A well-deserved seat of honour

You enter a bus with ten passengers scattered across the seats. Where would you sit? Next to someone? An empty row? Take the window, the aisle? Or simply stand?. What would you do if your sworn enemy were on the bus? Would you sit in the spot that faces them, so you can stare them down, or politely sit away from them? These are important questions, and important decisions because they could impact future passengers who board the bus. And of course, impact your own happiness and satisfaction during the short journey. This is precisely the type of overthinking Is this Seat Taken encourages. But just for a second if you want to really oversimplify it, then yes Is this Seat Taken is a logic-puzzle game thats a hybrid between Minesweeper and Sudoku. Sure, its about peoples relationship with other people and the environment, instead of mines and numbers. I can sort of understand why people think its a logic puzzle. However, thats not what I really believe. I think the game is asking the more important questions. It helps solve the internal mental dilemma of sitting in public locations. Etiquette that defines our life and that of the people around us. It also sort of encourages the latent people-pleasing attitudes within me. It seems to whisper in my ear it tells me that if I just spend enough time figuring things out or I just try hard enough then maybe, just maybe I could make everyone happy. Heres the deal with the game: You are presented with different scenarios, locations, and varieties of people. In a sports stadium, you meet people who want to cheer for their home team, and others who just want to quietly enjoy good sport. In a cinema hall, you encounter people who want to make loud comments about the movie, scroll on their phone while the film screens, and others who just want to enjoy some popcorn. They all need to be seated by you. Your job is simple but tricky seat every person exactly where they belong, and maximise everyones happiness. It might sound impossible, but there is an exact, perfect spot for everyone in this game. While the base mechanic of the gameplay is just placement logic, there is a lot of relatability and emotion attached to the process of it. You follow the story of a young rhombus (thats right this is set in a universe where people are shapes) and his dream of making it in movies. Along the way, he learns the ropes by attending classes, working in everyday workplaces, and encountering all kinds of personalities. Each location unfolds across multiple levels. When the rhombus is traveling, you find yourself navigating airports, buses, and vans. He studies in classrooms and works in shared office spaces. When he is socialising, the locations shift to boats, cinema halls, sports stadiums, and music auditoriums. Every location comes with its own quirks and hidden details. Some characters follow the rhombus throughout their journey, and within each location, there are small jokes and interactions that make the world feel alive. In classrooms, you will find traces of inter-classroom politics like seating students who have crushes on each other far apart so they dont disrupt the rest of the class. In workplaces, you try to seat the slackers well away from the boss. The games world feels very lived in and relatable, so that it mostly stops feeling like some optimisation problem. What started as a simple filler game I could pick up between Silk Song boss battles has now earned a proper seat in my heart as one of the best puzzle games this year. Its a cozy, five-hour experience a game that definitely doesnt outstay its welcome. Currently available on the Xbox, PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. Playable by kids, beginners, and seasoned gamers alike.