Puzzling Places - 3D Jigsaw Sim news & patch notes

Hey Puzzlers,

Containment has failed. The fences are down, the facility is in ruins, and something enormous is roaming free... Piece together the aftermath of a catastrophic experiment: towering giants roam free, enclosures lie in ruins, and the remnants of a once-ambitious project are scattered across the landscape. Every piece brings you closer to uncovering what went wrong.... Welcome to Dinosaur Disaster! 🦖

Included Puzzles:

Dinosaur Disaster

• Location: Isla Verdara, Pacific Ocean

• Max. 400 pieces

Attribution and Licenses

Dinosaur Disaster was created using:

• "road_001(object_city)" Model by SKMT, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Table calendar 3D model" Model by Tartino, licensed under the applicable CGTrader license.

• "Cliff Face V2" Model by james Tubbritt, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Hand Truck Cart" Model by louis-muir, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Box/Sci-Fi Industrial Cargo Crate" Model by chethuchethan0397, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Industrial Light Fixtures" Model by RPaciorek, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "90s Retro Office Pack" Model by MadeByYeshe, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Office - Assets" Model by Evan Petrov, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Office Props Pack" Model by crazyshroomz, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Modulair Office assets (extra) (Post Apoc)" Model by Jordi Kruk, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Office Drawer" Model by Mkky, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Ceiling Lamp / Fluorescent Tube - Baked" Model by Vince_Crusty, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Industrial asset pack (Free)" Model by ForevereQ, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Jeep wrangler 1997 Reworked" Model by MojoLeeDa, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Animated Compy" by Stomy Circles, used under the Fab Standard License (Professional).

• "Trex - Tyrannosaurus - HiepVu" by HiepVu_Fab, used under the Fab Standard License (Professional).

Happy puzzling! -realities.io team

VR:

• Fix trigger buttons always activating for both hands for Vive and Index headsets

• Fix hint tool visualization staying active after a successful connection when mode was set to "always"

2D:

• Fix a potential crash when pressing 'g' to dissolve a group

• Fix "Scroll Wheel Piece Rotation" setting not being saved

• Fix "X-Ray tool" not being adjustable with mouse wheel when "Scroll Wheel Piece Rotation" setting was turned on

Hey Puzzlers,

Monthly Pack #45 is OUT NOW!

From grand châteaux to cosy pubs, Monthly Pack #45 brings six brand-new locations to explore! Visit Château de La Gadelière, admire a vibrant Butterfly Display, dive into the details of a Gamer Bedroom, cross Baker and the Bridge, wander through the Anhui Residential Buildings, and stop by the Rose and Crown Pub.

Included Puzzles: Rose and Crown Pub

• Location: London, United Kingdom

• Scan by: David Fletcher - artfletch

• Max. 1000 pieces

Anhui Residential Buildings

• Location: Anhui, China

• Scan by: Metazeon

• Max. 400 pieces

Baker and the Bridge

• Location: By the River

• Model by: Conrad Justin

• Max. 400 pieces

Gamer Bedroom

• Location: Laval, France

• Scan by: Yaël Martin - yaelm

• Max. 400 pieces

Butterfly Display

• Location: New Haven, CT, USA (Peabody Museum of Natural History)

• Scan by: Yale Peabody Museum

• Max. 400 pieces

Château de La Gadelière

• Location: Rueil-la-Gadelière, France

• Scan by: Lionel Leduc

• Max. 1000 pieces

Quality of Life 2.0 Update!

Alongside this pack comes our Quality of Life 2.0 update! We've been hard at work implementing improvements inspired by your feedback, with a host of changes designed to make Puzzling Places even more enjoyable.

General:

• Fix user ratings and difficulty not showing for some players.

• Added a refresh button to the library to help with missing puzzles

• Fix blurring thumbnail setting not working correctly after the latest update

• Added a "go to library button" to Home screen

• Removed very hard to connect pieces from certain puzzles

• Fix “Next Puzzle button” showing completed puzzles before showing all the uncompleted ones

VR Only:

• Fix the issue with one of the pieces in Barcelos not being grabbable in VR

• Added a Hint system for helping with tricky connections

• Added a setting to customize the new Hint System

2D Only:

• Added a setting to toggle V-sync

• Added a setting to change to a classic arrow hardware cursor

• Bind zoom in and zoom out to "X" and "C" on keyboard

• Bind rotate piece to "1" and "2" on keyboard

• Added setting for rotating pieces via the mouse wheel without mouse clicks required

• Fix steam deck getting stuck in menu because it wont focus any button

• Added some missing sounds to controllers interactions

• Fixed a issue where double click triggered a recenter when you wouldn’t want it to

• Relaxed the auto release condition for when you move pieces outside of the screen

• Added a button for push the grabbed piece to the table (Left Alt, L3)

And if you’ve been enjoying Puzzling Places, leaving us a review really helps support the team and makes a huge difference for us!

