D-Topia, developed by Marumittu Games and published by Annapurna Interactive, is a cozy puzzle adventure title that aims to deliver you unto utopia, one centuries in the making that strives toward the perfect system. And of course, nothing could be better than having AI as the backbone of this perfect system, to ensure happiness is achieved for the greatest number of residents. Your role in the project is one of a Facilitator, someone with knowledge of repairing service droids (T-droids) and… hearts?

That’s right, your role in D-Topia is multifaceted. During the day, you work at the factory as many residents do. You will perform repetitive labour which takes the form of a series of puzzles for you to solve. You can work through your assignments or earn an increased payout of U-points (the in-game currency) by tackling a couple extra puzzles beyond your daily quota. While there are not too many uses for U-Points, you will get hungry in the afternoon so purchasing and then consuming food can calm a grumbling stomach, or you can purchase new furnishings for your domicile to start making it feel like a home. After work is when the role of the Facilitator truly begins. You have the option to freely roam D-Topia and fix any serviceable T-Droids by accessing them through the ‘Block Side’, a world unseen to your average D-Topian, which almost functions like a place where time is frozen and you can alter reality in the background. Since repairing these droids uses the exact same puzzle interface as your factory job, these mechanics end up representing a sizable chunk of the overall gameplay. Alongside repairs, your primary task is to speak with the residents, hear about their problems, and assist in a way that aligns with the regulations of your newfound paradise.

But what problems could possibly arise in a perfect world? Well, it turns out that for a place operating in black and white, there’s plenty of space for grey. Interesting dilemmas of morality and ethics present themselves as you begin to learn more about your neighbors. From an introvert who doesn’t seem to fit in and risks being kicked out of paradise to a resident foodie struggling with behavioral implants, there’s a wide variety of characters with increasingly interesting dilemmas to assist however you see fit.

When you reach a crossroads with any resident's problem, your character, Shiro, will escape into his own thoughts for a ‘Brain Meeting’. The world around him falls away into a stark white void where you map out a logic flowchart. By answering a series of yes-or-no prompts using the information you have gathered, you help Shiro deduce a fitting solution. While most options I chose supported what I would consider a ‘good’ outcome, some choices carry drastic consequences where lives could hang in the balance, leaving me wondering just how different my experience could have been.

D-Topia's pristine futuristic minimalism creates a gorgeous environment in which to calmly go about your day. You’ll find resting spots scattered throughout D-Topia where you can sit and the camera will pan out and showcase the environment and residents living their own lives. I took so many screenshots while playing D-Topia thinking they would make a lovely desktop wallpaper.

What is less idyllic is the ‘Block Side’, the side that shows the reality that the other residents are unaware of. The pristine and futuristic world that every other resident experiences is nothing more than wool pulled over their eyes. You go to the ‘Block Side’ by locating one of many terminals only you have access to and initiating the switching of visual information delivered to you alone. You’re essentially stripping away the outer shell of the world and getting access to all the inner mechanics, and this is where your role as a repair engineer takes place. With this, you have essentially two worlds to explore, and you will be going between them often if you want to find all of D-Topia’s secrets.

The game runs as smooth as the polished marble D-Topia emulates and looks phenomenal with its artistic style on Switch 2. Its music, calm and atmospheric, changes between the perceived world and the Block Side, with the Block Side sounding like you’re putting your ear next to a home’s portable AC unit.

I really enjoyed the characters I met and the narrative being told in D-Topia. While my gripes are only minor, there were a few instances where I felt like Shiro’s responses were colder than my actions supported. The puzzles themselves are clean, 2D logic grids that drip the smallest amount of dopamine with every solve. You will start with simple pathfinding mazes where you'll need to collect tokens to reach a specific 'exit stage' value. And while they do increase in complexity from there, very few puzzles on the main path ever become truly challenging. You can uncover a handful of difficult, optional puzzles by tracking down certain secrets, but there simply are not enough of them. I can respect that overly complicated puzzles might have slowed down the pacing of the game, but it would have been nice to unlock a larger suite of these brain-teasers on Shiro’s home computer upon completing the story, as they are inherently satisfying.

D-Topia paints a compelling picture of an increasingly plausible future for humanity. In an era where AI is being aggressively forced upon us by tech companies looking to make a quick buck, this game serves as a brilliant reminder that algorithms alone cannot solve nuanced human problems. It is a deceptively serene adventure that proves true utopia still requires a human heart.