Woodo Review: Tiny Monks Tales Debut Game Is A Gorgeous Puzzling Triumph

Woodo Review: A Stunning Wooden World That Will Leave You Wanting More Published Sep 22, 2026, 12:42 PM EDT Josh Coulson is an editor at TheGamer covering breaking news on everything from colorful platformers to the latest Lego sets. Primarily a news writer since 2018, Josh has covered just about every major game from the past decade. Now an editor, their focus has shifted to being the leading affiliate expert at the site, building relationships between TheGamer and global brands including Mattel, Funko, and The Pokemon Company. Woodo caught my eye when it was shown off during a recent Nintendo Direct. Flaunted as a 3D coloring book filled with stunning wooden models and characters, it was already unlike anything I’d seen before in a video game. As it turns out, the debut title from Tiny Monks Tales is so much more than its already strong premise. It’s a cozy 3D coloring book come to life combined with a casual puzzler that has a moving story to tell along the way. Woodo’s various blank canvases are 3D dioramas you bring back to life by reassembling them, piece by piece. Its lead character, Foxy, is retelling a story of a summer she spent in the countryside, out of her comfort zone, and you reassembling Woodo’s scenes essentially represents Foxy piecing her memories of that summer back together. Woodo’s Puzzles Are Innovative And Evolve As You Progress Like real memories, Woodo’s puzzles can get a little messy. While you’re eased into the game by popping pieces back onto a wooden chest, and then by recreating a breakfast scene, Woodo’s ideas gradually become a little complex. The game evolves by hiding things from you. There will be drawers that need to be opened to find missing cutlery, and then puzzles that can’t be completed until you’ve found a key to unlock a cupboard door and put the plates inside. This evolution continues throughout the entire game; until eventually, you’re solving puzzles within puzzles. Keep your eyes peeled for the little magnifying glass. That symbol indicates an item you can click on. Doing so will take you to the aforementioned Inception-esque puzzles within puzzles. Completing those puzzles might get you an item that left you stumped or stuck elsewhere. Take it with you to complete whatever might have been left unfinished, and you’ll see the proverbial dominoes start to fall. It’s incredibly satisfying. The way each new level is differentiated from the last plays into how the game cleverly evolves too. I’ll stop short of explaining the specifics through fear of spoiling some of the more welcome surprises and satisfying moments Woodo has to offer, but it’s a lot more than just a series of 3D puzzles that need to be completed in the exact same way every time. The devs have masterfully come up with a variety of ways to not only make every new chapter feel fresh, but to also seamlessly weave them together. Fiddle With The Settings To Suit You Even though Woodo aims to be a game that relaxes players, you may still want to feel challenged by its puzzles. If things feel a little too simplistic, there are several accessibility options that you can adjust to make the game more challenging, or, on the flip side, to make it easier for gamers with specific needs should anything need to be tweaked. You’ll notice that the pieces almost snap into place if you hover near where they’re supposed to be. If that’s making your experience feel a little too guided, there’s a sliding scale that lets you turn the magnetism down in Woodo’s settings. There are also settings you can use if you're colorblind, since the tiny details in the game’s dioramas would be basically impossible to find otherwise. It can also be a little tricky to hone in on some of the smaller details with fiddly camera controls that take a little bit of getting used to. Woodo’s Story Pairs Perfectly With Its Gameplay Woodo’s touching story that unfolds throughout really aids that too. Foxy starts off unable to adapt to country life, hopelessly tethered to devices and unwilling to give her new way of life a fair shot. Again, I don’t want to spoil anything, but I was left a little teary by the end thanks to a combination of the journey I’d been on and the messages Woodo successfully manages to relay through its puzzles and its story. The music played into those emotions too. Woodo’s Endless Summer Edition is $5 more than the standard edition and comes with a copy of the soundtrack, and I’d strongly recommend paying the extra for it. Not only does the OST perfectly score reassembling quaint wooden puzzles, but I’ve been listening to it while I do pretty much everything. The base game is only $24.99, by the way. Woodo Is A Short Game, But That’s Not Necessarily A Bad Thing Woodo is a short experience. It took me around six hours to finish its story, although there’s a checklist of accomplishments I’ve yet to go back and finish, so there’s plenty more for me to accomplish. That short runtime both plays into its favor and is my one real strike against it. While I can see the team at Tiny Monks Tales didn’t want their first game to outstay its welcome, I was definitely left wanting a little more, although perhaps that’s a positive in a world where so many games can feel like a slog by the time you reach their closing stages. I am well aware that we are right in the middle of one of the busiest periods in video game history, but I can’t recommend Woodo enough. It’s a short, beautiful game, both visually and narratively, filled with adorable characters and stunning dioramas that are incredibly satisfying to piece back together. It’s a terrific first game from Tiny Monks Tales, and if the plan is to develop more games with similar vibes to Woodo, then I will be there day one for whatever comes next. Released 2026 Developer(s) Tiny Monks Tales Publisher(s) Daedalic Entertainment Number of Players Single-player Steam Deck Compatibility Unknown Genre(s) Puzzle, Casual, Adventure Pros & Cons Visually stunning thanks to a beautiful and unique artstyle. Super satisfying to piece its dioramas together. Far more to its puzzles than it seems. Short experience that might leave you wanting more. Camera controls can be a little fiddly when focusing on tiny details.