Tiny Lands: Deluxe Edition

So, you think you’re observant. Would you be able to tell the difference between two almost identical pictures? That’s the question Hyper Three Studios asks with their game Tiny Lands, a puzzle game built around telling the difference between two beautifully-crafted dioramas. It was a fan-favorite when it hit Switch four years ago, and now there’s a fully-loaded edition for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X that not only includes the wildly varied main game, but also all of the downloadable content and extras. Was it worth the wait? That’s what we’re about to find out when I review Tiny Lands Deluxe Edition from QubicGames.

The premise here is incredibly simple. The game wants you to compare side-by-side images and pick out the five differences, just like the “Check ... and Double Check” sections found in the back of Highlights magazine. The big innovation here is that the side-by-side images are three-dimensional, allowing us to rotate around the scene and zoom into all sides of the image. It’s not the most exciting video game experience you’ll ever have, but there’s something inherently satisfying about finding the minute differences in each scenario.

You’ll quickly discover that these differences can be pretty much anything from a flag being a different color, a fish being bigger or smaller, a man holding a different position, a sign missing a word, an arrow pointing the wrong way or a tennis racket being swapped for a basketball. The game likes to rely on the old changing color and size difference, but there are some genuinely creative changes that you’ll have to keep an eye out for.

It helps that there are all kinds of themes and locations to explore when solving the various puzzles. The main game is split up into ten worlds, each with ten side-by-side dioramas to complete. We get puzzles based on the Wild West, horror, the ocean, sports, fantasy, space and even winter. These different themes allow the artists to create a bunch of fun and silly scenarios that both look and feel different, despite the fact that all you’re doing is carefully comparing two images side-by-side.

Of course, what makes this the Deluxe Edition is that it also features that extra downloadable content created for the previous version of the game. This gives us stages based on Christmas, city life, food, fairy tales, amusement parks and even a fun desert mystery. These give us even more ambitious stages that tell a funny story and give us even more devious differences. Between the main stages and the inclusion of all of the DLC, there are two-hundred dioramas to investigate, which means that you’re going to be at it for a while.

It’s worth pointing out that Tiny Lands was previously released on the Switch back in 2021, where it managed to find an audience thanks to a solid premise and a number of aggressive sales and promotions from publisher QubicGames. This was a perfect fit for handheld mode, because Tiny Lands feels like the kind of game you might play when you have a break or when you’re in bed before going to sleep. I played through this Deluxe Edition on the PlayStation 5, so I didn’t have the luxury of having it on the go. The game looks good on the television, but I can’t help but sense that this is not the way it was intended to be played.

The good news is that the game plays perfectly fine on the television. You rotate and zoom into the scene with one analog stick, while the other allows you to move a cursor around the screen. There’s no ambiguity over where your clicking, as the magnifying glass has a dot right in the middle. That said, you have to be precise when pointing out the difference, which can be frustrating when you’re identifying extremely small changes.

From a game perspective, Tiny Lands falls into the cozy and comforting category. Outside of the five differences, there really isn’t anything here to get in the way of you solving the puzzle. There are no time limits and the player has an unlimited amount of guesses, so the only real challenge comes down to how well they hid the differences. I like that the game isn’t rushing you, allowing the player to study the two sides at their own pace. However, for those looking for anything resembling excitement, you might want to look somewhere else.

For a game that revolves around comparing side-by-side images, Tiny Lands does the concept about as well as it can be done. The scenarios are often funny and I like how you can put them together to tell a story. I was also impressed with how cluttered some of these stages are. There’s a staggering amount of detail in some of the more complicated dioramas, especially when it comes to the water and city stages. It may be easy to find three or four of the obvious differences, but then they’ll sneak in a change that is easy to miss, simply because there’s so much going on.

That said, some of the changes left me more annoyed than amused. There are a couple of stages where you’ll spend way too long comparing dozens of mostly identical windows. That’s not as much fun as searching through an old timey saloon or diving underwater to compare the different shades of coral. I also wish there was a way to gain a hint, for when you just can’t find that last hidden difference. It’s often easy to find the first few right out of the gate, but some of the tougher changes may take a while to find. It would have been nice if I had the option to push a button and see the general area I should be focusing on. It doesn’t have to point right to it, but sometimes all you need is a little hint.

For those who like these type of observation puzzles, Tiny Lands: Deluxe Edition offers a lot of content at a reasonable price. The levels are fun to investigate and the atmosphere is relaxing and cozy. If you missed this when it was first released on Switch and PC in 2021, then this repackaged version is worth is worth a look. A very focused and observant look.