Some games provide you with abstract titles that don’t fully explain the breadth of the tasks you will be required to complete to reach the end. Please Fix The Road does not suffer from that problem. As you play through 160 bite-sized puzzles, each one simply asks you to do exactly what this game’s title says: fix the road, path, sidewalk, or river so that vehicles and animals can reach their destination. But despite the simple premise and casual demeanor, developer Arielek offers no shortage of clever twists on the core concept and, in the process, kept me guessing at what challenges I would face next.
Each puzzle presents a small, charmingly rendered plot of land with at least one broken road. In the lower-left corner, you have designated moves you must make to solve the puzzle. While I initially found this dictation of moves in a specific order restrictive and counter to the more casual experience I expected, it ultimately pushed me towards some incredibly rewarding moments as I likely solved the puzzle exactly as the developer intended. Additionally, it provides breadcrumbs toward the solution; on multiple occasions, I wondered why a certain move was required in a level, only to learn that I was overlooking an important aspect of the puzzle.