Attribution and Licenses

• "Rose and Crown Pub" is created based on a photogrammetry scan by David Fletcher - artfletch, licensed under the Standard license.

• "Anhui Residential Buildings" is created based on a photogrammetry scan by Metazeon, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Baker and the Bridge" is created based on a model by Conrad Justin, licensed under the Free Standard license.

• "Gamer Bedroom" is created based on a photogrammetry scan by Yaël Martin - yaelm, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Butterfly Display" is created based on a photogrammetry Scan by Yale Peabody Museum, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Château de La Gadelière" is created based on a photogrammetry scan by Lionel Leduc, licensed under the Standard license.

Happy puzzling! -realities.io team

Would you look at that - the first few puzzles created by players with Puzzle Maker!

Join the beta!

While we are not quite ready for the full release just yet we just decided to open up a few more spots for the closed Beta Test! So if you always wanted to create your own puzzles from scans or 3D models, sign up here to join the closed beta!

Hey Puzzlers,

We’re excited to share that Puzzling Places – 3D Jigsaw Sim is now part of the Steam Summer Sale! 🧩✨

For a limited time, you can pick up the base game at a discounted price and dive into a world of relaxing 3D puzzles, handcrafted dioramas, and real-world locations waiting to be pieced back together.

Now is the perfect time to start your journey or continue building your collection!

Happy puzzling!

-- Steph & The Puzzling Places Team

Hey Puzzlers,

Monthly Pack #44 - Inside & Out is OUT NOW!

Explore beautiful interiors and striking exteriors in Monthly Pack #44! This month’s collection takes you from the historic Esmahan Sultan Mosque and Upnor Castle to the cosy Artigas’ Ceramic Workshop and the grand Château de Paley. Climb aboard the El Sevillano Train and venture into the world of The Viking Village!

Included Puzzles: Esmahan Sultan Mosque

• Location: Mangalia, Romania

• Scan by: Global Digital Heritage

• Max. 400 pieces

Upnor Castle

• Location: Upnor, United Kingdom

• Scan by: David Fletcher - artfletch

• Max. 1000 pieces

El Sevillano Train

• Location: Barcelona, Spain

• Scan by: Giravolt

• Max. 400 pieces

Château de Paley

• Location: Paley, France

• Scan by: Lionel Leduc

• Max. 1000 pieces

The Viking Village

• Location: Skies of Midgard

• Model by: Conrad Justin

• Max. 400 pieces

Artigas' Ceramic Workshop

• Location: Gallifa, Spain

• Scan by: Giravolt

• Max. 400 pieces

Attribution and Licenses

• "Esmahan Sultan Mosque" is created based on a photogrammetry scan by Global Digital Heritage, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Upnor Castle" is created based on a photogrammetry scan by David Fletcher - artfletch, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "El Sevillano Train" is created based on a photogrammetry scan by Giravolt, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

• "Château de Paley" is created based on a photogrammetry scan by Lionel Leduc, licensed under the Standard license.

• "The Viking Village" is created based on a model by Conrad Justin, licensed under the Standard license.

• "Artigas' Ceramic Workshop" is created based on a photogrammetry scan by Giravolt, licensed under the CC Attribution license.

Happy puzzling! -realities.io team

Hey Puzzlers,

We’re excited to share that a wide selection of our most popular puzzle packs and premium puzzles are now available for Puzzling Places - 3D Jigsaw Sim!

Newly available Single Premium Puzzles include:

The King's Port, A Painter's Dream, Undead Afterparty, Summer Dive, Monastery of Batalha: Day & Night, Our Planet Earth, Halloween Special: The Haunted House, Halloween Special: Dracula's Dinner, and Holidays Special: Driving Home for Christmas.

We’ve also added a range of Premium Packs, including:

Behind High Walls, Ancient Egypt, Springtime Pack, World Heritage Tour, Variety Pack Volume 2, New York City, Return to Greece, Mars Desert Research Station Pack, and Tokyo.

On top of that, two new game editions are now available:

🧩 Essentials Edition – Includes the base game plus a selection of colourful fan-favourite puzzles to begin your puzzling journey.

✨ Premium Edition – Includes the base game alongside a curated collection of premium puzzles featuring rich soundscapes, hidden details, and higher piece counts.

