Just Desserts: Revenge & Merge

Great concept and visuals. But the having to wait so long between powers sucks. Can’t play the game longer than a few minutes without it pushing you to buy things. If there were better ways to get more power I would rate higher.

I've dabbled in a lot of merge games and usually bounce off them because the writing is so irritating. So many of these games abandon their plot premises or pad for time by making characters almost pathologically non-confrontational. I knew Just Desserts would be special when the protagonist learned key information about a suspect and *immediately* called to question them about it. Even when dessert business events take focus, the plot and characters of Just Desserts never forget that their main concern is the mystery of the fire. Rather than drag things out, characters act on information quickly, and setbacks emerge in the form of new twists or even actual physical threats from the antagonists. A cozy mobile game mystery with real tension! Amazing!!! The writers have even made the ex both remorseful and helpful enough to be a viable contender as a love interest. Unlike in other games, it's easy to understand why Ella keeps getting pulled back into his orbit, even if you're rooting for her to get with someone else (PS please give me more time with my boy Hank thank you). I haven't felt this way about a mobile game's writing since Stella Sacco wrote for Lily's Garden. It's such a breath of fresh air in this space, and I sincerely hope this company appreciates their writers as much as I do.