Is This Seat Taken? Review

The very first puzzle in Is This Seat Taken has you making the seating decisions for little polygonal folks as they attempt to enjoy a taxi ride. You do this by picking them up, observing their wants and needs – perhaps a window seat, or someone to chat to, or a space for their belongings – and then plopping them down until all bums are on seats and all bum owners are satisfied. As a pretty regular public transport and carpool user, I wish it were this easy.

Things get progressively sillier, yet somehow more relatable, as the game trots along on its world tour of the moderately-mundane. You might find yourself arranging both passengers and their luggage on a long haul train ride, or seating cinema-goers in such a way that the ones who’ve rocked up inexplicably wearing ten-gallon hats don’t ruin it for everyone. Those of us who’ve spent any time in a professional office setting, especially in any modern “hot desking” situation, will either revel in or revile at being asked to position white collar wedges according to work ethic and willingness to stare at a computer screen.

The puzzles become the most fun when these little shape peoples’ desires and preferences overlap – like when a group of friends wants to stick together on a train ride but have different sensitivities to the on-board temperature. Or when a teacher’s need for an attentive class clashes with their gaggle of chatty, hormonal students. Later levels can tend to descend into trial-and-error as you start dealing with fussier and fussier folks in close quarters, so you’ll start to appreciate the ones that are fairly chill.

Often, you’ll need to contend with seating shapes who might be listening to music at a high volume, talking loudly, or who perhaps have forgotten to shower before turning up to the function. These folks’ ability to disturb those around them adds extra challenge, as you’d expect, but what surprised me was that any frustration I felt was not with them but the people who refused to sit in range of them. I thought about how much easier each day would be if everyone was a little more forgiving and understanding of a little noise, or odour. If we could just stomach being uncomfortable every now and then for the sake of those around us.

But it’s really not that deep in this short-form puzzler. Though there’s a charming enough story throughline across the 30+ levels and handful of hours of playtime, Is This Seat Taken? doesn’t expect you to glean any greater meaning from its premise. It’s simply a fun, endearing take on the surprisingly fraught act of a seating arrangement. It’s all very easygoing, too, with no timers or fail states to stop you from trying absolutely everything or even calling it early and finishing a level without making every last person happy – though you’ll miss unlocking some secret levels this way.

I did find myself wishing for a more useful UI/control experience, especially when it comes to the trial and error nature of the early steps of a puzzle. An undo function or a “clear all” of sorts to pop everyone back in limbo and clear the slate would’ve both been pretty helpful at points.

I played on both PC and Switch, and while I much prefer the option to kick back on the couch in either handheld or TV mode, the PC’s mouse controls are the clear winner over the fiddly controller-based wrangling. The game is also available on mobile, where it no doubt makes the most sense for its simple and tactile interactivity and micro-puzzles.

Final Thoughts

Typically, wrapping up a puzzle joint like Is This Seat Taken? elicits a warm wash of satisfaction and, if the title calls for it, a bit of quiet reflection on its themes. Rarely, though, do I reach my destination feeling quite this seen. As both a social blunderer and someone who struggles to sit down to a plate of food that’s been arranged “incorrectly” according to my own, unknowable, rules, these puzzles speak to me on a deeper level.

Reviewed on PC and Switch 2  // Review code supplied by publisher

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