Thank you so much for all the support since launch, we can’t wait to keep bringing more puzzles to Steam! If you want to support the game, leaving a review really helps us out!

Happy puzzling!

-- Steph & The Puzzling Places Team

Hello everyone,

here is Sha! We have been working on a new quality of life update, based on the feedback we collected from you! For this update we are adding new features to make organizing your space on higher piece counts easier!

Here’s what’s included in the update:

• The VR Grouping Tool is now available in 2D You can now drag and drop pieces into a movable group container in Classic Mode. Alternatively, while holding a group, you can suck in pieces in to the group by hovering over them and clicking. This works for both controller and mouse.

• Multiselect functionality You can now select and move multiple pieces at once. On Mouse: Press Shift (+) and Ctrl (-) to add or remove pieces from your selection, on Controller: Toggle selection mode with R3. Move selected pieces together by grabbing any selected piece, or cancel the selection by clicking elsewhere or grabbing a non-selected piece. While holding selected pieces, you can auto-group them with G on keyboard or X on controller.

• Tooltips for puzzle tools X-Ray Vision, Back Face Toggle, and other tools will now display helpful explanations when hovered over, making it easier to learn what each tool does while you play.

• Rotating pieces using mouse scroll wheel To help to reduce wrist strain, you can now also rotate pieces using the scroll wheel. While holding the right mouse button, the scroll wheel rotates the piece you are holding, instead of zooming in and out.

• Shared completion tracking between VR & 2D Puzzles completed in VR will now appear completed in 2D and vice versa, helping your progress feel more connected across playstyles.

• Additional support for hand-tracking PCVR players We’ve added an option that allows players using unofficial hand-tracking controller setups to physically throw pieces back to the wall more easily.

• Setting to switch the LMB and RMB in game

We’re also continuing to explore additional features and improvements based on community feedback. Some ideas are more technically challenging than others, but we always appreciate hearing how you play and what would make your puzzling experience better.

You can watch a video covering the update and new features here:

And if you’ve been enjoying Puzzling Places, leaving us a review really helps support the team and makes a huge difference for us

Thank you, as always, for all your support and feedback — it genuinely helps shape the future of Puzzling Places

— Sha

2D Specific

• New Grouping tool functionality for Classic mode. You can use this to group pieces together for sorting and managing higher piece count puzzles
• Multiselect functionality. Press Shift (+) and Ctrl (-) with mouse or toggle selection mode with R3 in the controller to multi select several pieces. Move them together by grabbing any selected piece, or cancel selection by clicking somewhere else or grabbing a non selected piece. While pieces are grabbed, auto group them with G on key board or X on controller.
• Tool tips for all the tools. Hover over them for a few seconds and a tool tip pops up. Piece rotation with scroll wheel.
• To reduce wrist strain, when you have a piece in rotation mode (right click), the scroll wheel will rotate the piece instead of zooming in and out.
• Setting to switch the LMB and RMB in game

VR Specific

• Option to enable throwing pieces back with the controller. This was added to enable those who emulate controllers through handtracking to throw pieces back.

General

• Puzzles completed in VR will be shown as completed in 2D and vice versa.

Hey fellows, Sha here. This post is a bit of a heads-up. There are three things coming up that I wanted to share with you.

Quality of Life Update

Based on your feedback, here are some things we are working on. I am not 100 percent sure if all of them will make it, because sometimes in development certain things prove to be way more challenging than we initially thought, but here is the plan:

Hey Puzzlers, We have even more good news to share — Puzzling Places is now officially Steam Deck Verified! ✅

We’ve been working hard to ensure the best possible experience on Steam Deck, and we’re happy to share that the game now meets Valve’s requirements for full compatibility.

That means you can enjoy the complete Puzzling Places experience wherever you like, whether you’re relaxing on the couch or taking your puzzles on the go 🎮 If you’re playing on Steam Deck, we’d love to hear how it feels — share your thoughts (and screenshots!) with us!

Happy puzzling! The Puzzling Places Team

• Fixed the sparkle delay not working when you rotate a piece on the right spot
• Improved text readability overall for steamdeck (Settings, tutorial, library …)
• Improved switching between mouse and controller
• Fixed navigation with controllers getting stuck on the fish in Persian Garden
• Increased max zoom level by 1.5x for 1000 piece puzzles
• Fixed the Journey mode cards not resizing after changing windows size in window mode
• Improved moving around pieces and sluggishness in diagonal movements
• Fixed getting stuck in journey tutorial when find the perspective mode is on (forced off in tutorial)

• Fixed the option hiding unfinished puzzles thumbnail by blurring them not working for detail menu
• Fixed the Replay showing one move less than the number of moves
• Fixed some translations not fitting in the UI container
• Fixed one instance of game crashing on exit

Hey Puzzlers,

after an awesome launch yesterday, we want to share a bit more about what we have in store for Puzzling Places on Steam after launch (spoiler: plenty of puzzles, a new headset, and an exclusive new tool!).

