Klaus hates loud music on public transport (you and me both, buddy). Aurora, meanwhile, plays her music on full blast but does not like bad smells. Which is a problem, because Emma forgot to shower. Emma wants to talk to someone, and so does Remi, but Remi prefers to be near a window, and will complain if she has an aisle seat. But if Emma sits too close to Aurora, she's going to be annoyed about the smell. But I can't put Aurora too close to Klaus, obviously, because he hates loud music.
This is the puzzle of Is This Seat Taken? In which you must take charge of a multitude of tricky social seating arrangements. From taxi rides to movie theatres to bus journeys, it's your job to arrange a range of characters (depicted as happy, smiley little shapes), each with their own specific preferences. There are limited seats available, so you need to do some shuffling around to make everyone feel comfortable.
The puzzles start pretty simple - one character prefers a window seat, for example - but it quickly builds when more preferences come into play. In the movie theatre, for example, you'll have a bunch of kids who need to sit next to their parents. Meanwhile, there are cinema-goers who absolutely don't want to be near a kid, but they also don't want to sit in a seat covered in popcorn, and there are a lot of those. You'll also have the regular unshowered characters and those who are sensitive to smells. And on top of that, you'll need to cater to the popcorn thieves who fancy taking a cheeky swipe from someone else's popcorn bucket now and again.
It's a fun puzzle, rather than a frustrating one, because the preferences and needs are so relatable. We're all human, right? (Well, in this case, they're shapes, but you understand my point.) We've all found ourselves at a gig, squashed like a sardine next to someone wearing way too much cologne. We all have those people in our lives who are super particular about which side of the cinema they want to sit in. The problems feel real, albeit much easier to deal with than they would be in reality.
Once you've finally worked it out and each shape looks happy, you can click 'confirm' to move on to the next stage, and they will give you a little thumbs-up of appreciation. I'm looking forward to seeing different venues in the full version - taxi, bus, gig, and cinema are all covered in the demo, but I'd like to try out my social placement skills in different settings.
The levels have multiple stages. For example, a bus journey will involve several incoming and departing passengers, and sometimes you'll need to rethink the placement of a shape if someone else has left at a particular stop. If you have a kid who needs to be next to another kid who suddenly looks lonely, for example, you'll have to accommodate that. You may also have to rethink that happy person sitting alone by the window if a determined loner gets on board. I'm looking forward to seeing how the levels get progressively more difficult in the full game; the demo gave me a good idea of the mechanics, but I'd love to have a real head-scratcher to try out, maybe in a larger space with more characters.
What surprised me was the gentle underlying story, about Nat and Alexis (actor and writer, respectively) encouraging each other in their careers. I found myself caring for these characters and their outcomes, which is sweet considering they are essentially more shapes to slot into the right places. Occasionally you'll see a bit of dialogue between them at the beginning of new levels, which is lovely - it feels like just the right amount of story for a simple puzzle game.
Is This Seat Taken? stretches the same part of my brain that I have to use when I'm trying to work out a riddle. It reminds me of the river crossing game I used to play on the school computers as a child, where you have to figure out how to get everyone across safely. It's like that, only with way more personality. Sometimes you think you've cracked it, only to realise that you have a particularly stubborn circle who wants to sleep on the bus and feels annoyed at the talking going on in front of him. The feeling when you do get it is immensely satisfying, and I can't wait to give the full version a try.
Now, if we could employ people to sit everyone on public transport based on their preferences, that would be ideal. It might make my regular bus arrive even later than usual, but at least I wouldn't have to listen to someone blasting out TikTok videos on their phone right next to me…
Disclaimer: Thinky Games is part of the Carina Initiatives and may have professional relationships with individuals and businesses related to the subject of this article. Please see our Editorial Policy for details.
