Carto’s humorous cast and heartwarming tale about finding your way while bringing people together inject the game with heart. When the going got tough, the narrative always put a smile back on my face. Even with a few mismatched elements, Carto fits its pieces into a largely enjoyable whole.

Carto is a great and cute puzzle game with charming characters and a slightly disturbing storyline, but it’s still a fun adventure none the less. The gameplay is great fun with the map manipulation to solve the puzzles and it is a nice change of pace if you need to relax with a game. I was definitely enjoying my journey with the game until I hit the game stopping bug. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the game into the desert section, but I will have to wait until the game is patched.

Carto on Xbox One is one for the younger gamer, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing at all. It has the right vibe and presentation of a children’s book coming to life, and the whole setup of using puzzle pieces to bring a map together makes for an intuitive and engaging gameplay mechanic. While the game world and exploration within is a bit on the simplistic side, the puzzle design is still effective in what it achieves, both in the game design and in driving a meaningful narrative.