5 years in, we still love working on this game!

From the early days of our first prototype, one of our core guiding principles has been: ship a solid first version and then listen to our players about what they would like to see next. Most of the time, the answer was more puzzles! But beyond content, Puzzling Places has grown quite a bit since its initial release for Meta Quest in 2021. We’ve added features like multiplayer and mixed reality, new game and interaction modes and, of course, tons of smaller tweaks, improvements, and quality-of-life features based on diverse player feedback.

But the real stars of the game have always been our puzzles! For over four years now, we’ve been releasing at least one new Puzzle Pack every single month, building up a library of over 320 individual puzzles! And we are still getting better: more little stories, more detailed soundscapes, new dynamic effects like day-night cycles, animated characters, custom music—and even pettable cats. We plan to bring all of that and more to Steam over time, and keep surprising and delighting you with new ideas and new places. All to make sure there will always be a fun new puzzle waiting for you!

So buckle up and join us for a look at what’s ahead!

Milestone 1: More Puzzles (May)

In May, we will bring a first set of additional puzzles to Steam. They will be available both as individual Puzzle Pack DLCs, as on other platforms, as well as in a special bundle for Steam. As porting existing Puzzle Packs to Steam takes time, we’ll start by focusing on the highest-rated, all-time favorites and add the rest of the library over time.

Milestone 2: Monthly Updates (June)

Starting in June, the Steam version of Puzzling Places will receive the same monthly updates as other platforms. This includes Monthly Puzzle Packs, claimable free puzzles like the Holiday Specials, as well as feature updates and improvements.

Milestone 3: Puzzle Maker (in Q2)

Want to make your own puzzles? Soon you can, with our Puzzle Maker tool! You’ll be able to turn compatible 3D scans into puzzles, load them into Puzzling Places, share them with other players through the Steam Workshop, and piece together the creations of fellow puzzlers. This is something we’ve been working on for quite a long time, and it will be exclusive to the Steam version for now. We are already incredibly excited to play your puzzles!

Milestone 4: Steam Frame Support (this year — whenever Steam Frame releases)

We are just as excited as you about Valve’s new VR headset and are already working on a version optimized for Steam Frame. While we don’t know exactly when it will be released, we do plan to have Puzzling Places ready for it on day one.

Milestone 5: Content Parity (end of 2026)

Our big goal for the end of this year is to achieve content parity with all other platforms. Making our entire puzzle library available on Steam will require quite a bit of porting work, so this will take some time. We are planning to release Puzzle Packs in batches throughout the year, also making them available in larger bundles.

These are the major milestones we can share for now. They mainly focus on content and major features like Puzzle Maker and Steam Frame support—and that’s on purpose. We want to leave enough room to react to your feedback. Since the launch of our first prototype in 2020, our approach has always been: start with a polished first version and then listen to our players about what they would like to see next.

Happy puzzling & all the best, Daniel and the Puzzling Places Team

Hey Puzzlers,

the wait is finally over, Puzzling Places has officially launched on Steam! 🎉

Puzzling Places is all about building relaxing 3D jigsaw miniatures of real-world locations from around the globe. No timers. No scores. No pressure. Just placing pieces, noticing tiny details, and unwinding at your own pace.

For the first time, you can experience our relaxing 3D jigsaw puzzles on desktop PC, Steam Deck, or fully in VR - however you like to puzzle!

From medieval castles and coastal landmarks to cozy streets and story-filled scenes, each puzzle comes alive with handcrafted soundscapes, subtle animations, and little moments to discover along the way. And as always, there are no scores, no timers, and no pressure — just the simple joy of connecting pieces, spotting tiny details, and unwinding at your own pace.

Lastly, we just want to say a huge thank you. Puzzling Places wouldn’t be what it is without this community. Your support genuinely means the world to us and helps shape where the game goes next.

