Mosaika

You're staying at your uncle's isolated Victorian home when a loud crash wakes you in the middle of the night. You throw the covers to one side, turn on the bedside lamp, and tiptoe into the next room.

But instead of a rampaging killer or a bloodthirsty beast, all you find there is a simple scrap of paper. It's a code, and in the course of unravelling it you unwittingly uncover a portal to another world.

On the other side is Mosaika, and before you can even pause to wonder why your uncle didn't warn you about the wormhole in the spare bedroom you find yourself exchanging introductions with a talking frog.

This amphibious ambassador explains that an evil sorceress has banished the inhabitants of Mosaika, and it's down to you to save them.

As such, you have to traipse from static scene to static scene, collecting inventory items, noting down clues in your journal, and solving the brainteasers that stand between you and your adversary.

But 'brainteaser' isn't really the proper word here. Mosaika's puzzles are too gentle to really tease the grey matter, and it's rare that you'll have to ruminate for more than a moment before a solution presents itself.

When you stumble across a bag of bird-feed, for instance, you won't need to ponder long before realising that you should put some in the empty bird-feeder you examined mere moments before. This example, and the others like it, aren't so much puzzles as basic tests of reading comprehension.

Should you somehow find yourself stuck, though, Mosaika's built-in hint system will steer you towards the proper solution. Unfortunately, the hints it delivers are usually unequivocal directions rather than subtle nudges, and these tips diffuse what little puzzle-solving satisfaction remains.

But this lack of difficulty, coupled with the game's pastel hues and tranquil vistas, make for an appropriately dreamy experience. Since you're never at a loss as to where to go next or how to progress further, the game feels more like a meditative journey than a mental workout.

It's a short journey, too - clocking in at just over an hour from beginning to end - but Mosaika is so tranquil that the time will simply float by.

Professor Layton veterans and The Room aficionados may balk at the game's breezy atmosphere and simplistic riddles, but those looking for a relaxing distraction will find that Mosaika fits the bedtime bill nicely.