2019’s Wilmot’s Warehouse was one of my favorite games of that year, an indie puzzle game where you make up, and then get screwed by, how to categorize objects in a fast-paced warehouse. At Gamescom yesterday, developer Hollow Ponds announced a sequel, Wilmot Works It Out, which is much more chill while still capturing some of what made Warehouse fun.
Wilmot Works It Out is pretty different from Warehouse. You play as overworked-but-still-smiling block Wilmot in their off time, where they enjoy solving jigsaw puzzles. You unpack and arrange the pieces, and once you’ve solved the puzzle, you can hang it on your wall. (Hanging finished puzzles is a thing jigsaw people do, which I can respect but will admit I do not understand.)
There's a Steam demo out now that's pretty straightforward, containing only a handful of puzzles, but some of Warehouse’s vibes come through. Deliveries contain pieces of other puzzles, so there’s some of the categorizing and cognitive load of Warehouse, as you put pieces aside for later or try to get a sense of a full puzzle within all the extra bits. As more puzzles arrive, I can see it tapping into some of the stress and chaos I liked about the first game, but in a much more relaxed way. According to the Steam page, you’ll unlock new rooms in Wilmot’s house and ways to decorate them as you play.
Hollow Ponds recently released Flock, another chill game about categories, and also announced a Wilmot’s Warehouse board game that I am sorely tempted to buy despite the fact that organizing people for a game night and teaching them the rules are some of my least favorite activities. Wilmot Works It Out comes out in October.
