SCHiM is a platform game that will be released on 18 July 2024 on PC and Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. After previewing the extended demo, we now have the pleasure of writing a review of this unusual game, published by Extra Nice.
In SCHiM, you play as a schim, a creature that lives in the shadows of people and things and cannot live outside them for long. The schim form a bond with the shadow casters that gives them protection. Our particular protagonist, however, is separated from his master. Here begins our little schim’s odyssey to find his owner.
We will then have to plan our movements with our Schim in order to try to jump from shadow to shadow and reach our master. An operation that will turn out to be more difficult than we expected, because every time we get close to our human, something happens that will push us further and further away from him.
SCHiM: A long journey
SCHiM is a 3D platformer that requires planning in order to progress. In fact, in the demo we mentioned, planning was limited to choosing the best path by jumping from shadow to shadow. As you progress through the levels, the level of difficulty increases and requires good timing in choosing the right moment to jump from shadow to shadow.
As well as jumping, you will need to interact with the environment to create new shadows, such as turning off lights or dropping objects. In other cases, objects in the environment can be used to jump much further, bringing us closer to our elusive target.
Having said all this, SCHiM is very simple to play, and the progression is linear and fluid. Indeed, we found no dead ends where we had to start over. This makes SCHiM a game that is playable for everyone and, above all, not very frustrating.
One of SCHiM’s strengths is its unique monochrome art style, which emphasises the alternation of light and shadow. Monochrome graphics are not simply black and white or greyscale. Everything in the game is represented by a single colour, and objects have sharp black strokes outlining their shapes.
The environments we explore are mostly different urban settings, although they tend to be similar due to the use of the same assets.
What we liked about SCHiM was how the developers made a very simple title engaging and interesting. Above all, they were able to create lively and dynamic environments using only one colour per level. This clearly shows that video games need not have complex graphics and gameplay to be enjoyable.
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