RikkiUW

September '19 Play Log II

Just one more for September unfortunately. I’m currently playing Prey and was hoping to beat it y the end of September it but I’m taking my time and trying to complete all side quests so that didn’t happen.


Contrast

Contrast

9/10
4 hours playtime

Absolutely loved this game. The unique concept works very well, and I thoroughly enjoyed it despite normally not liking (or being good at) platformers. I’d love to see a sequel to this game. I did have a number of criticisms, but they were all relatively minor and I enjoyed the game in spite of them. Highly recommend.

Pros:

  • The entering and leaving shadows to solve puzzles mechanic works very well
  • The collectable luminaries (some of which are needed to solve puzzles) are sometimes easily accessible, and sometimes more challenging. This means you can just go after the easy ones if you want, or you can try for the (slightly) more difficult ones
  • The story-related collectables are never hidden too well, so as long as you explore you’ll likely find them all
  • The puzzles start off easy and get harder at a comfortable rate
  • The 50’s Vaudville art style looks brilliant and suits the atmosphere perfectly
  • The soundtrack is amazing

Cons:

  • The controls outside of shadows could have been better, it sometimes felt a bit too unpredictable where you’d jump
  • For the most part the shadow controls worked well, but the third chapter could have used more polish. There were some areas I consistently was booted out of the shadow world for no obvious reason.
  • I didn’t come across any luminaries that I couldn’t figure out how to get to fairly easily. They could have done with adding some more challenging ones.
  • The third chapter came on much stronger in terms of story than the others, so it felt a bit out of balance. The first two you’re wondering what’s going on with the shadows, why can you enter them, why can no one see you, etc, but the story or collectables never address it. Then in chapter three suddenly it’s all about that. I think those sorts of questions should have been at least hinted at more gradually. If it had been extended over a fourth chapter it likely would have been ideal.
  • The ending leaves you with a lot of questions. Granted this is intentional, but it’s not a case of it being open to interpretation. Even if you really consider everything in the game and think about it you’re still going to be left with some questions, or at least uncertainty. To a certain extent this is a good thing, but personally I would have preferred it to be a tiny bit clearer (unless it was intended for a sequel of course).

Verdict: 9/10

I absolutely loved this game. The ending could have been better; specifically it would have benefited from being stretched out over an additional chapter. If anyone is on the fence about getting/playing it I highly recommend it though.


Recent Acquisitions


Goals

Looks like I’ll only be able to achieve 2 of my 3 goals for the year :(.
70% beaten SG wins ratio: I’m at 66% now. If I can continue to beat 2 per month I should be able to achieve this without issue.
Max 30 40 Wishlist Unplayed games: This one was a complete disaster. I’m currently at 52, including Prey which I’ve yet to beat. The issue is that I’m growing this list at least as fast as I can shrink it, sometimes faster. Perhaps I’ve spread my self too thin goal wise.
Much fewer (55) abandoned games: Once I’ve beaten Prey I’ll be down to 55, but once I pick up another game I’ll be back up to 56. So I’m really close here. If I’m really good I may even be able to get to 50. That’ll be a stretch though considering fewer and fewer of the remaining games have a lower number of hours left.

Vito

Oh yeah, Contrast is a really spectacular game in my opinion too. It’s super atmospheric and the shadow mechanic is a lot of fun. Maybe I’ve got to replay the game sometime, I’ve forgotten quite a bit of the story already.

Good luck with your goals, I’m working on getting my abandoned games down as well…it’s very satisfying!

RikkiUW

Thanks! It is satisfying to see the ‘unfinished’ number drop, and to get back to some really good games. Personally I’m not one for replaying though. That said, I just beat Prey and I do want to do another run at some point, though probably not any time soon.

JaffaCaffa

Nice to hear you enjoyed Contrast! I’ve heard almost entirely meh reviews over the years, made me lower my expectations a lot but I, too, thought it was amazing the bee’s knees. Every time I see someone play it get the urge to get back into the world, would love to see more games with a similar setting.

Congrats on your goals progress, 2 outta 3 ain’t too shabby at all!

RikkiUW

Thanks! Yeah the only other review I noticed on here for Contrast was meh, which surprised me given how good it looked. I’m surprised it’s not more popular.
Edit: Just found another meh review :(

JaffaCaffa

The reviews on steam were Mixed at the time I played, so hopefully the ‘very positive’ reviews now will help get people remotely interested to at least give it a try. I nearly wrote it off despite being hyped for it prior to release.

I thankfully didn’t have as many issues with the controls as others did though, there was only the one jumping on carousel shadows puzzle that really wasn’t working for me but when I logged off and tried again the next day got it first try easily (idk why so wonky before). Anyways nice in-depth review. :)

RikkiUW

Yeah, that was a tough one for me too.