We’re so happy to finally share this moment with you and can’t wait to hear what you think 💛

Thank you for being part of the journey, and happy puzzling! 🧩 - The Realities.io Team

Hey Puzzlers,

With Puzzling Places coming to Steam, we wanted to take a moment to explain what you’re getting when you buy the game and our plans around additional free and paid downloadable content (DLC) and community puzzles. As a small indie team and gamers ourselves, it’s important to us to be transparent, so you can decide if this is something you’ll enjoy =) If you prefer watching over reading, we also made a video summary here:

A complete game from the start

First, If you buy Puzzling Places on Steam, you get a complete and finished game for $7.99.

It includes 18 carefully selected puzzles that aim to give you a well-rounded and diverse experience. You’ll visit different locations, explore a variety of moods, and piece together a range of subjects from medieval fortresses and beautiful temples to lively street scenes and cozy nooks. You can play through all of them, take your time with each puzzle, and simply enjoy the experience as it is.

If that’s all you’re looking for, that’s absolutely fine, the game is designed to stand on its own.

Optional Puzzle Pack DLCs for more puzzles

If you find yourself wanting more after that, we’ll be offering additional puzzles as optional, paid Puzzle Pack DLCs as well as the occasional free puzzle.

This approach grew naturally over time. When we first released our Puzzling Places prototype in 2020, players very quickly asked us for more puzzles - and we wanted to keep making them. Exploring new places, capturing new stories, and experimenting with new ideas is a big part of what makes this project exciting for both us and our players.

Creating new puzzles takes time. From scanning real-world locations to crafting the final experience with sound, detail, and interaction. Releasing them as individual Puzzle Packs allows us to keep doing that work sustainably, while continuing to improve and expand the game over time. Since 2021, this approach has grown into a library of over 300 puzzles, with new ones released regularly. 

Monthly Packs: We release at least one pack per month, usually on the first Thursday of the month. Most of those Monthly Packs packs consist of 6 puzzles and sell for around $4.99. Some of the packs are curated around themes like Spring or Greece, some are mixed. You can get a great overview of past packs on our blog here.

Premium Puzzles: Sometimes we also put some extra work into an especially cool location or pack, adding special effects, extra animations or even more intricate soundscapes, often exploring something new. These puzzles then get released either as Single Premium Puzzles for $1.99 or as a Premium Pack with 4-6 puzzles for $5.99.

Over the coming month we’ll also port our existing puzzle library to Steam step by step, starting with the most popular ones. As we go along we will offer some great bundles for those looking to pick up a good chunk of Puzzle Packs for cheap. Our goal is to achieve content parity by end of the year.

Free puzzles and special collaborations

Alongside paid DLC, we also release puzzles that can be claimed for free by all players!

These are often tied to holidays or special occasions, and can be claimed for free during a limited time window. We’ve also worked on collaborations that bring unique locations and themes into the game.

We plan to continue doing both—so there will always be opportunities to expand your collection without additional cost.

Puzzle Maker and community puzzles

In addition to our own Puzzle Packs, we’re also working on Puzzle Maker, a tool that will let you create and share your own puzzles!

With it, you’ll be able to turn compatible 3D scans into puzzles, load them into Puzzling Places, and share them with other players via the Steam Workshop. You’ll also be able to browse and play puzzles created by the community.

We see this as a complementary, community-driven way to expand the game alongside our own DLCs and another way for the game to grow beyond what we can create on our own.

How much or how little you engage with the paid DLC packs is entirely up to you. You can stick with the base game and the free puzzles, pick up additional Puzzle Packs whenever something catches your interest, build up your collection via bundles or just dive into the world of community puzzles. Our goal is simply to always have a fun new puzzle available for you =)

Hey Puzzlers,

we are finally ready to share the news about something we've been working on for a long time: Puzzle Maker!

With Puzzle Maker, you’ll be able to create your own puzzles and bring them into Puzzling Places. You can turn compatible 3D models into fully playable puzzles, load them into the game, and share them with others via Steam Workshop.

You’ll also be able to browse and play puzzles created by other players - exploring places and ideas that go far beyond what we could create on our own.

What are compatible models? Puzzle Maker will be limited to meshes with a continuous topology, meaning the entire object is one connected surface. This is typically the case for 3D scanned meshes. More traditionally modeled scenes made up of many separate objects will need additional remeshing.

Unfortunately for now Puzzle Maker will be only included in the Puzzling Places Steam version. This is mainly due to the additional flexibility of an open PC platform that we don’t have on stand alone VR headsets or consoles. Second, Puzzle Maker won’t be available right at launch, but we are currently planning to release it in Q2 2026.

The possibility of making your own puzzles is something many of you have been asking us about for a long time and we’re really happy to finally take a first step towards it! We’ll share more details soon as we progress, including how to get started and what kind of tools you can use for scanning and an exact launch date, so stay tuned!

