Nintendo Switch Critic Reviews

While the gameplay is centered around the seemingly monotonous task of fulfilling villager requests from stage to stage, Bob Help Them is an oddly laidback game that is an enjoyable experience, albeit a pretty short one.

Bob Help Them is an easy to pick up and put down little strategy game that marries the relaxation of a farming-sim with the frantic pace of a countdown timer. 35 levels, 6 NPCs, and 105 stars, this game is perfect for bus rides.

Bob Help Them may not have much lasting appeal but helping folks as efficiently and thoroughly as possible is certainly a fun challenge.

Bob Help Them is essentially a simpler, single-player equivalent to Overcooked. The specific tasks one must do are extremely simple, but a harsh time limit creates an engaging challenge that requires genuine concentration and strategy. This title could really use a bit more polish and refinement when it comes to visuals, controls, and quality-of-life features, but those looking for a fun and frantic strategy puzzler will still have a good time with it nonetheless.

The difficulty curve is accessible enough to let everyone in and the game doesn't impose anything too harsh on an unsuspecting audience. At the same time, Bob Help Them is too simple for its own good. There are many puzzle games available on the Nintendo Switch with more ambitious challenges and audiovisual production, which makes it difficult for Bob Help Them to stand out for players beyond the core target of puzzle fans.

I enjoyed Bob Help Them’s wholesome nature and the action/puzzle/time management dynamic is an interesting idea. Unfortunately, the gameplay is too simplistic for its own good. Every action is performed the exact same way, and the gameplay doesn’t evolve over the course of its thirty-five levels. You’ll do the same thing in level one that you do in level thirty-five. There’s just nothing to spice up the gameplay, and the only real challenge is time management. It’s not a bad way to spend a lunch break, but it’s difficult to not want something more from it.

A fairly cute and easy indie puzzle game that is designed to spend the player's time in a relaxing way.

Bob Help Them is likely not the right fit for fans of simulation games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons or Stardew Valley, but it could be good for those who enjoy quick, simple strategy games with easy puzzles. While the overall idea and gameplay objectives are cute and quirky, there is room for improvement if the developers decide to further expand the game in future update patches. Doing so could make Bob Help Them more appealing for its players, but for now, there's not much of a reason to engage with its charming but overly simplistic premise.

Bob Help Them! is a little game, with a lot of potential. I really liked the concept and feel of the game, it just didn’t have enough going on to keep me interested and it felt very repetitive.