This game wasn't for me, I really like the artstyle and atmosphere, but the story was a bit dull and the mechanics was too tedious. I think it may be the point of the game, but there was no thinking involved, you just do one thing and move on to the next, a grind of some sort. My brain couldn't handle the slow pace and no thinking gameplay and got frustrated at several instances.
The worst thing imo was the fact that there sometimes were secrets outside of the cameras view, which means you would want to check for that when it looks like a possibility. There were only 2-3 times in the game where there was something of camera, but the possibilities were numerous, and when you have the walking velocity of a f** snail, you can understand why I get frustrated (seriously, it takes around 10 seconds to check the corner of a stationary camera, stationary!).
Anyway, I felt like I had to play it cuz of it's Norweigan origin and I do hope we can do better next time. Art direction was on point, no complaints there.

Mosaic definitely has some impressive elements. The style is perfectly realised, the camera direction is on point and it’s good at delivering its message. But that’s the thing though, it’s all about making a statement that, while true, has been done many times and the gameplay is not its strong point. This is also by design to make you feel the monotony and the time you’re wasting by doing pointless things. This is also clear with the achievements. The achievements have nothing to do with the actual game. They’re gotten through an in-game app where you have to keep clicking. Apparently you have to do this for 9 hours to get the achievements (I didn’t do it). It’s not difficult, it’s just wasting time which is the point of the game. It’s making fun of achievements and how we put so much importance on things that don’t matter.

The game is about feeding capitalism and how it’s destroying the beauty of life. To make this point, you go to work for about 5 days straight and you’re repeating certain actions like waking up, brushing teeth, check the mail etc. It’s like experiencing this similar routine 5 times and it feels repetitive for it. Of course part of it is changed or there are sections that are completely new but it makes it hard to finish the game in one sitting even though it’s around 2 hours long. I had to play one in-game day each day to keep my interest.

By now it should be clear whether the game is for you or not. Don’t get it for the gameplay, get it for the art and what it’s trying to tell. I’m glad I got to play it even if it’s just for curiosity’s sake. It’s easy to say this when it’s part of Apple Arcade. I’m not sure if I would have bought it for its gameplay, maybe only when it’s dirt cheap.

Alright, let me start this review by saying a few words of the "clicker" app called BlipBlop inside the main character's phone and how ALL OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS are only related to that. My few words are: Why on earth would you do that?! I feel like the clicker aspect was a good addition in theory, and would have been fine if just a few achievements were related to it, but the fact that all of the achievements were related to it, feels like a complete waste of time, but also ruins the actual experience for the story.

I started my journey with this game by skimming through an achievement guide, as I normally do, and noticed that, Huh, they are all related to collecting things. Okay well, I thought that's weird, was this game a clicker game and I wasn't aware of that? I booted up the game, started my run, and I was a very depressed looking individual waking up in the morning to their alarm, relatable. I picked up the phone and decided to go straight into tackling these clicker achievements. It took me approximately 9,5 hours, with the aid of an auto clicker mind you, to get all of the achievements. I feel like I wasted a BUNCH of time, for nothing, but for a person like me who wants to 100% a game, it just had to be done.

Well, after that whole mess, I actually played the story. It's about this individual, male by the looks of them, who wakes up every morning from a nightmare where they are drowning and they go to work. Every other person in this world looks the same and they all seem to work at the same place as well. Main character's work seems to be some kind of information/material extractor and deliverer type of deal, where they need to make extractors and guide information/materials towards "a milestone" each day. The milestone, and challenges with it, change each day, but it's basically very monotone and repetitive, which as I understood it, was the point of the game, to show you how lifeless and boring an individual's life can be when they do nothing, but wake up, go to work, go home, sleep, rinse and repeat.

The main character eventually realizes with the help of a friend that they can't continue on like they have been, and decide to break the cycle of repetition. There is a revelation at the end about why everyone is so monotone and lifeless, but I won't mention it since I feel like it was a good story and having the ending spoiled wouldn't be fun. This game was good, despite the weird clicker situation and the achievements. I would recommend it, but just be aware that 100% this game will be a pain.

Mosaic is a surrealist, existentialist game about being stuck in a rut, whether it's a job you hate, a relationship you feel trapped in or just that feeling that there's more to life than what you're experiencing.

Krillbite achieves this by using more or less the same principle it did in The Plan and Sunlight, albeit on a much larger scale. The atmosphere is absolutely soul-crushing, the bleak art style does an excellent job of conveying the feeling of helplessness and depression and the minimalist soundtrack feels like the walls are closing in all around you.

Krillbite even finds ample time for some social commentary in which it satirizes marketing, technology, apps and even games, to great effect. Some of it will elicit a chuckle, some a somber nod, but all of it is poignant in one way or another.

Just like The Plan and Sunlight, I have a strong feeling that Mosaic will stay with me for a long time.