Happy puzzling,

Daniel and the Puzzling Places Team P.S. I know posting this on 1st of April is not ideal :D - we wanted to post it yesterday but apparently I didn't click the final publish button. So anyhow, I can assure you this is not an Aprils fool, it's happening and coming to Steam hopefully in Q2!

Hey everyone,

In this post, we will give you a small peek at how we prepare and fix real-world 3D scans to create puzzles for our game. Now let’s see how one of our puzzles, The Football Night, looked at first.   

And Kickoff!

Finding the Sweet Spot Crop

Once we’ve found a scan one of the first things we have to decide is how to crop the model. A lot of scans come in with unclean edges, or large areas, that don’t have a lot going on visually or are very flat and are therefore not so fun to puzzle. Here’s how we cropped the Stadium:

For the crop, we usually try to focus the puzzle on the interesting bits, cutting out the boring areas, so that the parts that make up the main motif end up having the most pieces.

Of course we also give the puzzle a clean edge, that way it’s easier to know where the puzzle starts and ends.

Fixing, Fixing, Fixing

This is one of the more time consuming (and at times tedious ; ) )  parts of the process, depending on the scan. For fixing we usually split it into two parts: First off, fixing the model. In this step, we look for holes, scanning artifacts, and anything else that might look weird. 

A common example is “bags” found on the inside of the mesh. Removing them is often necessary, especially if they are large enough that they might become pieces themselves, or if they connect two areas to each other, that shouldn’t be.

The before and after can be very satisfying.

Once we’ve fixed the problematic parts of the model, it’s on to fixing the texture, making it look clean, and most importantly making sure that it can be puzzled as best as possible. The sky is the limit with fixing but in general our main focus is always making sure that a puzzle is, of course, fun to puzzle.

Using Blender’s Paint Tools, Photoshop, and a bit of dark magic, we clean up any areas that just don’t look right and make it look as real and plausible as possible, which is hardest in areas where little to no information is available from the original.

Finishing Touches

With the fixing done the puzzle is almost ready to go. In the last step we either tweak the colors to be as vibrant and appealing as they can be, or we go all in on art direction, creating a specific mood or theme. The Football Night is an example of both. Where the Night Version features a completely different look and feel, the day version simply enhances the existing colors in the scan.

And much much more

Our puzzles have so much more to offer, but it all starts with the foundation. Preparing and fixing.

Keep an eye out for more posts here if you want even more behind the scenes insights  — and as always, we’re happy if you give it a try. Happy Puzzling 🧩✨

— The Realities.io Team

Hey Puzzlers,

to warm up for our upcoming launch on April 9th and celebrate our featuring in The VR Game Showcase we thought it was high time to update our demo that has been out since Next Fest last year!

This new version is pretty close in functionality to our 1.0 release. Here are some of the highlights:

• much improved VR support: more set ups, better performance, improved stability

• new tools for flatscreen puzzling like the X-Ray tool

• VR multiplayer including cross platform support with Quest, PSVR2 and Pico

• Journey Mode game mode now also available in VR

• the final look of the menu for both VR and flatscreen

• full settings menu for VR and flatscreen

• a ton of polish and bugfixes across the board and especially for flatscreen puzzling

To round it all off, we swapped out the Royal Wedding puzzle with one of our all time favorites full of animations, quirky characters and even a custom produced song - have fun puzzling the Dance of the Damned!

Happy puzzling and see you all at launch on April 9th!

Daniel & the Puzzling Places Team

Hey everyone,

In this post, we want to give you a small glimpse behind the scenes and show how puzzles in Puzzling Places are created from real-world 3D scans. We’ll look at how we turned a Victorian-style commercial building in Baltimore into a cozy Christmas scene.

Let’s dive right in!

Finding a Scan

Creating a new puzzle usually starts with finding a great 3D scan. Sometimes we scan locations ourselves, but most of the time we license them from independent creators on platforms like Sketchfab.

When choosing a scan, we look for a few things. First, the location should be interesting on its own. Second, it needs clear shapes and distinct areas — otherwise it quickly turns into a lot of grey-on-grey puzzling. And finally, we think about theming: can we push lighting, colors, or details to give the scene a specific mood?

For Christmas on Fell Street, we already had the idea of a cozy holiday scene. On Sketchfab we found the Fells Point Mermaid Building in Baltimore scanned by our frequent collaborator Taylor Houlihan in great quality.

Here’s what the original scan looked like:

Theme & Art Direction

Once we have a scan and a direction, we start gathering references and building a mood board. This helps define the overall look, but also gives us ideas for small stories, lighting, and effects.

