Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective

Developer: Darjeeling | Publisher: Pixmain | Release Date: 2021 | Genre: Casual / Adventure / Indie | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

The nefarious Mr. X has stolen the Maze Stone from the Opera City museum and is using it to plunge the world into chaos. Unfortunately, the magical stone can turn everything around it into a labyrinth, making it difficult to track down the evildoer wielding it. All hope is not lost, though, as Pierre the Maze Detective has been called upon chase after Mr. X and retrieve the stone. Along the way, Pierre, with the help of his friend Carmen will encounter a host of charming characters, wacky environments, and more mazes than you can shake a stick at.

Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective is a casual adventure game that has been adapted from the bestselling children’s book series by IC4DESIGN. Playing as Pierre, players get to experience the beautiful illustrations from The Search for the Stolen Maze Stone in a whole new way. Each of the ten scenes in the game is based on a double-page illustration from the original works and is packed with things to see. The game also gives players to interact with their surroundings in a way that was obviously not possible with the book. In addition to the more than 100 hidden objects and unique trophies to find, the game also features over 500 possible interactions with the characters, items, and backgrounds.

Labyrinth City opens with the Opera City museum and introduces Pierre to all the challenges awaiting him. Each scene is split up into checkpoints that require Pierre to reach a specific person or animal. Along the way, there are treasure chests that players can find, stars to collect, as well as pages from Mr. X’s journal to nab. None of these are required for completing the level, but completionists will have a ball tracking them all down. Each level also has a short mini-game that can be found and completed to earn an additional trophy. Once again, these are simple enough that even young players can complete them. Since each level is packed with so much detail, there are also plenty of cool references and easter eggs to be found. The game features ten levels in total, which start normal enough with the museum and streets of Opera City. However, after the downtown level, things become a little more strange as Pierre gets to visit everything from a castle, forest village, and haunted manor to a city where everyone has lost their memories. There are also some docks, a flea market, and a very Escher-esque final giant maze to conquer. Each one of these scenes is as delightful as the last and exploring them was a joy, even the second time around when we went back to collect everything we missed on our first go.

Since Labyrinth City is a very casual game, it doesn’t demand too much from players. As expected, each scene is a giant maze that has to be navigated before reaching the exit and moving on to the next one. To make things a little easier, there are some helpful signs with purple arrows pointing you in the right direction, but be sure to explore alternative routes too for the collectibles. The game requires some trial and error to discover the correct route, but amazingly enough, for a maze game, it never becomes dull or tedious. This is saying a lot as ordinarily, we are not very fond of mazes in games. Labyrinth City is very faithful to the source material, so fans of the books will have a blast playing the game. However, thanks to the beautiful presentation, charming visuals, and stress-free gameplay, it is also something that newcomers and casual players will love.

The visuals in Labyrinth City are downright beautiful, and each scene is packed with so much detail that your eyes won’t know where to focus at first. Levels are quite big too, but unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a way to zoom out and view the whole scene. The game also has plenty of cool animations, and when you click on something, you never know what’s going to happen next. A small indicator is shown whenever Pierre wanders close enough to something you can interact with, so there’s no need to waste time clicking on everything in sight. The controls are very straightforward, and the game is easy to play using a keyboard, mouse, or controller. We only encountered one issue late in the game where a particular time-based obstacle caused our character to become stuck. Fortunately, the game auto-saves whenever you reach an objective, so we didn’t have to repeat the whole level to get back on track.

The audio in Labyrinth City is delightful, and each scene features quirky or upbeat music that is a perfect match for the theme. Our favorite is the Haunted Manor, which is inhabited by all manner of ghosts and ghouls, but all the other levels are excellent too. Although none of the characters you encounter during the levels are voices, the game does feature a cut-scene before each level. These are simple comic-book-style panels and features a very energetic narrator breathlessly describing what’s happening. We also really like the multitude of sound effects that play depending on how close you get to specific areas in each scene.

Overall, Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective is a great casual game that is perfect for players who want to relax with something that isn’t too taxing. It’s the type of game that you’ll play with a smile on your face, and while it is aimed at younger fans, even older players will find it hard not to be charmed. The game also has a surprising amount of replay value thanks to all the collectibles that players can find, and getting all the achievements should keep players busy for a while. Despite not being familiar with the source material, we thoroughly enjoyed our time with the game, and hopefully, this won’t be the last we see of the Maze Detective.