There is no particular story behind my choice to play GNOG.
I redeemed it as part of the Epic Games weekly event, where for a week it is redeemable at no cost.

One of the first 10-15 games I redeemed at the beginning of the initiative, in 2019, which I believe was less than six months old. However, my memory and notes may betray me (as always).

Considering that I love puzzles, weird and surreal things, casual games and colors, I really couldn't help but see what it was like.
And I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised!

In GNOG you will explore beautiful, puzzle-filled monster heads: inside each one reigns a world that tells an adventurous story!

With its colorful and surreal designs, GNOG will entertain you by making you interact with every single element, in order to solve all the puzzles.

Note: The game is very surreal and does not have a structured story or narrative thread that progresses. They are simply areas in which to solve puzzles.

GNOG is a world of bright and neon colors, with "all-in-one" puzzle boxes to solve, similar to original dioramas. Each box is different: different shape, different theme, different colors, different music and sounds, different puzzles.
Everything is done in an extremely low-poly and essential 3D, yet extremely rich in details and design. Each element can be reduced to simple geometric shapes (whether 2D or 3D), combined together to create more complex designs and objects, so people and animals: squares, circles, cylinders and so on.

Despite its simplicity, GNOG is visually bizarre and stimulating, and exploring each "head" will feed your curiosity, pushing you to devour level after level just to see what each one looks like!

In GNOG, your exploration is very similar in ways to what you would have in the real world with sensory toys and objects (like those for children, for example), in fact the game description reads: prod, push, pull, twist, grab, press, insert and even more to solve the puzzles.

There are a total of 9 levels, where each one represents a "monster head" and is presented just like "a face with a world inside it".

And it's true!

When the "head" is presented to us, at the precise moment in which we manage to open its back, we'll be greeted by a funny and at times almost excessively colorful scene, similar to a diorama and full of ingenious little puzzles to interact with.

The goal is to solve all the puzzles, advance the scene, and see its ending.

But be careful: the game is easy enough for everyone, but that doesn't mean it's all extremely linear. On the contrary, there are at least some puzzles that will ask you to pick up small details or understand a mechanism that you have to balance to solve them.
Since the puzzles are very different from each other, each one has new or almost new mechanics compared to the others, so there's not much way to familiarize yourself with precise mechanisms.
Each "head" is a new adventure.

One of the things I liked the most is that each head/box is a separate micro story/micro adventure. They are not connected in any way to each other and they manage to be quite funny, also considering the very essential graphic style on one hand and hyper-detailed on the other, but not for this neglected or chaotic. Except when they wanted it to seem so, of course!
A style that, as we have already said, is perfectly suited to the context.

Honestly, I would have liked to continue for much longer.
Nine levels is a great number, but when a game ends up being so much fun, even double the levels would still have been too few!

GNOG is a great way to pass the time, even between more challenging games or while traveling in downtime, if you have an iPad or a Steam Deck (and I recommend headphones if you have one).

In my very humble opinion, the music is at least half the game, although I wouldn't label it as a "music game" at all, because obviously it isn't.

Each box has its own background music, very lively while remaining relaxing and able to keep the time spent solving the puzzles very light and serene. It manages to emphasize the "random" aspect of the game well in a positive sense.
Once all the puzzles are solved, the theme goes from being a looping accompaniment to a short more complex/complete version, with a choreography of the complete scene/diorama.

However, even though the music is background, it often reacts to the progression of the puzzles. It is not fixed on rails, but is connected to the gameplay, however superficially.

In all honesty, GNOG is another game that I wish had a separate soundtrack that I could listen to, whether it was in-game or purchased as DLC, regardless of whether they were the exact same tracks or full/extended versions.

GNOG is a fantastic, bizarre game with lots of surreal elements, with beautiful music, suitable for all ages, from children to adults and therefore interesting to do together as a family activity. Having it available on iPad makes things even more approachable: the puzzles lend themselves very well to interaction via the screen.

The graphic style is original and the experience is perfect for a moment of pause or to start the evening with a bit of lazy gaming, before moving on to more serious things.