Sizeable is the sort of puzzle game that understands exactly what it wants to be. There is no sprawling narrative, elaborate progression system or grand adventure here. Instead, Business Goose Studios offers a collection of compact three-dimensional dioramas in which the simple act of making things bigger or smaller becomes the key to uncovering their secrets. Each scene has three pillars to locate before moving on, with a hidden turtle providing an extra reason to poke around every corner. It is an uncomplicated premise, but there is something immediately appealing about being dropped into these tiny worlds and being encouraged to simply experiment with them. Sizeable is less interested in telling a conventional story than it is in giving each diorama its own little personality, and that works particularly well for the relaxed experience it is aiming for.
The resizing mechanic is where Sizeable earns its keep. Objects can be shrunk or enlarged, moved around, or manipulated in combination with other elements, with seemingly minor changes often having surprisingly significant consequences. Shrinking a tree can alter the amount of shade in an area, for example, setting off a chain of environmental changes that eventually exposes something that was previously inaccessible. Elsewhere, changing the size of the moon affects the tide, while manipulating other objects can alter their weight, movement or functionality. The clever part is that the game gradually teaches the rules of each diorama through experimentation rather than throwing a lengthy tutorial at the player. The early puzzles are deliberately straightforward, but later ones become more satisfying as multiple cause-and-effect relationships have to be pieced together.
That approach also gives the game its best moments. Sizeable frequently produces the kind of small Eureka moment that makes a puzzle game rewarding without ever becoming especially intimidating. We liked that the solutions generally feel logical once they have been discovered, even when the route towards them is not immediately apparent. There are occasional occasions where the intended interaction can feel arbitrary, particularly when a new diorama introduces another way in which resizing can affect the environment, and that can lead to a little trial and error. Fortunately, the environments are small enough that getting stuck rarely becomes a serious problem. There simply aren’t dozens of unrelated objects competing for attention, so experimenting with the available options usually reveals the solution before frustration has much opportunity to set in.
The hidden turtles add another welcome layer to the otherwise compact structure. Finding the three required pillars is enough to progress, but searching for the tiny turtle tucked somewhere inside each diorama encourages a more thorough examination of these miniature environments. That turns what could have been a straightforward sequence of puzzles into something closer to a collection game as well, with the additional secrets rewarding curiosity rather than demanding perfection. The extra content and secret dioramas also give the experience a little more longevity, although there is no getting around the fact that Sizeable remains a very short game. Either way, anyone expecting a substantial puzzle adventure will probably come away wanting more.
That brevity is both one of Sizeable’s strengths and its biggest weakness. We found the compact structure quite refreshing, particularly because the game never feels like it is padding out its ideas simply to increase the running time. A diorama can introduce its central concept, develop it and deliver its solution without overstaying its welcome, making Sizeable particularly easy to dip into for a few minutes at a time. At the same time, the quality of some of these puzzles makes the limited scope feel slightly frustrating. There are ideas here that could comfortably have supported a considerably larger game, and reaching the end can leave the distinct impression that another batch of increasingly inventive dioramas would have been very welcome. The additional secrets help, but they do not fundamentally change Sizeable’s bite-sized nature.
Visually, the PS5 version retains the game’s deliberately miniature aesthetic extremely well. The low-poly environments are simple rather than technically ambitious, but that simplicity works in Sizeable’s favour. Each diorama is packed with enough small details to make rotating it around and inspecting the scenery enjoyable, while the pastel-like presentation gives everything a friendly, almost toy-box quality. The variety between environments is particularly effective, with the game moving between different themes and settings rather than relying on one visual idea throughout. We liked how the presentation manages to make every puzzle feel like a little self-contained scene, and the lack of visual clutter also helps the interactive elements remain understandable without resorting to intrusive interface prompts.
The audio complements that presentation rather than competing with it. Sizeable’s soundtrack provides a calm, gentle backdrop that suits the exploratory nature of the puzzles, helping the game maintain its laid-back character even when a solution takes a little longer to uncover. There is no need for dramatic musical flourishes or an elaborate narrative presentation because the atmosphere comes primarily from the environments themselves, the little interactions within them and the soundtrack tying everything together. On PS5, that combination makes Sizeable particularly easy to settle into after a more demanding game. It is the kind of experience where the presentation actively encourages the player to slow down and look around rather than rush towards the next objective.
The controls are equally uncomplicated, which is important for a game built around experimentation. The basic interaction model is easy to understand, and rotating the dioramas while manipulating objects never feels like it requires the player to wrestle with an unnecessarily complex control scheme. On PS5, the concept translates naturally to a controller: examine the scene, interact with something that looks interesting, resize it and see what changes. That immediacy is one of Sizeable’s biggest advantages because the game puts the emphasis where it belongs – on understanding the relationships between objects rather than learning complicated controls. There are moments when the answer to a puzzle is less obvious than the controls themselves, but that is a problem with the occasional puzzle logic rather than the interface.
Sizeable ultimately succeeds because it gets a surprising amount out of an idea that could easily have become repetitive. Resizing objects sounds like a one-note gimmick, yet the game repeatedly finds new ways to connect scale with the behaviour of its miniature worlds, creating a succession of small but satisfying puzzles. We would certainly have welcomed more of them, and the short running time means that Sizeable is unlikely to satisfy players looking for a lengthy puzzle adventure, but that is also part of its charm. This is a carefully contained experience that respects the player’s time, looks lovely, sounds soothing and regularly rewards a little experimentation with an enjoyable “aha” moment. On PS5, Sizeable remains a delightful little puzzle game – one that may be small in scope, but has more than enough clever ideas to make its diminutive worlds worth exploring.
Score: 8.2/10