Review: Windosill (iPad)

Windosill is a short little puzzle game that released on PC a few years back and recently found a new home on the iPad. I really enjoyed the game on PC and recommend said version if that's your only way of playing it, but I adore it on iPad. If you only take one thing from this forthcoming review, let it be this: the best version of Windosill—and thus, the best way to play it—is the iPad version.

It's a bit hard to review the game because it's very short and should be experienced with as little knowledge as possible, but I will do my best to whet your appetite without spoiling it. As I just said, the game is short and took me less than a half-hour to finish, but I'm not complaining; Windosill is a fantastic ride capable of starting and finishing in a single sitting and while I wouldn't pay $60, the developers aren't asking for more than a little spare change.

As simple as the visuals are, Windosill really is a beautiful game

The minimalist art style looks wonderful on the iPad's screen and replaying the game after its initial PC release makes me wish a 3DS version was in the works because Windosill would pop in 3D; aesthetically, it's almost perfect for 3D. Despite being stuck in 2D, it's still beautiful and one of the interesting additions to the iPad version is a "See-Thru" mode unlocked after completing the game—which turns the game translucent and allows one to see the way Windosill is put together. And fellow lovers of art will find joy from a small collection of concept art.

But as nice as everything said is, why is this the best version of Windosill? Well, Windosill is a puzzle game that, on PC, involves clicking and manipulating objects with the cursor in order to solve puzzles. On the iPad, touching solves everything and feels perfect—a word I wouldn't use without good reason. The touch controls are very responsive and I can't imagine playing the game in any other way ever again. The puzzles themselves are clever and fun to figure out and still enjoyable to watch once the solution is known. It's just a game you have to play, which is all I can say without giving anything away.

Windosill was made for the iPad before the iPad even existed and it's the kind of game everyone with an iPad should own, play, and love; hell, it should come pre-installed because every friend I've shown the game is blown away with how natural it feels and how beautiful it looks, despite being extremely simplistic in nature. Windosill is only $0.99 and if you can't bring yourself to pay that, how did you ever pay for the device in your hands?

Windosill (iPad -- $0.99)

Check out more from the developers of Windosill: Vectorpark. They're lovely.