Contrast, features one of the most enjoyable concepts I’ve played in a while. It is a puzzle/platform game from Compulsion Games. It revolves around the use of light and shadows to solve the games puzzles. You play as Dawn, a friend of a young girl named Didi, as she tried to solve the problems that her father has, and fix her dysfunctional family.
You can see Didi and she can see you, but no one else can see you, and you see everyone else as only shadows on the wall. It is very strange to see stories develop through the use of shadows, and it is definitely intriguing. And the voice actors to a great job at telling the story in this fashion, every time the story was unfolding I was engrossed in what was going on, and it fits the noir atmosphere perfectly. Hats off must be given to the visual department for creating scenes that drew me in.
You are a silent character, helping Didi through the levels and her story. The puzzles come in to play when things need to be fixed or areas need to be reached to get to the next objective. And here is where Contrast comes in to its own. Dawn can occupy the 3D world in a third person perspective. But, as long as there is light, she can occupy the 2D world as a shadow on the wall. And it is in the latter state that the majority of the games puzzles are solved. You are able to take items in and out of the shadow world with you aswell to get them to previously unreachable areas. Sometimes you are required to move a light to create the walkway in the shadows yourself. Some of the puzzle designs are overly simple at times, and others are fantastically designed. There is one section of the game, which seems to draw inspiration from XBLA hit Limbo. It’s more of a platforming section rather and puzzler but it was one of the highlights of the game for me.
Such is the nature of the game the levels are devoid of any other character except for Dawn and Didi, and because of that, they do feel dead. That may come across as a negative, but, it fits the nature of the game. You’re not meant to see others. I would have liked if music/voiceovers could be heard from a distance as you start to approach things rather than just in a cutscene mind you.
This is a short game, lasting only a few hours, and it’s nothing fantastic graphically, in fact at times in looks a bit dated, but the gameplay, pick up and playability and artistic style save it easily. This unique and quirky game should definitely be on your radar if you are a fan of the type of game it is. It’s use of lighting and shadows are a joy at times, and with the ending leaving a cliffhanger, I’ll be sure to look out of any future instalments of this promising series.
