, a triangle nose, and a charming smile. While the main room has a mild color palette, the puzzle pieces stand out with vibrant colors. This vibrant art style is a staple for Richard Hogg and Ricky Haggett’s games, like I Am Dead, Hohokum, and Flock, which I mentioned earlier. The colorful worlds, environments, people, creatures, and landscapes you assemble piece by piece feel alive in their own way. Out of the 60 puzzles you complete, each one has such wonderful designs that I’d love to have some in real life to hang on my own wall. Considering Wilmot’s Warehouse was adapted into a board game, my hope is that Hollow Ponds will collaborate again with CMYK to produce physical puzzles.
Another great part of the game design is that the soundtrack album artwork is made entirely from puzzle pieces, recreating Wilmot’s face. The design, from gameplay to artwork and music, is truly charming.
Once again, a delightful game is beautifully complemented by composer and sound artist Eli Rainsberry. And what a cool last name, right? Rainsberry!
Jazzy Chill Vibes
What can I say about the soundtrack that isn’t just a confession of my adoration for it? Eli Rainsberry has done it again. The Flock soundtrack blended jazz with pop and chill vibes seamlessly. Wilmot Works It Out is a puzzle game, so naturally, you’re looking for relaxing music to accompany the time spent pondering each puzzle. The song “Your First Rodeo” sets the stage, beginning with a repeating piano theme (a common element throughout the soundtrack), joined by a jazzy upright bass that builds layer by layer—almost in parallel with solving your first puzzle. Then, Eli’s signature xylophone sound comes in. The song ends by peeling back the layers until only the final piano note remains. That’s just one of many tracks that instantly captured me. I highly recommend checking out Eli’s work on Bandcamp, where the platform often waives fees, so the artist receives the full payment.
I began the game on a Saturday at midnight and played until 3 a.m. I went to bed, woke up at 7 a.m., and finished the rest. You can tell from this review how much I enjoyed it. While I was playing through the second half, my wife brought me a cup of coffee, mentioned how beautiful the game looked, and ended up using my headphones for an hour while doing chores to enjoy the amazing soundtrack. Eli Rainsberry crafts relaxing vibes with tones, clicks, and rhythmic patterns that playfully bounce off the colorful worlds Hollow Ponds creates. I still listen to the Flock soundtrack and will no doubt have Wilmot Works It Out on repeat. Here is one of my favorites “Your First Rodeo”. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Here is the full soundtrack:
🎶Eli Rainsberry | Bandcamp
Hollow Ponds Works It Out
With Wilmot’s Warehouse, Wilmot Works It Out, and the recently released board game, I’m all in for this adorable cube and its expanding universe. Wilmot Works It Out brings vibrant, colorful puzzles to life with a clean, intuitive design. Its jazzy, relaxing soundtrack creates a pleasant, seamless experience from start to finish. It’s a must-play and has officially become one of my favorite games of 2024. What do you think of the game? Have you played other Hollow Ponds games I mentioned? Let me know in the comments!
🎮Wilmot Works It Out | Steam
🎴Wilmot’s Warehouse | Steam | Board Game
Wishlisted!