Item: Day Repeat Day
Rating: 92
Author: Dinsun

Our Site Score

92/100

Day Repeat Day is a profound and unsettling experience disguised as a simple match-3 game. It subverts the entire genre by using the repetitive nature of match-3 puzzles as a metaphor for the daily grind of corporate life. You're hired for a job, you complete 'tasks' (the puzzles), and you try to maintain a personal life through text messages and calls. The brilliance is in how the game makes you feel the weight of your choices—spending too much energy on work tasks might alienate your family, while focusing on relationships might lead to professional stagnation.

The writing is sharp, satirical, and deeply human. It captures the 'monotony of the pointless' perfectly, making you actually dread the next match-3 session as the story progresses into more mature and darker themes. It's a rare mobile game that has something significant to say about the modern world, hierarchies, and the mistakes we make while trying to 'manage' our lives. It’s a stunning, intimate creation from Kimmo Factor that should be played by everyone, even if you typically hate match-3 games.

Reviewed on: Mon Mar 18 2024

Dinsun Review

Dinsun here. This one caught me off guard. It uses the most generic mechanic in mobile history—match-3—and uses it as a metaphor for the repetitive nature of a corporate job. It’s brilliant, actually. The story is told through a messaging app interface that feels uncomfortably real. It captures that feeling of trying to maintain a personal life while your 'productivity' is being monitored.

It’s not for everyone. If you’re playing games to escape your 9-to-5, this might hit a little too close to home. The match-3 parts are intentionally a bit tedious to reinforce the theme, which is a ballsy move. I appreciate a game that has something to say, even if the 'game' part of it is something I usually despise. It’s well-written, cynical, and grounded. I respect it immensely.

Overall Stats

Pros & Cons

Brilliant narrative integration
Relatable story
Great writing

Match-3 sections can be intentionally dull
Cynical tone may be off-putting
Limited replay value

Technical Report

Performance: Flawless performance; the chat-style UI is very responsive.

Accessibility:

Audience Fit

Buy if: You enjoy interactive fiction and stories that tackle real-world themes.

Skip if: You just want a fun, lighthearted match-3 game.

Similar Games:

Florence
A Normal Lost Phone

Reviewer Context

Reviewer: Dinsun, 40-year-old critical conservative gamer
Hardware: iPhone 15 Pro
Playtime: 6 hours
Status: Finished the story

The Game

Available on: iPhone, iPad, iPod

1553029497

$3.99 13+★4.5 54 reviews

Author : Kimmo Factor Oy

Pubish Date : Fri Mar 19 2021

Last Update Date : Mon Feb 05 2024

Support Languages : English

Genres :

Version 1.1.2Mon Feb 05 2024

Minor compatibility fixes (maybe actually fixed this time)
Day Repeat Day is an interactive story and a match-3 game that takes you through the years in a life of an average person. You're hired to do a job. You try to manage your relationships. But you're never really sure where it's all leading to. It's a story about living, the daily grind and what it all means in the end, topped with a sprinkle of satire and mysteries.
After doing a lot of action games, I wanted to do something much more intimate and personal and Day Repeat Day is what came of it.
Press:
- It takes some serious ingenuity to subvert a genre as entrenched as the mobile match-3 game, but somehow developer Kimmo Factor, probably most well-known for the awesome hack ‘n slash game Barbearian, has done exactly that - Game of the Week / Touch Arcade
- It turns out to be much, much more than this, than either genre, a whole, complicated and unique creation, that speaks truth about life, about work, about hierarchies and about mistakes. It’s stunning. - Kotaku
Requires iOS 12.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Day Repeat Day is an interactive story and a match-3 game that takes you through the years in a life of an average person. You're hired to do a job. You try to manage your relationships. But you're never really sure where it's all leading to. It's a story about living, the daily grind and what it all means in the end, topped with a sprinkle of satire and mysteries.
After doing a lot of action games, I wanted to do something much more intimate and personal and Day Repeat Day is what came of it.
Press:
- It takes some serious ingenuity to subvert a genre as entrenched as the mobile match-3 game, but somehow developer Kimmo Factor, probably most well-known for the awesome hack ‘n slash game Barbearian, has done exactly that - Game of the Week / Touch Arcade
- It turns out to be much, much more than this, than either genre, a whole, complicated and unique creation, that speaks truth about life, about work, about hierarchies and about mistakes. It’s stunning. - Kotaku

Ratings & Reviews

4.5 out of 5 with 54 Counts

★★★★★

Age Rating 13+

Day Repeat Day is an interactive story and a match-3 game that takes you through the years in the life of an average person. Manage your job tasks and personal relationships in a world filled with satire and mystery. It is a stunning, intimate look at the daily grind and what it all means in the end, subverting the typical mobile game loop to tell a personal story.

Features

Unique blend of story and match-3

Deep, branching narrative paths

Satirical take on corporate life

Intimate and personal storytelling

Tips

Balancing Work and Life

The choices you make in chat conversations often have more long-term impact than the match-3 puzzles. Think carefully before choosing 'Corporate' responses over personal ones.

Promotion Videos

Day Repeat Day: iOS Gameplay Walkthrough Part 1 (by Kimmo Factor / gimblll) - YouTube

Gameplays

Puzzle Settings

If you find the puzzles too easy or too distracting from the story, you can turn off 'move hinting' in the gameplay settings for a more focused experience.