Monochroma Reviews

This game is amazing! Beautiful visuals and music, and clever gameplay. One of the best puzzle platformers I've ever played. It keeps getting compared to Limbo, but I think I enjoyed Monochroma more. I just wish little brother was ... more helpful.

Monochroma has a lot going for it, interesting art style, cool puzzle platforming and an intriguing visual storytelling approach. Unfortunately, clunky gameplay and bugs hold it back from being a memorable experience. If you're interested in this kind of game, check out Limbo or Inside.

[b]Monochroma[/b] is one of the underrated and unfortunate titles of cinematic puzzle-platformer genre. Due to visual and mechanical similarities it is hard to not to compare it to [b]Playdead[/b]'s indie hit [b]Limbo[/b]. However, Monochroma offers more complex mechanics, musics and visuals that some of them were clearly inspired film noir movies as well as Schindler's List. Injured young brother mechanic offers different gameplay styles by letting player consider different movement speed and jump height. However, not being able to leave the young brother in the dark and not being able to go far away from him makes the mechanic a bit dull. It would be more thrilling and creative to provide a relative time limit of leaving him in the dark and/or alone which would create many possibilities. Current form creates invisible walls that I'm not fond of. Level variety is as satisfying as it can get; the game starts in rural environments; second chapter takes place in urban places; third chapter is located in manufacturing facilities and the final chapter let's protagonist to wander around classical furniture. Visual variety provided in second and at the end of third chapter is quite impressive. HOWEVER... As the game uses an early version of Unity engine which should be from Unity 4.x branch given the release date, controls in particular are not well optimized. Launch version of the game suffered from that problem which resulted low review scores; later on some of controls problems were fixed but it was already late. Honestly, controls are still not precise enough which is a shame. Let me give you a hint; [b]if you need to jump to pass an obstacle, wait until the edge of the platform you are on[/b], otherwise it is easy to misland. It looks like developers didn't have time to make some jumps more forgiving in order to compensate unoptimized controls. Ending of the game is probably the weakest part of entire experience; it feels rushed, unpolished and annoying. [spoiler]To avoid obvious spoilers, I can say transition between phases are mediocre at best.[/spoiler] That is probably the only portion of the game that frustrated me to the core... I wish the studio had more time to make the final scene better. As far as I know, during the development of the game, political turmoil in the country caused street riots some of them took place near the office of [b]Nowhere Studios[/b] in 2013; in fact employees were affected by tear gas in one point. That might explain clunky controls and tiresome ending due to production environment and time constrains but later updates left some of the issues mentioned unfixed. If you loved Limbo and looking for even more, Monochroma is a great title for you. But if you have concerns about controls, just wait for a sale, then grab it. Lastly, [b]Gevende[/b] composed original music of the title that can also be listened in [b]Spotify[/b]. https://open.spotify.com/album/3KQ7C2J7f6ZrF2c5G5y72k

Monochroma, a game which harkens back to sidescroller era and tries to offer modernized gameplay in sidescroller genre but the game has a major design flaw and that flaw is how the player is never introduced to the mechanics of the game. First few levels that act as "tutorial" have nothing of the sort explained what you're about to face in the game. So you have most of the time no idea what the hell you're supposed to do and most likely due to that, you will die quite a few times until you've just had enough and gonna go watch a walkthrough how to proceed forward from the section you're stuck at. I got this game cheap but I can't help but admit that it was waste of my money, since the game is very frustrating due to "die to proceed -> watch walkthrough -> die to proceed -> watch walkthrough". It's not impossible to make a game that is legitimately hard/unforgiving but also fun and passable/understandable. This game is not that since you're expected to do things you have no idea about. Game runs kinda smooth but it's sad to say that it also ignores the AMD framecap settings I'm trying to use and instead the game flies between 93-1000frames. Menus are usually ridiciolously high 600fps in this and the game is 93-170 which is quite annoying. Visuals are decent and not really anything that should be complained about. Audio has nice reverbation effects but the panning/spatialization on audio is certainly quite bad. Atleast when played on a pair of headphones, usually if a train forexample is coming from the right, the audio is on the very end of right side, making it sound odd and this is how it is with every piece of audio in this game, the spatialization is very bad. Game cannot be recommended since the sidescroller genre offers better games for the same price and offer more also value for your spent money.

The controls and gameplay are frustrating. Go buy INSIDE instead.

