Much like an idler or clicker, there isn’t too much to say about fcorvus, aside from saying it’s pretty enjoyable. Why isn’t there much to say? Well, it’s a jigsaw puzzle. Usually, these types of games have anime girls hiding their bazookas, but this one is more to the aesthetic of a Tim Burton film. someone who listens to The Cure, or is aware that Edgar Allan Poe is no relation to a Tellytubby.
I wrote recently in Pigeon: A Love Story that I’m not into birds, but I do have an interest in ravens, crows – karasu – whichever you prefer to call them. There’s something incredibly intriguing about these flappy birds, and fShark Games have captured that quite well in this puzzle game that, thus far, is predominantly a jigsaw puzzle with hidden object elements and riddles.
In this fcorvus playtest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I suddenly forgot why I was interested in this title and was getting the impression I’d signed up for some online experience. No, thank you. Is this a Magic: The Gathering type game? A Souls-like game similar to Thymesia? No – I remember now: it’s a jigsaw puzzle, and that made me much happier.
The experience started with a curveball as a golden coin flashed at me. Taking the form of a magpie, I clicked on this shiny object to find that I’d used a hint on my very first go. Thankfully, it didn’t affect gameplay. Spotting a timer in the top right of the screen, it was time to make haste, and I dragged these pieces across like it was nobody’s business. A bit sneaky, though, as you could try to drag pieces until they literally clicked.
Once the puzzle was done, crow after crow flew past the screen, so I clicked them intuitively without missing any. To the left of the screen, a list of famous literary characters and real-life historical figures showed up with a line or two alluding to how a crow was involved in the story. This was very interesting, but the interaction bit was strange as I was now clicking randomly at the birds on the screen until either it disappeared, or they started to fly away.
This didn’t make sense are there were no evident clues as to which was which, but in the end, I’d managed to sort every jigsaw piece, all the hidden objects, plus the click challenge of touching the birdies during their fly-by. fcorvus only took about 15 minutes, but it was a good experience, and as lame as it sounds, the digital jigsaw part was surprisingly entertaining and engaging. There’s no release date for this yet, but I’d suggest wishlisting and keeping your eye on it as it’s an intriguing piece.
