Bogglingly Good! [Squeakross]

Picross (also called nonogram) puzzles are very hit-or-miss for a lot of people. They either gel with the idea, or they don’t. Myself, I like them, though most of the ones I find now are made for mobile and don’t come with good resizing options, making them difficult to play at higher tile counts.

Enter Squeakross, a rodent-themed picross game for PC (and Nintendo Switch, but I didn’t play that version) that gave me exactly what I was looking for.

Squeakross
Genre(s) – indie game, puzzle
Original release date – June 7, 2025
Playable on – PC, Switch
Played on – PC

Squeakross is 2 parts puzzle and 1 part interior design, as the puzzles you complete lead to items that you can use to decorate your multi-room home for your customizable little rat avatar. It’s a simple concept, but it works. It gives players adorable customization options while also helping keep their brains sharp with puzzles.

Squeakross had over 600 puzzles within it when I first played, though more have been added in later updates, prompting me to return to the game even when I thought I had completed it like the rat I truly was. They range in complexity from “so easy it takes about 30 seconds” to “okay, yes, I used some of the assist functions to avoid making quite so many mistakes.” Some mornings I’d finish multiple puzzles, other mornings I’d just chip away at one of the larger ones. It doesn’t take much to solve a 5×5 puzzle, but a 20×26 puzzle? That takes a bit more work.

I’m a fan of rats (I’ve had a few as pets in the past), so the game quickly made its little furry home in my heart. From the first puzzle to the last, Squeakross became part of my morning routine. I’d sit at my computer, having a mug of tea and working away at puzzles, getting more items for my increasingly large rat house, as well as clothes for them to wear, stickers to place all over the screen, and just generally letting the game slowly wake me up. I was determined to complete all of the puzzles, and believe me, that was no easy feat.

But every morning I was making progress, and that was a positive moment in my day. It’s hard to tell myself that I accomplished nothing, when I very clearly made progress on puzzles.

It’s a silly thing, sure, but sometimes the silly things are what keep us going.

The decorating aspect was also loads of fun, and let me flex a few creative muscles along the way. My rat’s home gained more rooms the more puzzles I completed, and I quickly began to work on themed rooms. This is the gothic/spooky room, this is the study, this looks entirely like you’d expect a rat cage to look. The 1st book of puzzles to complete gets you individual items to place around your home or on your rat, while the 2nd book ramps up the difficulty with larger tile counts, twisting the perspective on the items so it’s harder to predict which tiles to fill in and which to leave blank. Solving these puzzles gives you different colour variations for the item, as well as allowing you to place multiple copies within your home.

Plus there are stickers that you can use to adorn the title screen, making even the game’s start-up feel personalized to each player. It’s a lovely touch, that.

The combination of interior design and fun puzzles are what set Squeakross apart from most other nonogram games. It’s a delightful balance of multiple creative aspects, and one that I think other puzzle game developers could do well to take notes on. It’s fine to have a game that’s just a big collection of puzzles, but lots of games do that. Squeakross stands out with its commitment to its theme, making every item in the puzzle catalogue make sense within the context of interior design à la rat.

There’s something about games that let you decorate homes that give me such a sense of accomplishment. Just because I can’t always decorate my apartment the way I like, doesn’t mean I can’t set up an ideal home for my littler Ria-rat, making something that I myself would be pretty happy to live in. Yes, down to the actual rat cage themed room. Who among us hasn’t wanted to try running on one of those giant hamster wheels?

…Oh, just me? Well then.

I got so comfortably used to my morning Squeakross routine that when I finished the final puzzle, I felt a sense of loss. The routine was over. Sure, I could replay any of the 600+ puzzles and try to beat my previous time, but I played those puzzles to help kick-start my brain while also enjoying a chill morning moment. Racing against myself held no appeal.

It wasn’t until relatively recently that I learned about the game’s updates and additional puzzles, making me want to dive back into it and start my mornings again in that delightfully chill way, to see what new clothes and decorations might be available. I don’t need more nonogram games in my life, not really, but one like this is one I’ll keep coming back to so long as there’s something new to be experienced.

For anyone on the fence about picking up this game despite all the praise I’ve heaped upon it, let me just say that if you’re a fan of rats and puzzles, that’s all you need to appreciate the hell out of it. There are regular in-game “emails” sharing cool rat facts, highlighting rat-related charities, and showing off pictures of pet rodents from a variety of fans. It was an entirely joyful experience, and I can’t recommend it enough.