SpreadCheat Review

How you feel about the high concept of SpreadCheat will say a lot about you as a person. I was personally very excited and intrigued to check out a game designed in a 90s Windows OS aesthetic, featuring spreadsheet-themed puzzles because I’m that kind of nerd. I’m a software engineer by day, and not everyone gets it when I explain that I derive a lot of the same joy from coding as I do from playing video games. So I understand that the concept behind SpreadCheat may not be for everyone, but I could already imagine myself digging into formulas and hunting down the right cell to resolve the big picture.

SpreadCheat in Action

While SpreadCheat, developed by Games People Play, is what it claims to be (a puzzle game about spreadsheets), the spreadsheetness of it all fell a little short from what I had hoped it would be. In essence, the gameplay was exactly what you would think: you’re given a table of cells, some of which are filled, some of which are tied to specific formulas. To solve the puzzle, you have to input the correct data and formulas into the rest of the cells to reach a given total. For fans of Sudoku, the SpreadCheat puzzle solving-experience is going to be very similar. My little number-loving heart fell a little bit when I discovered that you’re limited to 3×2 grids of cells throughout the game, which just doesn’t provide the same experience as digging into an entire sheet. 

On top of the puzzle boards themselves being quite small, the game is also fairly short. There are about 20 levels, and I found I was completing just about all of them in under 5 minutes, though most in about 2 minutes. About halfway through, I told myself that the later levels would surely increase in difficulty. Unfortunately that didn’t really manifest either. Although some levels were more difficult, it didn’t feel like the challenge was tied into the game progression. I also found it very easy to (sometimes accidentally) brute force the solutions, since grids of cells were so small and there were typically only 2-4 options for values or formulas to populate into the open spaces. Overall, I still love the core concept of the game, I just wish there had been more and that the base difficulty level offered a bit more challenge.

My desires for Windows 93-coded, deeply blocky and pixelated vibes were fulfilled in spades. My hopes for getting elbows deep in cell-based shenanigans sadly weren’t fully realized.

A blast to the past

I discovered some of the most clever moments of the game in between puzzles. Believe it or not, there is a plot that ties all of the spreadsheeting together. You’ve just joined as a new hire at Brocorp. Your boss is basically a walking LinkedIn grid culture think piece of a human being, who defies all understanding of bodily proportions. He quickly begins to reveal that your job isn’t just to make the numbers add up, they need to speak HIS truth.

In addition to working the spreadsheets, he also has a variety of other 90s-coded computer tasks that need sorting out, like closing all the pop-ups on his virus-riddled computer and putting together a super rad PowerPoint with a gradient background and catchy text transitions. All of these minigames oozed nostalgia. And your boss is the absolute perfect target to direct your rage over Corporate America’s greedy and unethical practices. A perfect villain who you’ll love to hate.

SpreadCheat Trailer

All in all, I think I brought some really specific hopes and expectations to SpreadCheat. My desires for Windows 93-coded, deeply blocky and pixelated vibes were fulfilled in spades. My hopes for getting elbows deep in cell-based shenanigans sadly weren’t fully realized. While I can see the essence of these expectations fulfilled in the gameplay, I truly just wanted more of all of it. It seems there will be a daily challenge, which I look forward to checking out. I would love to see a sequel one day, with larger puzzle grids and more nostalgia-packed minigames. Hopefully my fellow spreadsheet sickos will check out SpreadCheat and maybe we can manifest this ultimate number crunching puzzle experience into existence one day. 

No Small Games was provided with a review key of SpreadCheat by Games People Play

About No Small Games

No Small Games is an indie game recap and review podcast brought to you by hosts Kate and Emily! They became friends while streaming on Twitch and bonded over their love of indie video games. In each episode of No Small Games, the two will discuss an indie game they both played independently. They’ll compare their experiences: the good, the bad, their most memorable moments of their playthroughs.

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