Although 3D platformers typically go down the collectathon path to various success, it may be fascinating to see new entries within the style strive one thing a little bit completely different. SCHiM is one such recent title, eschewing a deal with cartoonish characters, wacky ranges, and mountains of issues to seize in favor of a semi-narratively pushed journey that simply gives a gorgeous, suave expertise. SCHiM might not be the sort of sport that’s ‘enjoyable’ in the best way that almost all different platformers are, however it’ll stick out as a memorable vibrant spot whenever you suppose again by means of the brand new releases you tried out this 12 months.
SCHiM’s story is instructed by means of a sequence of pantomimed cutscenes, leaving lots of room for interpretation. You start by enjoying as a shadow frog quietly following the adventures of a younger boy having fun with his childhood, and also you’re proper there with him as he quickly grows up and experiences the assorted joys and hardships of life. After the poor dude will get dumped and loses his job in a spherical of layoffs, you are immediately separated from him, leaving the younger man and not using a shadow. Thus begins your lengthy journey throughout the shadows of the world to make your method again to him.
SCHiM is greatest described as a 3D platformer, though that label is slightly simplistic given the mechanics right here. Your job is in the end to get your shadow frog to a purpose, akin to a cat or a baby’s bike, by repeatedly chaining jumps between shadows that type a tough path there. In the event you occur to overlook a soar and land within the gentle, you get a short grace interval and one additional soar to offer you an opportunity to achieve the closest shadow, in any other case, you’ll be despatched again to the final shadow you occupied to strive once more.
To spice issues up, you’re sometimes requested to unravel some gentle puzzles by interacting with the objects you possess. A faucet of the ‘Y’ button will set off the factor casting your shadow to do one thing, whether or not that be making a duck quack or a pedestrian yawn, and typically you’ll want to determine easy methods to trigger one thing to forged a shadow you should utilize. One degree duties you with making it to a particular flip sign at an intersection so you possibly can flip the sunshine inexperienced and hitch a journey on the shadow of a passing automotive. One other options a lot of development tools, and you have to increase forklifts and transfer flying drones round to maneuver and lengthen shadows into simply the precise sequence you can cross. These puzzles are by no means too difficult, however they introduce simply sufficient variation on the core gameplay to maintain issues fascinating.
The one actual draw back to this gameplay is that SCHiM doesn’t do an excellent job of speaking necessary info to the participant. For instance, you could be connected to the shadow on a child’s bike and suppose you’re making progress, solely to be immediately ripped out into the solar as a result of the child crossed an invisible barrier. It’s additionally by no means made clear to you precisely the place the checkpoints are in a degree, and deaths typically can have discouraging outcomes when your frog will get despatched again method farther than you thought it will. Such points don’t damage SCHiM outright, however they do make the expertise a little bit extra tedious and irritating than it must be.
And although this isn’t strictly a constructive or a unfavourable characteristic, SCHiM feels prefer it’s a little bit extra centered on its total aesthetics and ‘feeling’ slightly than on delivering compelling gameplay. The quiet and infrequently peaceable environments are pleasurable to discover and provide a pleasant ambiance, however the expertise you’ve when interacting with them is slightly stagnant as a result of the issue curve stays virtually fully flat and new concepts or stage gimmicks are few and much between. If nice moment-to-moment gameplay is the primary factor to draw you to a sport, then you could discover that SCHiM is a little bit lackluster. The main target right here is extra on aesthetics.
Typically this focus even impacts the gameplay, akin to how the digital camera generally is a little troublesome to work with in some scenes. You should use the shoulder buttons to get certainly one of 4 isometric viewpoints in your frog, however from time to time we encountered parts of a degree the place each viewpoint both was obscured by a constructing or didn’t give the clearest view of the potential shadows we may soar to subsequent. Such cases weren’t widespread sufficient to get in the best way of development, however they popped up simply typically sufficient to be noticeable—we might’ve most well-liked a digital camera system right here that gave a little bit extra management over its positioning.
For its graphics, SCHiM employs a beautiful two-tone artwork fashion that makes virtually each display a minimalistic visible deal with. Every degree makes use of a distinct main and accent coloration to assist differentiate its environments from its predecessors, whereas the contents are characterised by easy linework and many unfavourable area. Any lack of element within the fashions themselves are made up for with the graceful animation work, which actually brings every scene to life as pedestrians amble about and automobiles zoom down the road.
This straightforward artwork fashion is then matched by an equally chill instrumental soundtrack that employs a lot of piano notes and fundamental melodies in setting a calming and pleasant ambiance. It’s the sort of soundtrack that you just typically neglect is even there, however in a good method, as a result of it melds so completely with the overall vibe of every degree.
Conclusion
SCHiM is an fascinating and stress-free 3D platformer that makes nice use of its distinctive premise. Though its gameplay could also be a little bit fundamental and the digital camera can have some points, its beautiful artwork fashion and stress-free vibes make it an total worthwhile expertise. This isn’t one which we’d recommend you exit and choose up immediately, however when you’ve been in search of a 3D platformer that approaches the style in a notably completely different method from the remaining, that is the sport you’ve been in search of.