Review - Squeakross: Home Squeak Home
I missed Squeakross: Home Squeak Home’s release a couple of weeks ago, mainly because there were a trio of other games that had rather taken over my life in early June. Two of those are the subject of our most recent articles, but the third (and the one I’ve spent the most time playing) was something I didn’t think was going to be particularly relevant to any of our reviews.
I am, of course, talking about the appropriately-named ‘Every 5x5 Nonogram,’ by developer Joel Riley. It’s a website which has every solvable 5x5 nonogram puzzle (or Picross puzzle, if you prefer), and, having been live for just over a month it’s fair to say its players have got through a good chunk of those. While I’m perhaps a little too proud of my thousand solves, it’s a drop in the ocean compared to the 14 million solved cumulatively in less than a month. And with “only” 25 million to solve, it looks like they’ll be done sooner rather than later. Quick note: this review is going to assume you know what a nonogram is: if you don’t, I’d perhaps briefly familiarise yourself with the concept before continuing.
Image: Alblune
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Developer: Alblune
Publisher: Alblune
Release: 25 June 2025
Retail Price (Steam): 14,99€/$14.99/£12.99
As much as Joel’s website hits you with the “just one more turn” feeling, even the most dedicated 25-square-solver would probably agree that there’s not much difficulty involved, so while it does sort of scratch any nonogram itch someone might have, I don’t think anyone who’s really into in them is likely to say that repeatedly smashing through those at a rate of five-per-minute when they could be working their brains on something a little more challenging.
But nonogram games are, historically, rather samey. Yeah, there’s a few exceptions, like Mediatonic’s Murder By Numbers, but usually the most exciting thing you’ll be doing with your solved puzzles – if anything – is sticking them in a gallery. Arguably that’s all you need; if you like solving nonograms you’ll enjoy the process enough that you’ll be fine without anything else, and if you don’t like solving nonograms, it doesn’t matter how well it’s written: no amount of murder-mystery visual-novel is going to make you enjoy the game. It’s something I (sort of) mentioned in my review of the excellent minimalist puzzler Block Shop earlier this year – that, while nice enough, even the most well-executed nonogram game isn’t going to blow you away with its gameplay. Rather, it provides a comfortable, tried-and-tested formula for you to sink your teeth into, as long as that’s your sort of thing.
Image: Alblune
Squeakross, from two-person studio Alblune, isn’t satisfied with just giving you the puzzles though, and instead compliments them with what is most aptly described as a life sim. I assume we’ve already established that I'm a nonogram fan but I do also have a (relatively) soft spot for life sims. Admittedly I don’t really have the time to dive into one these days – and even if I did, I have to admit that the current offering doesn't really appeal to me – with The Sims 4 having its “EA” pricing model, and INZOI seemingly being all appearance and no substance, I figured Paralives was going to be the next best bet for something that might scratch that itch. I’m not going to pretend Squeakross has a huge amount of depth in that department: your rodent friend doesn't have little rodent buddies who come and visit for you to interact with, there’s no rodent marriages or rodent babies or, thankfully, rodent swimming pools to remove the rodent swimming pool ladders from.
At least, I don't think there’s a swimming pool – the game currently boasts 325 items to unlock across two different catalogues, and at time of writing I’ve only just about finished the first. Each of those items has two puzzles linked to it: one to unlock it initially, and a second to unlock colour variations and the ability to place multiples of the same object. These second puzzles are typically a bit more challenging, but the difficulty curve in Squeakross is planned well enough that even nonogram novices should, I think, be able to ease their way into the puzzles without feeling overwhelmed. In the case that they do get stuck, Squeakross has implemented a handful of useful hint systems to help them along the way: the options to show any mistakes, assist with the logic of a solvable line, or to randomly fill in a square. This, along with a variety of gameplay settings available to players – such as auto-crossing completed lines, showing which lines current have logical next steps, or triggering warnings when you’ve erroneously made a line unsolvable – all allow players to complete the game with as much or as little assistance as they feel is necessary.
Image: Alblune
I said before that there wasn’t much depth to the life sim part of the game, but the exception to that is the game’s character creator, which I do want to give a big shout-out to. I remember hearing a lot of people gushing over INZOI’s, so where were all the people posting about the one in Squeakross? It might be the most fun I’ve ever had in a character creator. In it, players can make a sort of non-descript rodent; whether it’s a mouse, hamster, or rat is pretty much up to them, as the customisation is varied enough to make any of the three. Each time I thought I’d run out of things to change on my little rodent friend, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of options on the following page. Fur patterns, fur colours, height, weight, tail length and size, nose shape, mouth shape, disability options, whisker density: if you can imagine it Alblune have probably thought of it. When the “Catalogue 3” DLC comes along (and yes, I did just make that up, but there seems to be plenty of space in the UI for future additions) I’ll be the first to sign up, just as long as they build on the creator in the form of additional support to create Degus, Chinchillas or Gerbils. Alblune, if you’re reading, that’s your first three DLCs sorted, no need to thank me.
I’m only half joking: we’ll see how much deeper I am into the game’s 650 puzzles if-and-when any more content is introduced, because Alblune have already provided a hefty amount of puzzling for your 14,99€/$14,99/£12.99… but if I’m going to be nonogramming in the near future, I can’t think of a better place to be doing it than in Squeakross. Puzzles range from a handful of 5x5 grids at the very start, all the way up to at least one 30x30, though typically edges are somewhere in the 10-25 range.
Image: Alblune
My biggest gripe feels more like a “me-problem” rather than actual, legitimate, criticism but I’ll share it anyway just in case you, the reader, happen to share similar neuroses. The issue I find is that, while I do get that hit of satisfaction each time I unlock some new furniture or an item for my little rodent friend, I’ll be damned if I’m actually going to do anything with it, given that there’s so much more to unlock and so many more puzzles to complete. I imagine I will, at some point, get the urge to properly decorate, but perhaps only once everything is unlocked, so I can be safe in the knowledge that there’s nothing better left waiting for me, hidden in a catalogue. I don’t think I can blame Alblune for that: it’s not like I’d want my puzzles gated until I’ve spent five minutes throwing down furniture, and there’s not really a ‘fix’ because it’s entirely my own fault. There’s just a lot of content in the game that goes, at least by me, more-or-less ignored: a similar thing happens with the emails that go unread until they’ve stacked up and I read through a dozen of them in one go, or the stickers that I’m meant to be decorating my boards with… I’d rather just dive right back into another nonogram, in no small part due to the reward the game gives you.
Look, if that’s the worst thing I can find to say about Squeakross, I think it’s pretty clear I’m having a good time with it. I said at the top of this article that missing the game’s release meant this review came out a few weeks later than it perhaps should’ve, but admittedly it was even further delayed by me constantly returning to it when I could’ve been working on writing it. I can’t think of another nonogram game that comes close to it in terms of atmosphere, the puzzles are solid and made as accessible as possible to all players, and the additional gameplay adds another dimension for the games players to enjoy, even if I’ve personally not been taking full advantage of it..
At the end of the day you could argue that it’s just another nonogram game, but I’m very comfortable crowning it as the best one of those I’ve ever played. Squeakross: Home Squeak Home is awarded a 7.5/10 by IndieLoupe.com.
The reviewed product was provided by the developer.
