Mahjong: Wolf's Stories

Mahjong is probably one of the most popular board games on the computer, because there are hundreds of versions and variations on the theme up for grabs. Although the traditional tiles are the most common, you can also enjoy a wide collection of original designs, which allow you to mix things up a bit when you get bored of seeing the same symbols over and over again.

Mahjong: Wolf's Stories is a puzzle game that allows you to enjoy over one hundred levels of Mahjong puzzles, each one of which features a different layout and tile placement. As such, you can even replay the adventure a couple of times, since the pieces change position with every occasion. The difficulty levels are included as well, depending on how challenging you want the stages to be.

The story is not very complicated, but it helps by giving you a purpose. As such, it all revolves around a wolf family that goes to bed one night. As the father wakes up in the morning, he realizes that his entire family has disappeared overnight. Obviously, the wolf goes on a journey to find them, and you help him by solving Mahjong puzzles.

As mentioned earlier, there are two game modes to choose from, although the actual gameplay does not actually change. On the other hand, you can either try to achieve certain goals and solve the puzzles in a given time limit, or choose to relax and do things at your own pace. You don’t lose much content by choosing the latter, but it’s definitely a nicer feeling to beat the levels before the time runs out.

The tileset is the classic one used by most Mahjong games out there, which means that it features the same symbols you should be familiar with after all this time. Visually, everything looks pretty smooth and fancy, but there’s not much to admire most of the time. Other than a static background and the occasional hand-drawn panels that advance the plot, the tiles are the only objects on the screen.

In case you have run out of Mahjong games to play, Mahjong: Wolf's Stories can fill the gap in your library, as long as you do not mind its lack of originality. It runs smoothly and there are no severe gameplay errors, so you should be able to enjoy the experience from start to finish.