From there, we move into production. The first step is cleaning up artifacts in the scan, which is often the most tedious part, but important to get a solid base.

After that, we start shaping the mood: relighting the scene, adjusting colors, and adding details like lamps or decorations. Even small lighting changes can completely shift how a place feels.

For this puzzle, we aimed for a vibrant, slightly stylized US Christmas look, inspired by movie scenes. We added snow, pushed the ambient light toward cooler blue tones, and balanced it with warm, glowing windows and street lamps. And of course, lots of colorful fairy lights.

Characters, Effects, and Sound

In the final step, we add small animated elements to bring the scene to life. Some characters move, others stay in place, and sometimes they interact. The goal isn’t to tell a fixed story, but to suggest little moments players can interpret themselves.

Here are a few examples from Fell Street:

A woman walks down the street with a Christmas shopping bag — maybe carrying a present she’ll wrap later. Nearby, a mother and daughter return from sledding and drop a letter into a mailbox. Could be Christmas greetings for family far away.

Up on the roof, there’s a small Christmas party with pizza and drinks — maybe friends, maybe coworkers wrapping up the year.

Someone has climbed up to make a snow angel in the fresh snow. And if you follow the paw prints, you might spot a small kitten hiding up there.

The last step is adding sound. We layer in ambient audio, along with more localized sounds that unlock as you complete parts of the puzzle. As you progress, the scene slowly comes together not just visually, but also acoustically.

And that’s how the final puzzle ends up in the game.

Hope you enjoyed this little look behind the scenes — and as always, we’re happy if you give it a try. Happy Puzzling 🧩✨

— The Realities.io Team

Hey Puzzlers,

As we count down to launch, we wanted to give you a closer look at some of the puzzles waiting for you when the game launches!

Let’s take a moment to talk about the heart of Puzzling Places, the puzzles themselves! Puzzling Places includes a curated collection of 18 3D dioramas from around the world, each one made from photogrammetry scans or carefully built environments, complete with evolving soundscapes and little characters and animations that bring them to life.

And of course, every puzzle supports multiple piece counts, ranging from quick, cozy builds to large multi-hour challenges.

Today, let’s start with some of our coziest and most calming scenes:

Cozy Corner

Piece together a peaceful scene where a grandma tends her flower boxes, butterflies flutter by, and lazy cats nap in the shade. This sweet and sunny puzzle is filled with cozy details to make you smile as you build.

Persian Garden

Travel to a garden of warm sunlight and cool, dappled shadows. As you piece the Persian Garden together, you’ll spot little details like koi fish gliding through the water, lounging cats, and birds perched nearby.

Tiny Glade – Summer To winter

Explore a relaxing scene that transforms through the seasons! This puzzle captures the lush greenery of summer and the frosty beauty of winter, alongside the whimsical architecture that makes Tiny Glade so special. Plus, don’t forget to pet the sheep! We put a lot of care into every single location, and we can’t wait for you to explore them piece by piece!

Happy Puzzling 🧩✨

— The Realities.io Team

Hey Puzzlers, We’re excited to finally share that Puzzling Places - 3D Jigsaw Sim is coming to Steam on April 9th! 🎉

In Puzzling Places, you piece together relaxing 3D jigsaw miniatures of beautiful locations from around the world. There are no scores or timers; just the simple joy of connecting pieces, discovering tiny details, and unwinding at your own pace.

From medieval castles and coastal landmarks to cozy streets and story-filled scenes, each puzzle comes alive with handcrafted soundscapes, subtle animations, and little moments to discover along the way.

🎮 Choose how you want to play:

• Classic Mode: All pieces available from the start. Sort, group, and assemble freely like a traditional jigsaw.

• Journey Mode: Start from a single piece and receive small batches over time for a calmer, guided experience. Play on desktop, Steam Deck, or VR, whatever fits your mood. Whether you’re looking for a cozy escape or a multi-hour challenge, Puzzling Places has you covered.

Get ready to arrange, connect, and explore beautiful locations from around the world; and puzzle your way to calm, focus, and fun! 💛

Lastly, we just want to say a huge thank you. Puzzling Places wouldn’t be what it is without this community. Your support genuinely means the world to us and helps shape where the game goes next. We’re so excited to finally share this with you and can’t wait to hear what you think.

Thanks for being part of the journey 🧩✨

— The Realities.io Team

Hey Puzzlers, We’re kicking off a series of posts to give you a closer look at what’s included in the full game!