It's a shame that Monochroma ended up this way, as there are sparks of brilliance buried within. There is a real qualitiy to the sound and level design, which really add to the atmosphere and the puzzles could have been challenging with a little extra work. But the poor controls and the frequent frame-rate issues hamper this puzzle platformer. If you liked Limbo, do yourself a favor and go buy INSIDE instead. + Sound design + Atmospheric - Performance issues - Controls - More frustrating than challenging

Monochroma is a very interesting platformer. Without any story told, you will pickup your little brother and help him go through all the obstacles you are facing and escape from bad people. Pro: -Graphics: The graphics are REALLY good. I love the black'n white with hint of red style. Feels reqlly unique (despite this is not the first platformer who offer this, check out Limbo an excellent platformer). -Sound: The music is really good, feels like 1950's musics, with a bit a jazz, it is a good experience for your ears. -Puzzles: Puzzles feels rewarding when solved, almost all of them are well designed, there some that could use a visual hint or two (like the double lift, I was looking at the wrong solution for quite a long time, had to look up for the solution as I couldn't see it but just the one I was trying which at some point seemed possible). I tink sometimes visual hints to go backward could have been good. -Story: Despite being without any background, this is a success I think. You understand things one bit at a time, the background is the narrator. The story told here is not very big, it rely mostly on helping your brother. You get attached to that task. Cons: -Controls: Controls are sluggish at time. It is not that important except when you need to do timed jump, and at that time the game gets frustrating. The tutorial was not clear enough about the jumping system, as I was succeeding all my jump, I didn't give any thought at first, and then you are in a chase scene and you need to do thing fast and it is not well responding, then you start yelling at your jump. Specially on the achievement Conscience to save a robot from crushing under a press. Looked up a playthrough online, and the layout of the button was different from mine (perhaps a different build than the final one), You have to do some timed jumps and be very reactive, I was trying really hard for at least 15min, then doing more or less the same thing as before, the jump activated as wished and I was able to complete it. I should'nt stop you from completing the game but a bit of polishing on the control would have been good. -Bugs: I found some bugs, mostly collision, when that happens you are a bit in a bind as you have to restart the whole checkpoint, despite them being well spread it's still a bummer. To conlude: I finished the game in about 4h (a bit more with the achievement of the robot), found 9 out of 16 secrets (I will probably look up for info in order to get them all). Will you, like me, help your brother? I do hope so. I do recommend this game to people who like platformers (specially if you liked Limbo, this one should be in your taste). Luuna.

This is a lovely platformer with a great idea, solid execution which sets the mood right. It's similar in its execution to limbo gives more focus on logic and physics puzzles. Couple of pros anc cons: Pros: - Imaginative use of physics to solve puzzles - Chase scenes where you are trying to escape the foreman are quite well executed and built tension - If you die or get caught you will restart fairly close by so its not frustrating - Dull grey scenery is very well accented by reds and along with background music sets the mood Cons: - Controls can feel at times sluggish, this is mostly evident when you are trying to time a jump but you get used to it and overall not a big problem - The game does not try and hold your hand, you have to figure out how you can use the environment to your advantage. Not necessarily a con, just could have been handled/introduced a bit better. - Bugs! I've encountered a few and save for the last one on the very last level they are not blockers on making progress. That said on the last level I had to die and restart because the game simply did not position things right Overall, great game with some flaws. Still recommend a playthrough for people into platformers. 7/10

Alright, as a good friend of mine would say, this one is done and dusted. It took me around 4 hours to finish, although those of you who are platformer stars could finish this in 2 hours most likely. It is a beautiful game in the spirit of games like Limbo. Mostly black and white and grey, but with red highlighting special things and used to accent the striking world portrayed. Simply put, this game is stunning. The game is also fairly deep into the topics of slavery and forced labor, by way of an alien invasion kidnapping all the children. You and your brother try to evade capture in this crazy adventure. There is a bit of surrealism or what have you here as well. You leave home to play, and really never see your home again. The ending is one of hope and sacrifice. The controls for the gamepad handle quite nicely. I had no issues with clipping or any of the other issues that can plague games. In fact, as far as I could tell, it was perfectly optimized and free of bugs. It has a nice save system that auto saves at each juncture or before any challenging or significant event and also saves after getting past the same. That means that when you die (and you will likely die a lot), you never have to go too far back, and so even with the more challenging sections, it never feels like a chore. Speaking of challenges, this game was quite challenging IMO. Not that everything was, but I found that some of the puzzles could stretch the mind trying to find the solution. Still, with a 4 hour playtime, obviously nothing was insurmountable. In fact, I would say it was just right for the type of game that it is. All in all, this one is an easy recommendation. 8 children escaping the clutches of their alien overlords out of 10 possible. [code]If you found this review helpful and would be interested in supporting my Curator group, it would be appreciated. Cheers. https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32549618/[/code]

Monochroma's gameplay is punishing, but fails to be fun. It introduces an interesting mechanic in the carrying of another child which reduces your capacity to run and jump and requires you to set him down at times, but the mechanic isn't well utilized for much of the first part of the game. The level design forgos creativity in favor of tedium, stretches of mere walking, and long waits for level events or cutscenes that must be repeated after an error. Granted, I didn't make it through the whole game, which may eventually present compelling design, but I played well past my threshold for boredom until the game became tedious enough that I had to stop. I most enjoyed the music and I appreciated the overall aesthetic. The story finally picked up somewhat where I stopped playing, but it proved not enough motivation to keep trudging along. The game could use some general polish, but the fundamental platforming design is what really hurts it.