Review for Semblance. Game for PC, Mac and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 24/07/2018
A little over a month ago, our team went to Los Angeles for the annual fair dedicated to electronic entertainment: E3 2018. In the large number of previews and specials made, we have also brought you a very interesting list of indie games tested: among these, there was also Semblance, a puzzle platform. During the event, as you can read yourself, the developer Nyamakop had defined his game as "the only true platform game ever made". Do you think he's a conceited type? No, it is not at all.
The term "platform game" implies that it is a work in which we move from one platform to another. Semblance, however, is not satisfied with this preconception and decides to change the cards on the table with a very simple but also very effective idea: platforms will no longer dictate our possibilities of movement, but we will adapt them to our needs.
What does it mean? It is easy to say: we can hit most of the game environment to warp it. Here, then, is that a horizontal platform is folded up to have a higher point from which to jump and reach our prize. Or, a laser blocks our way and we tilt it hitting the surface on which it is anchored, so as to create a safe passage for us.
The protagonist of Semblance, a rectangular creature with a very simple design, has limited capabilities: a simple jump, a powerful shot useful for deforming the environment and covering great distances, and a release of energy that makes the platforms return to their original shape. Through these moves we will have to explore three worlds corrupted by a "crystal plague" that is able to kill us with simple contact. Each world is divided into levels, within which we will have to recover globes of energy capable of healing the environment and the creatures that populate it. Each globe, in practice, is "defended" by an enigma.
The game structure is open, so we can tackle the levels in the order we prefer: obviously the game suggests the best sequence to be able to learn all the tricks necessary to advance. About this, Semblance manages to fine-tune the difficulty curve: it never happens to find yourself disoriented and any previously learned strategy will be useful as you advance. Each world adds new mechanics that will merge with the previous ones.
The open structure, therefore, will prove to be advantageous in case you find yourself stuck with a puzzle: instead of banging your head in frustration, you can go further and come back later. An unlikely situation, in any case, both for the aforementioned difficulty curve but also and above all because the work is never too complex. Although a minimum of attention and reasoning is required, it will not take more than a few minutes to solve each challenge.
Semblance, let's repeat it, is a puzzle platform: which of the two components is predominant, you are wondering? Surely the first: although there are sequences in which it is essential to act with the right timing, mostly we will have to understand how to exploit the environment. The less accustomed to the subtleties of platformers, therefore, will not risk being stuck due to lack of manual skill. Only in the final area does the work allow itself some stages more as a platform than a puzzle game: in these moments we will risk dying countless times but luckily the automatic checkpoint system will come to our rescue.
Our little creature, touching the crystals or laser beams, will explode like the saddest of balloons, but will instantly return to the starting point of the riddle we are facing. The changes we have made on the environment, however, will not be canceled, consequently death does not punish the player in any way. Considering also the instantaneousness of the restart, we can assure that the work never expires in frustration.
Semblance, therefore, turns out to be a very fluid work with a never too high level of challenge. The journey within the game is also punctuated by a very simple narrative, which we can discover through a series of graffiti scattered throughout the levels. Nothing deep or particularly interesting, but it is adequate for the minimalist tone of the work. Minimalism is also the staple of graphics: as you can see from the images, Semblance adopts a 2D style with few colors and few shades from area to area. The extreme cleanliness makes "visual exploration" of the levels very simple.
Artistically, the work is enjoyable and, given its indie nature, proportionate to the developer's production possibilities; however, we admit that a little more variety wouldn't have hurt. Even from the sound point of view it could have been done better: the music and the effects work, but they do not remain impressed in any way.
Small forgivable limits, for sure, unlike longevity: the work ends in about three hours. It offers some collectibles that, however, add nothing to the narrative or the game mechanics: replayability, therefore, is poor unless you are an inveterate completist. As for bugs or glitches, we must point out the tendency to interpenetrate and get stuck in the platforms by our character: minimal problems, given the functioning of the aforementioned checkpoint system. Also, we believe a patch will fix this in time for D1. The work is available from July 24 on PC (via Steam) and Nintendo Switch.
Semblance is a well thought out and well crafted puzzle platformer. Mix the two components effectively without ever treading on one or the other. Also suitable for those who did not grow up on Mario, suffers only from a poor longevity and a certain visual repetition.
► Semblance is an Adventure-indie-Platform-Puzzle game developed and published by Nyamakop for PC, Mac and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 24/07/2018
