Is This Seat Taken? is an enduring little “find everyone’s place but make sure they are
happy” indie game. Cozy ASMR organization games are very popular right now, and developer Poti Poti‘s newest title is another great one. There is a little story and the game is very easy to dive into right away. You follow a little rhombus named Nat, who wants to be a star. No, not the shape as you might be mistaken to assume since the characters are geometric shapes.

Nat wants to be famous in the indie movie industry. She’s advised by a friend to go travel and meet another actor rhombus, since they aren’t common shapes. She’s seeking advice on how to make it in the industry. She will also request seating arrangements, but Nat is pretty easy to please. And since she is our star (or rhombus, you get it) I felt inclined to make sure she was prioritized on the levels she was in.

Hone Your Organizational Skills

As you follow Nat and meet other friends to guide her. Your goal is to help the other shapes and accommodate their needs. Some might be smelly or want to be with the shape they came with. Some might be tired, wanting to be alone, talkative and need a friend, or jamming out to music. And each empty seat might be what helps one shape be more comfortable than the other. From bus rides, to the movie theaters, each stage will have you seat a shape accordingly. Once you set them up, you can see how many you’ve made happy and passed with flying colors, or fail and start over.

Every stage will alternate some of the characters’ attributes. What they want and what they are (smelly, a child, reading, etc.) will inform your organization decisions. If you seat everyone in a comfortable spot, you’ll go to the next venue and continue with Nat’s journey. As you progress, some levels may stifle your flow. The story was a lot of back and forth, and nothing changed if you got fewer seats correct or a perfect score. The story would still follow Nat. We don’t really meet any characters outside of her story, even though each shape had a name.

The arrangements are easy to figure out, but once you get the rhythm of each venue it can be easy to feel
disconnected and just fly through each stage. Considering there are about five rounds per each of the five stages, the game begins to drag out and becomes repetitive. However, the levels that may have you standing and pacing are very gratifying when you figure out the level correctly.

Verdict

Overall, Is This Seat Taken? is a fun puzzle game with a concise story. The map is very unique and you could go back and replay each stage if you are wanting to perfect each area. Doing so
opens a secret location for each map, providing more depth to the experience. I was only able to unlock two as some stages felt nearly impossible to make every single person happy, no matter how many times I alternated each character and had to accommodate their needs without upsetting another. I’m sure at those levels each character had a spot that just worked and I had a piece or two in the wrong place, but there are no hints or suggestions available as a game mechanic.

If you want to go the perfectionist route, it may be a little more challenging than you expect and will have to ask yourself: Is this seat taken?

Score: 7/10

Reviewed on Steam with a code provided by the publisher.