Sizeable appears to be a charming little abstract diorama puzzle game. However, this clever but devilish game is a real wolf in sheep's clothing. It will likely have you tearing your hair out or grinding your teeth–or both–despite the innocent look and a beautiful, tranquil piano soundtrack that I think I'll listen to the next time I get stressed...
The puzzles are teeny little areas, featuring all sorts of things, like buildings, boulders, pipes, trees, logs etc.
Many of the parts of the diorama can be enlarged or shrunk (hence the title), and doing so allows you to move them and use them in conjunction with other parts of the diorama. Placing something correctly will reveal a power pole, 3 of which are required to complete a level. Each level also has a hidden tortoise, some of which are extremely well hidden.
The first problems arise because the game is poorly optimised for an Xbox controller and sometimes you'll be unable to select the object you want despite the fact that the cursor is aiming at it. At other times you'll shrink/grow an object you didn't want to, or aren't even pointing the cursor at. And then–seemingly just because you placed an object in the wrong place–an object will also disappear–possibly twanged across the level and out of your reach (because you can only rotate & zoom the camera around a central point) by forces unknown–let's blame the government.
We tried to get the game to work with a wireless mouse without success, which seems strange even though hardly any Xbox gamers would use the option, its original 2021 outing on PC was obviously controlled that way with a mouse's naturally accurate point, click & drag motions.
The other problem is how obscure some of the puzzles are. While some actions are logical (grow a tree with a spider's web in it to catch a bat carrying one of the 3 power poles required to complete the level), others are completely daft, well-hidden and more likely to be solved by random "clicking" than by using logical thought.
Regardless of my gripes, this is a challenging and (when you actually solve a level) satisfying puzzle game, with 39 brain teasing, enticing levels (plus at least 10 extras that we found extremely difficult to unlock, despite getting help from no less than designer Sander Ambroos). This undoubtedly represents extremely good value at a price of only £5.59 - it's just a shame about the lack of polish, but it's Business Goose Studios’ first commercial title and Alchemy Games did the Xbox port so I'm gonna forgive it.
Many thanks to Business Goose Studios and Alchemy Games