A Little to the Left: Seeing Stars DLC review – left a little wanting

Aside from introducing a number of new puzzles, the DLC comes with a few new mechanics, too.

A Little to the Left / Secret Mode

I’m a neat freak. There’s something so beautifully satisfying about organizing things so they all fit perfectly in position, but in reality, they so rarely do. This is where A Little to the Left comes in with its perfectly prepared puzzles, where every tiny piece has a place. I reviewed the base game almost exactly a year ago, when the first DLC came out – you can check out my A Little to the Left + Cupboards and Drawers DLC review here – so it only felt right to come back for Seeing Stars, the latest content update. Unfortunately, while there were more cats than before, it wasn’t quite as satisfying.

Aside from introducing a number of new puzzles with 100 different solutions, there are a few new mechanics. Many of the puzzles have five possible solutions, which is an interesting way to see each level from a new perspective. The base game has a hint system where you can look at part or all of one possible solution. It was an elegant way of preventing people from getting frustrated, while also encouraging them to look for more themselves. The hint system has been upgraded to show each possible solution, but it's not intuitive how to change the solution shown – there's a folded corner on the hint page for those wondering – and so I couldn't use it during my playthrough.

A Little to the Left / Secret Mode

This wasn’t the only thing I found not to work as expected. When pressing Let it Be in the menu, it should pause your puzzle solving, however, I found when I returned to the puzzle, it would return to the start from the beginning. This can be annoying when some puzzles are particularly long to solve because of the number of moving pieces. After you find a solution you are taken back to the start of the puzzle, which is annoying by itself, but more annoying as if you accidentally ‘solve’ the puzzle –such as moving pieces to create a solution you’ve found before – and you are forced to restart the puzzle from the beginning.

There are some interesting new ways of puzzle solving, though. Some puzzles are drawer-based with items that can change shape, and manipulating them will create new ways of fitting them neatly in the drawers. This not only made each puzzle more difficult as each item can fit in multiple areas, but had me thinking about multiple solutions at the same time. These are my favorite types of puzzles as there is something deeply satisfying about everything fitting exactly as it should. There were other puzzles that surprised me by letting me manipulate items in ways that weren't immediately obvious. It reminded me of just how clever it can be at its best.

A Little to the Left / Secret Mode

I enjoyed my time with Seeing Stars but found it was not as visually satisfying as the base game and first DLC. While I could understand certain solutions, I felt less smug when I looked at them afterwards. There is something beautiful about a perfectly organized shelf, and Seeing Stars isn’t filled with as much symmetry, things fitted neatly into spaces, and perfectly measured gaps. If you enjoyed the base game, you’ll still want to play the DLC as it gives you more of what you love, it just doesn’t offer the big changes and quality of life options we were hoping for.

Score: 6/10

Version tested: PC (Steam Deck)