When it comes to game styles that it’s hard not to argue are a bit oversaturated in the Switch eShop, you’d have to put the broad puzzle genre in contention for the crown. While that it taking a lot of subgenres that can play very differently and putting them into the same category, it would be fair to say that the eShop is swimming with them and it can be hard, at times, to meaningfully differentiate a significant number of them from one another if only judging on gameplay and not differences in theming and overall aesthetics. All that said, there are still titles that show up that belong in the bigger puzzle game tent, but that simply do things their own way, which is worthy of a second or third glance.

Strange Antiquities may not completely look like a puzzle game on its surface, given that you’re simply left in charge of working the counter in a shop that sells some very unusual curios. But once you dive into its very careful gameplay you’ll find that every customer is coming to you with a verbal puzzle to solve, and that you’ll need to refer to a slowly growing number of sources to determine what it is they’re really looking for. The problem is, your boss who’s the expert is unavailable, so you’re going to have to use your wits, the resources available to you, and sometimes a bit of odd luck to work these things out. 

The problem can be the fact that your clues can range from cryptic to practically non-existent, so a fair amount of patience will be needed to help back up your intuition. It can vary wildly from puzzle to puzzle, and I’d guess that from person to person there will likely be some variance as well. Sometimes your clues come down to a matter of interpretive wordplay, sometimes to visual pattern recognition, and other times it can simply take checking out areas of your shop where there doesn’t appear to be any merchandise, but may still be hiding something that could be of help. Regardless of the potential for frustration, it’s absolutely a breath of fresh puzzling air that stands out as an oasis of something different in the genre on the eShop.