A dark, forboding, eerily silent and industrial environmental awaits players in Nowhere Studio’s Monochroma. The tale revolves around two brothers. The younger sibling becomes hurt and the older, truly being his brother’s keeper, carries him on his back throughout most of the game. The brother can be put down on the ground but only in places well and directly lit by artificial light. Should you attempt to place him in the dark he will protest by shaking his head and clinging to you even tighter. The older brother is tasked with plenty of puzzles to solve as well as platforming. He can jump higher and move faster when unencumbered but he does better than most even when platforming for two.
Monochroma has an interesting world to discover and even a narrative despite having no dialogue. The environment is full of billboards that allow you to interpret the context and backstory. The brief pseudo-loading screens also contribute to the storytelling effort. The puzzles range from lever pulling, putting objects in a particular sequence to pulling off quick jumps after pulling pulling on a lever to catch an elevator before it’s out of reach. I enjoyed my time with Monochroma — sure, it was depressing and creepy at times but ultimately it was worth it.
Recommendation: Worth a buy on sale – well done puzzle platforming, no reason to go back
Full Disclosure: The Steam version of this game was provided to GameEnthus by the publisher.
Genre: action adventure
Developer: Nowhere Studios
Publisher: Nowhere Studios
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
Price: $19.99
http://monochromagame.com/Monochroma/indexEN.html
http://GameEnthus.com
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/gameenthus-podcast-video-games/id286435007?mt=2
Scale:
Worth a buy – paying full price for fans of the series or genre makes sense – often includes a caveat
Worth a buy on sale – not quite full price worthy but close, – often includes a caveat
No – borrow it if you must play it
Please no – Don’t waste any time and/or money on it
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