Steam Gaming - Squeakross: Home Squeak Home

Posted on January 13, 2026 by Aywren

I’d never played a Picross game before I played Squeakross, but now I’m absolutely hooked. And probably spoiled, too, by the looks of it. I’m not sure if there’s another game out there that merges so many lovely elements together to make such an exceptional and addictive experience.

First, I love pet rats. Second, I love cozy games that allow you to customize a character and build a home around them. Squeakross successfully blends those elements together with a Picross puzzle game that rewards you for each puzzle you complete.

This was a gift game from a friend who knows I love my rats and my cozy. She saw the game on my Wishlist and picked it as a holiday gift on Steam for me. I loaded it on my Steam Deck, where I’ve been playing it primarily (aside from a few runs on my PC to take screenshots for this post). And while it’s a little quirky on the Deck, it’s a fantastic game to dip in an out very casually, which is perfect for the Deck platform.

In Squeakross, you customize your own little rat who aspires to be a home owner. You then complete Picross puzzles that unlock pieces of furniture, which you can add to your rat’s house, and also accessories that you can dress your rat up in.

Along the way, you also get emails that provide interesting facts about rats and help support actual rats in a real-life rat shelter. I was so moved by this that I’ve begun donating to Rat Way Sanctuary, based off their needs on their Amazon Wish List.

As you progress through finishing pages of puzzles, you can also unlock stickers, which allow you to customize things like the intro and puzzle screens. And once you have a strong grasp on basic puzzles, you can try the advanced puzzles which allow you to unlock color variations of the items you’ve already won.

It looks like eventually, you can unlock several rooms to add on to your house, as well, which you can then decorate however you see fit.

As a person who was completely new to Picross – having never played before in any form – this game taught me the ropes and helped to guide me through with extremely intuitive features. If I ever do get stuck, I can ask my rat for clues on what I’ve done wrong or what to do next. You can turn these guiding features on and off as you need, so if you want more challenge, you can have it.

For someone who is not normally a numbers person, I was surprised at how quickly I caught on to the game. Logic is really key here, figuring things out by what can be excluded over time. There’s something addictive to simply completing the puzzles for me, even if I didn’t get a furniture reward. But the fact that I can improve my little rat’s house and wardrobe on top of working through the puzzle is just extra.

Are there any other games out there like this? I feel like since this was my first Picross game, I’ve been spoiled for any other. Either way, it’ll be a sad day when I actually finish this one as I’ve enjoyed just settling down and knocking out a few puzzles here and there when time permits!

If you are interested in trying this game out, I absolutely suggest going for it. Especially if you find it on sale!

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