We're about a month away from the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and boy, does that one month feel like fucking agony. To pass the time, I picked up a couple of games for me to beat until December 7th. One of these games was Nihilumbra.
BACKGROUND: I first learned about this game via the Steam store recommendations. I saw that it got a pretty significant markdown whenever there's a sale, so I put it on my wishlist in case I ever had cash to spare. The thing is, I never got around to buying it. A few months ago, I spotted Nihilumbra on the Switch eShop. I promptly removed the game from my Steam wishlist and put it up on my eShop wishlist. This time, though, I actually bought the game. PLOT: You control a being born from the Void, and the game revolves around its journey to experience the world beyond the nothingness it came from and resided in. The Void, however, doesn't take kindly to this, and chases you across the world, and destroys everything in its wake. Having played a ton of Hollow Knight, I'm no stranger to the "protagonist born from nothing" concept, so this story didn't really blow my mind. A disembodied voice speaks as you play through the game, explaining the lore or leaving some tidbits of philosophical musings. I get what they were going for here, but the narration could easily come off as pretentious for some people. I thought there were a few quote-worthy lines here and there, but overall, I don't have any strong feelings over the narration. PRESENTATION: The levels look beautiful with the painterly art style they decided to go with. They went with a more toned down palette overall, but there are splashes of bright color in many instances throughout the game. In contrast, your character and many of the enemies are pitch-black (with tinges of purple) and have a slightly more cartoony look to them. These elements together give Nihilumbra a distinct visual identity over other games. There's also a good amount of polish in terms of visual effects. Stuff like weather conditions, fire, and electricity look great and really stand out against the more reserved colors of the levels. Even the main character, despite its nature, has a bit of expressiveness to it, emoting or reacting to the environment on occasion (e.g. in the volcano level, you'll see the guy sweating). In the same vein as the visuals, the music is also more on the reserved side, going for more atmospheric tracks as opposed to grandiose pieces, though there are a couple of exceptions that you'll hear whenever shit gets intense. This game features a hefty amount of voice acting from the narrator, though you can turn it off if the talking distracts too much from the gameplay. Unfortunately, though, there's no way to truly get rid of the narration, as the game still displays it in text form as you progress. I really wish there were an option to turn it off, and I imagine other people who might find the narration pretentious will find this insufferable. GAMEPLAY: Nihilumbra is a simple puzzle platformer: run and jump to traverse and avoid danger, solve a puzzle to progress, rinse and repeat. What makes a puzzle platformer stand out from the crowd is its core mechanic, and Nihilumbra's involves color. As you explore the world, you'll come across flowers that will grant you a color ability. You can paint terrain with these colors, and each affects you or the environment in different ways. For example, painting the ground blue makes it slippery, allowing you to gain speed, move heavy blocks, or send enemies careening into a pit. These colors are essentially how you solve all the puzzles in the game, and understanding what these colors can do is the key to success. Despite having a primary function within the game, the colors have a remarkable amount of utility outside of that function. Take the previously mentioned blue, for example. I initially assumed it was exclusively for gaining speed to clear gaps, but the game surprised me with how much more you could do with it. I'm quite impressed with how creative they got with the mechanics, though I wish we got a couple more colors to play with other than the five you get in the game. Most of the puzzles aren't too difficult, and the game does a pretty good job of teaching you the mechanics of the colors or enemies when you first come across them. However, the narrator kind of ruins all of that, because oftentimes, he'll pretty much spell out what to do even though the level design is already pretty intuitive. It's not that big of a deal to me, but it does take away from the satisfaction of figuring a puzzle out, and will likely come across as overly hand-holdy for other players. Once you beat the main game, you unlock Void Mode. This allows you to go through the levels again in any order you choose, except the levels have been remixed with new puzzle elements and mechanics. They really push the envelope in this mode and give you levels that are much harder than what you encounter on your first playthrough. It's an extreme spike in difficulty compared to the main story, and unless you're looking for a challenge, I'll understand you not going out of your way to beat this mode. VERDICT: Though the story and narration could be much better, it doesn't take away from the fact that Nihilumbra is still a solid puzzle platforming experience. The main story is rather short, but the interesting mechanics and the presence of the more challenging Void Mode make it worth the trouble. This game's already pretty cheap, but it goes on sale a lot. If you're looking for some quick puzzle platformer goodness, Nihilumbra might be for you. I highly recommend playing it on something with a touch screen, though, as the painting mechanic feels a lot better with touch controls. In addition to the Switch, Nihilumbra is also on Wii U and PS Vita. You can also pick it up on the following platforms: - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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