Little Problems

Little Problems is a point-and-click detective game about everyday life. You follow the story of a college student by exploring scenes from her life and figuring out what happened. Little Problems is distinguished by its gentle difficulty and low-stakes scenarios, making it a cozy and approachable entry point into the genre.

Similar to games like The Case of the Golden Idol, you are presented with a series of vignettes. You can click on objects to see the contents of containers or the files on computers, or click on people to see their dialogue as well as anything they’re carrying. Some words are underlined, and clicking on them adds them to a word bank on a sidebar. Occasionally there are elements in the scenes that require passwords or codes to open. There are also collectible stickers that you can find.

A separate Solve page features Mad Libs-style fill-in-the-blanks puzzles that you fill in using the words from the word bank. Some are diary entries from the main character, while others require identifying people’s names, filling in family trees, or even taking snapshots of the correct people out of a large crowd.

The story follows a college student through the ups and downs of the first semester of college. It’s a small-scale, character-based story, and players will need to remember who’s who from room to room, as well as keeping track of ongoing plot threads. Completing scenes unlocks optional animated cutscenes that flesh out the story more.

For accessibility, you only need to complete certain puzzles in order to pass. You get a completion score based on how many of the puzzles you completed, and you can always go back to the scene to finish the rest of the puzzles. There is also a hint system that highlights blanks that are incorrectly filled in.

This description was written by Gwen C. Katz.