One of the things we love most about Puzzling Places is that you can play it your way. Whether you enjoy diving into a giant pile of pieces or prefer a more guided, relaxed flow, we’ve got you covered.

Here’s a closer look at the two ways you'll be able to puzzle:

🧩 Classic Mode

This is the traditional jigsaw experience! All pieces are available from the start. You can sort, group, rotate, and assemble freely at your own pace, just like a physical puzzle (minus the missing pieces under the table).

Perfect for:

• Long, focused sessions

• Puzzle purists

• Anyone who loves organizing the big pile!

🌱 Journey Mode

Journey Mode offers a calmer, more guided approach. You begin with a single piece and receive new pieces in small batches over time, like playing a deck of cards.

Perfect for:

• Shorter sessions

• More relaxed play

• When you’re not in the mood for “the big pile”

And of course, every puzzle comes in multiple piece counts - from small, cozy builds to large, multi-hour challenges - so you can choose your level of challenge and always match the experience to your mood. There are no timers, no scores, no pressure - Just pure puzzling bliss!

Stay tuned over the next few weeks for more previews of what’s to come.

Happy Puzzling 🧩✨

— The Realities.io Team

Hey puzzlers, we've been hard at work on the Puzzling Places Steam version and are finally approaching the release 🥳🧩

Before we go live we would like to run a closed Playtest with around 50 players to give everything a thorough test under real world conditions.

So if you want to jump in early, help us iron out the last bugs and get an exclusive peek at Puzzling in 2D and PCVR, this is your chance!

Here's how to join:,

• Head over to Puzzling Places Steam Page,

• find the Join the Puzzling Places - 3D Jigsaw Sim Playtest section and hit Request Access,

• Once you are approved, Puzzling Places should be available in your Steam Library,

How to provide Feedback,

• You can flag any bugs or issues and provide general feedback via

• the #Steam-Playtest channel here on Discord,

• the Playtest Feedback Thread in our Steam Community,

Thanks so much for your support, we hope you'll have lot's of fun taking this new version for a spin!

Hey Puzzlers,

besides a bunch of smaller bugfixes the latest update now added full controller support for Xbox Controller and Steamdeck - perfect for puzzling while leaning back on the couch or on the go!

We worked hard to get this in for the last weekend of NextFest, so if you stumble across any bugs or rough edges let us know in the community hub =)

We had already pushed controller support briefly yesterday but that update introduced an blocking bug in the tutorial, that is now fixed in the latest version.

Happy puzzling,

Daniel & the Puzzling Places team

Full Changelog for v 1.04.2

• full controller support for Arcade and Tabletop Mode

• updated tutorial for controller

• dynamic toggling between mouse and keyboard (press left mous button) and controller (press A button) at any time

• fixed temporary issue blocking tutorial progression for camera rotate step

• fixed Vive wands no trigger bug

• fixed audio issue causing audio emitters spawning to close to camera

Hi everyone!

We’re beyond excited to be part of Steam Next Fest with the very first demo of Puzzling Places - 3D Jigsaw Sim, and it's available to play right now! 🎉

Whether you’re puzzling on your monitor or stepping into stunning dioramas in full VR, this is your chance to experience the cozy joy of 3D jigsaw puzzling, built from photogrammetry scans of real world locations!

🧩 What’s in the demo?

• Intricate jigsaw dioramas from locations around the world

• Multiple difficulty levels - choose from 25 to 1000 pieces

• Two game modes - Tabletop and Arcade Mode

• Support for both Flatscreen and VR

Check out our latest trailer here:

We're a small indie team at Realities.io, and being part of Next Fest is a huge moment for us. If you enjoy the demo, it would mean so much to us if you could leave a review and wishlist the full game. It really helps us grow and reach more cozy puzzle fans like you! ✨

If you’d like to stay up to date or give us feedback, you can join our Discord or follow our socials! That’s all from us right now, thank you all again for the support you’ve shown and make sure to try out the demo ♥️ - The Realities.io team

• added fallback font to fix Japanese, Korean, Chinese (simplified) and Chinese (traditional) not being displayed correctly
• added manual language selection in settings
• added AZERTY keyboard support
• fixed UI formatting issues (text breaking out of buttons etc)
• fixed Index controller swapped triggers bug
• improved automatic depth adjustment for big pieces

Over 30 beautiful puzzles to explore

New Playmodes

• Arcade Mode: Short on time? Build your puzzle a handful of curated pieces at a time! Ideal for flow and building puzzles over multiple quick sessions!
• Tabletop Mode: start with all the pieces, sort arrange and build the fractured diorama piece by piece like a real world jigsaw.

Cross-device & cozy