Platform: PC
Genre: Puzzle Platformer, Artistics
Gameplay Stats: 4 hours played, 100% Steam Achievements
I can't think of a preface, so let's jump right in!
Gameplay: The gameplay is put first here because I think it kind of colors how I'll be able to describe the rest of the game. The main gameplay premise is that your character, Dawn, can shift in and out of the shadows. While in the shadows the game operates as a 2D platformer, while outside of the shadows the platforming is 3D. The switch is done as the push of a button while you are next to a wall. I think this small necessity makes the game lack a lot in terms of what the vision could have been. If you could have morphed into the wall from varying distances that affected the size of your character's shadow on the wall it could have been marvelously inventive. The puzzles could have been amazing! As it stands though, the puzzling and the platforming was not particularly inventive. The concept of moving light sources to affect your platforming surfaces on the wall was very well done and very interesting, but after you got your puzzle solved of setting the platforms, the actual platforming felt more like a chore than a triumph. Often your character will leave the 2D plane for seemingly no reason and will jump into oblivion. Also, many of the surfaces are slippery, reminiscent of Limbo. This is absolutely not a precision platformer. Sometimes mashing the jump button while moving a certain direction can break the physics, leading to more than a couple places where you can essentially double jump, an action not intentionally included.
Visual: The visuals in Contrast are what really make the game stand out. The visuals are kind of surreal and have a very stylized way of representing the world. There is a lot of play of light/dark as you'd expect and that aspect is done very well. Some of the story is done by way of shadow puppeting on the walls that serve as platforms to find collection items that I thought was spectacularly done. The feel of the game reminded me a lot of a favorite movie of mine, Mirrormask, which was great. I can't say enough about this aspect of the game.
Audio: The music in this game is great! When they decide to give you music. There are several sections with no background audio included. I'm not sure if I was experiencing a bug, or if this was intentional, but I disliked that aspect greatly. It was such a start contrast to the beautiful jazz included in many other parts of the game that I found it almost distracting. The voice acting is okay as well. There in inflection used by the actors, but the story they are working with is not spectacular...
Story: The story in this game is absolutely terrible. The writing is done in such a way as to completely avoid any subtlety or finesse. It seems like it was either written bya new writer that still needs time to refine his craft, or by someone who is not a writer by trade. Additionally, the story seemed tacked on. It was largely unnecessary and only seemed to give a mild reason to be doing the puzzling and platforming included.
Overall: I have a lot of very mixed feelings about this game. The concept is great! The 3D puzzling leading to 2D platforming idea is really very interesting. Some of what this game does with it is great, but a lot of it is pretty lackluster. This game feels rushed in everything except the visual design. If the game had some more time in development, I think it really could have been great. As it stands though, I'd have a hard time recommending it. There is so much potential here, but it is largely squandered. This game might have some interesting ideas in the game design realm, but unless you are as interested in that as I am, I'd probably say skip this game. That being said, I'm definitely interested to follow this development studio to see what they are capable of on their next project. 6.5/10
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