Developer: Gagonfe, Delta, Rhowsl
Publisher: Gagonfe
Platform: PC, Switch
Tested on: Switch
Colorful Colore – Review
Colorful Colore is a small indie game developed by Gagonfe, Delta, Rhowsl, a trio consisting of a game designer, a game artist, and a game musician. Together they have produced a number of small indie 8bit games over the past year. While both they and their games are fairly small names currently, one thing that can be said is they have received consistently positive reviews for the content and care of the games they have made. What can be said for their most recent release…?
Story
There is no story to be had in Colorful Colore, just a straightforward puzzle experience of getting from point A to point B, while taking the obstacles into account. And that is certainly not a critique. The game delivers exactly what it promises, a series of puzzles with increasing complexity, and sometimes that is exactly what we need to change things up for an hour.
Graphics
The block-based 8-bit artwork is quite impressive in its own way. Many games on the market utilize simple colors and art styles, providing disappointing and dull visuals as a result. However, Colorful Colore manages to use a simple color palette and a style reminiscent of early Super Mario Bros. without compromising on providing an aesthetic that shows how much care is put into the game.
Sound
The sounds of Colorful Colore are, simply put, pleasant. A gentle 8-bit melody accompanies the whole experience, with gentle sweeping and thumping noises to indicate the movement. Much like with the rest of the game, there isn’t a huge amount to say, besides the fact that everything that isn’t directly gameplay is a very soothing experience. The music also helps detract from the mild frustration of some of the later puzzles, while creating a gentle ambiance that keeps the player firmly in the game.
Gameplay
Colorful Colore is a Puzzle Labyrinth game, where your goal is to reach the exit while matching the right colors in the room and interacting with different mechanics. That’s the basic premise of the game. This is achieved by using the directional keys to commit to a direction (up, down, left, right). Once pressed, your little cube hurtles in that direction until hitting a solid surface, which needs to be the same color it is, or the cube breaks down and the level must be restarted.
As you progress through the levels, more mechanics are added with increasing complexity and scale. While all very simple ideas, they are well designed and interact nicely to create a suitable challenge. These include color-changing points, gate and key components, teleporting points, and directional boosters. Together these create intricate and engaging puzzles that we wish went past level 50!
The only issue with Colorful Colore, is its length. Upon completion, it feels like too short an experience. The player could have kept going for so much longer. We can only hope that the future brings more puzzles, more colors, different settings, challenge modes, or even a “build your own labyrinth” feature. There is a lot of promise for this little gem.
Conclusion
Colorful Colore is a game that, in all honesty, no player has an excuse not to have. The visuals are simple, bold and pleasing. The sounds are soothing and stay in your head all day after playing and the gameplay is well designed and suitably challenging. For such a small cost as well, the game is well worth the purchase simply for a change of pace and an hour’s distraction. We just hope there are future content updates for this game, or other small improvements to lengthen the fun experience. If not, we can only hope for a sequel with a lot more substance.
Colorful Colore - Review,
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