Last year, I had a stint where the only game I wanted to play was Art of Fauna<\/em>. The App Awards-winning mobile game is as simple as they come. It\u2019s a puzzle game where old paintings of animals are split up into strips and you need to reassemble them. It\u2019s a little collection of virtual jigsaw puzzles, but the lovely art, satisfying sound design, and wealth of educational context about each animal had me captivated.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This month, I\u2019m reliving that pleasant moment all over again. Developer Klemens Strasser is back with a quick follow-up called Art of Flora<\/em>, available now on iOS devices. It\u2019s the same game, but with drawings of plants and flowers instead of animals. What is new, though, is an even stronger emphasis on education that\u2019s making me even more curious about the natural world. It\u2019s the type of gentle, cozy game we could all use right about now, and it even works as a perfect chaser to Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia<\/em>‘s environmentalist themes.<\/p>\n Art of Flora <\/em>gives players over 100 puzzles to complete, with 10 available for free. All the pictures come from real historical drawings of plants made between the 16th and 19th century. They\u2019re gorgeous images that are a delight to reconstruct by dragging strips around and snapping them together.<\/p>\n Few puzzle games are as aesthetically pleasing, but it\u2019s not just because of the pictures themselves. You complete those puzzles to a peaceful soundscape as you can hear waves crashing on shores or birds chirping in the distance. Each time you drag a puzzle piece, you get a quick orchestral hit from a stringed instrument, forming a dynamic soundtrack. A little audio twinkle when you successfully join two pieces together gives the puzzle-solving just enough satisfying feedback to fire off some good juices in my brain.<\/p>\n As a guy who loves the serenity of a jigsaw puzzle, it\u2019s no surprise that Strasser\u2019s games would click with me. But what elevates Art of Flora<\/em> is its educational element. When I solve a puzzle, I can flip the picture over and read a quick description that\u2019s rich with good trivia. Did you know that water cabbages are banned across the EU because they\u2019re an invasive species that can deplete oxygen and block sunlight? Or that the fruit on a sandbox tree explodes when ripe enough and shoots out seeds at up to 250 kilometers per hour? I know that now, and you can bet that I\u2019ll break those facts out any chance I get.<\/p>\n On top of that, you can also see each plant\u2019s IUCN conservation status and view a map showing their native regions. And as a nice added touch, you can even read a biography of the real botanical illustrators who created the works. Little details like that build on the kind-hearted idea of Art of Fauna<\/em> and expand it into a more complete interactive museum exhibit.<\/p>\n There are plenty of other details I appreciate here. There\u2019s a major focus on accessibility, with an easier mode that\u2019s more geared towards young kids and dyslexia-friendly font options. You can turn off puzzles that may trigger common phobias like trypophobia. And if you decide to spend $10 to unlock all the puzzles, 20% of your purchase will be donated to nature conservation efforts, an incentive that helped earn Art of Fauna<\/em> the App Awards\u2019 Cultural Impact honor in 2025.<\/p>\n I appreciate what Strasser is doing with the series as a solo developer. Plenty of games touch on environmentalist themes, but it\u2019s great to see someone go one step further to turn a satisfying puzzle game into a pocket-sized field guide for all ages. If Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia<\/em>\u2019s environmentally-conscious story has you eager to learn more about the planet you live on, Art of Flora<\/em> makes for an unexpectedly wonderful complement.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/art-of-flora-puzzle.png?q=70&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1\")
\n <\/picture>Image:\u00a0Klemens Strasser<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n