Dogs Organized Neatly Review: Pawsitively adorable puzzles!
Dogs. Cuteness. Puzzles. If those three words describe your interests, oh boy do I have a game for you: Dogs Organized Neatly, a game where you… organize dogs. Neatly. Neat! (ly).
If that opening line sounds familiar, it’s probably because it’s a “reskin” of my opening to DU&I‘s previous puzzler, Cats Organized Neatly. Fitting, considering Dogs Organized Neatly is something of a reskin of its feline compatriot. I say this with love, by the way — not only was this extremely natural sequel material, it was begged for by the throngs of fans who greatly enjoyed the “su-purr-ior” cat version (what can I say, I’m a cat person!). Available on Steam for the low, low price of $2.99, Dogs Organized Neatly promises 80 more puzzles with 30 doggos to collect. But is it a copycat, or does this version’s bite back up its bark?
Dogs Organized Neatly is a chill, dog-like version of an untimed Tetris puzzle. Players are presented with a box that is broken up into a series of squares and a set number of dogs that act as furry Tetris pieces, if you will. One dog might be small enough to take up a single square, while another might be a heckin large chonk that takes up nine squares. As time goes on, the dogs that are unlocked are in more elaborate poses; for example, a dog’s tuft of hair might make for a Utah-shaped doggo, while a playful pose means a step-like puzzle piece. Each puzzle is broken up into levels, and completing a level may yield a dog to try out in the new puzzle. Can you collect all 30 good boys and girls spread across 80 levels?
Like every other DU&I game I’ve played (Cats Organized Neatly, Virtual Cottage), the aesthetics are an absolute delight. I genuinely adore this team’s art style, which perfectly captures a cozy, wholesome vibe. Complete with a soundtrack (or, rather, song) that whimsically encapsulates that goofy dog energy, Dogs Organized Neatly is definitely made with dog-loving puzzle aficionados in mind!
When it comes to the matter of the whole reskin/sequel thing, the team released an incredibly detailed mini-doc that shows just how much work went into Dogs Organized Neatly. While they did use the overall framework from the first feline version, the 80 puzzles are completely new; this is because dogs and cats are, of course, different animals and don’t fit into boxes in the exact same way. While cats can arguably be considered liquid, dogs are a little more rigid and just overall move and pose differently. As such, the team redesigned the canine puzzle pieces and made entirely new levels to accommodate for these physical differences. If there’s one thing I know about Dogs Organized Neatly, it’s that it was labor-intensive labor of love.
As a cat person, I’m surprised to say that I just might visually prefer this version over the first one, if only because the dog pieces are a little easier for my brain to process than the very fluid (and very wacky) cat pieces. Audibly, however, the cat version reigns supreme. It’s not that the song is bad — it’s adorable, truly — but while it perfectly captures that charming dog energy, the previous game’s smooth bossa nova was better suited for puzzling. And while I enjoyed the dogs’ borfs and barks, the growls gave me just a teensy bit of anxiety. I kept telling myself they were playful growls, but maybe it’s just because I’ve never really had dogs that I had to actively remind myself the dogs weren’t angry at me for picking them up. It’s probably just me (damn anxiety), so I don’t want to knock the game for it, but I feel like it’s worth mentioning nonetheless.
This is a call to all dog lovers and puzzle game fans out there: if you want a casual puzzler that celebrates our canine companions, you better go for a W-A-L-K and come back with Dogs Organized Neatly. You don’t even need to go O-U-T-S-I-D-E to get it, as it’s available on Steam for the insanely cheap price of $2.99. What are you waiting for? Make fetch happen and pick up Dogs Organized Neatly — a fantastic little puzzle game that you’ll surely chew on for hours.
Final Verdict: 3.5/5
Available on: PC (reviewed); Publisher: DU&I; Developer: DU&I; Players: 1; Released: November 1, 2021; MSRP: $2.99
Editor’s note: This review is based on a retail copy of Dogs Organized Neatly provided by the publisher.
