A tiny lo-fi picross game about two young witches who learn magic — and maybe something about each other — one puzzle at a time. We played it cover to cover, and honestly? It's a lovely evening.
Imagine a picross app and a bite-sized visual novel held hands and became one small, extremely soft game. That's Charm Studies.
You play as Cassia, a well-meaning disaster of a witch who is failing charms class. Her school arranges a tutor: Senna, top of the class and about as warm as a January morning in Donegal. Every charm you learn is a picross puzzle — solve the grid, cast the spell, nudge the story forward.
The whole thing is wrapped in a chill lo-fi soundtrack and pastel storybook art. There's no fail state — mistakes are unlimited, the timer can be switched off, and nothing ever shouts at you. It's the rare puzzle game that genuinely wants you to relax.
One sitting or two is all it asks. The story runs about 8,000 words, the puzzles ramp gently from 5×5 to 15×15, and there's a sweet little epilogue waiting at the end for people who finish things.
"wait… which numbers go where??"
the airhead with a good heart (that's you)
Enthusiasm: endless. Study skills: missing, presumed lost. Cassia keeps flunking charms not because she doesn't care, but because nobody ever showed her how to learn. Watching her figure that out is quietly the best part of the game.
"that is not how you hold a wand."
the tutor who did not sign up for this
Brilliant, blunt, and allergic to small talk. Senna's tutoring style is roughly "be better". But keep solving puzzles together and the frost starts melting in ways that feel earned, not scripted. Their chemistry carries the whole story — you genuinely root for both of them.
Picross (a.k.a. nonograms) works like this: the numbers tell you how many cells in each row and column get filled in, in that order, with at least one gap between groups. Fill the right ones and a tiny pixel picture appears.
That's the entire skill ceiling. Charm Studies teaches it gently in-game with proper instructions, three difficulty levels, and unlimited mistakes — so if the grid on the right feels doable, the game absolutely is.
Go on — tap the cells. The clues spell out something appropriately charming. ✦
from 1,430 ratings · 50,000+ downloads
Figures from the Google Play listing as of July 2026. Quotes below are lightly trimmed from public player reviews there.
"Short, sweet, and cute. Very easy for people who played other picross games, but a good entry point for those who haven't."
Cathiryn · 5★
"The game can be finished in a few hours as you root for both characters. If you don't know picross, there are instructions enclosed."
E. · 5★
"The lo-fi music was relaxing, the visuals were so cute, the picross was fun, and the epilogue was a pretty satisfying ending."
M. · 4★
"You can turn off the timer and solve puzzles at your own pace with lo-fi beats in the background. No ads interrupting. Easily 5 stars."
A. · 5★
The honest bit: the 15×15 grids can feel fiddly on smaller phones — cells get tiny and the d-pad is a touch slow, and a few players report lag on the biggest puzzles. It's the one recurring gripe in reviews, and we noticed it too. Everything before that is smooth sailing.