ChromaGun

This game caught my interest back then when I came across a content creator showcasing a puzzle game that had a color mechanic but had the option of using colorblind accessible labels (despite me not having any sort of colorblindness, I just considered this very cool from the devs). At the time, I had no interest in buying the game, since I still hadn't played Portal or similar games at the time. Some time passed, I had beaten Portal 1, 2 and plenty of Portal mods, and I coincidentally acquired this game through a key bundle. All of this to say, when I first played this game, I had no expectations in terms of game quality but already knew what kind of challenge I would face. Puzzle-wise, it’s a solid game, it explores considerably well the color mechanics and, while later puzzles ramp up the difficulty curve way steeper than expected, you can still intuitively solve them if you’ve at least gotten though both Portal 1 and 2 once. The only gripes I have with the puzzles are the ones that rely on timing, be it with the eraser walls or with freezing non-hostile droids in place by painting over the attracting color, since the engine this game uses isn’t the best in terms of precision shooting and response times, requiring more attempts from you; and the puzzles using the paint reflector, a mechanic that is underutilized and underexplained through the game. This last one makes me feel the game either was too long and had to get some final stages cut for the sake of not overstaying its welcome, or the last stages felt too “samey” and that mechanic was a later-on-development thought that was added to keep the game difficulty/novelty progression somewhat consistent. Regarding my complaint about the engine, I need to say my 100% playthrough was actually my second time playing this game, since the first one was on my older rig (a 2020 Acer Aspire 5), and that one had a difficult time running the game at a pleasant FPS, despite it not having issues with other games like Skyrim, CS:GO and Tabletop Simulator. Now, with my new rig (which is a bit overkill, might I add), the game had no issues with slowdowns, but it did had a strange bug in which sometimes all droids would approach the painted walls at a sluggish pace, bug that usually fixed itself after a level restart or character death. I guess it could be a refresh rate issue, since my monitor runs at 240Hz (haven’t tried capping the game at 60Hz, but my older rig never had that issue, so I’ll go with that as most probable cause). Visually, it’s a good game, it clearly appeals to the aesthetic of Portal 1 with the sterile white walls being the perfect canvas (pun entirely intended) for the color mechanic, without adding unnecessary flair or realism. Narratively, it was generic. I don’t say it heavily because, as I stated before, I had no expectations. Analyzing it coldly, the story clearly tries to blend the comedic tone of Portal 2’s Cave Johnson’s commentary, while maintaining the lore vagueness of Portal 1, but the execution of said combination felt inadequate, lacking impact, and the ending is just as generic as the rest of the game’s background story. I use the word background because, on my playthrough, I felt exactly like that: the story was a mere background, something to fill unused white space. Of course, I don’t blame it on the voice acting, since that was decent for an indie game. In the end, I’d say it’s something that could’ve made the game more attractive to a broader audience, but how it ended up, it didn’t personally harm the experience or make it less pleasant. Overall, this is a good puzzle game that I’d definitely recommend if you can buy it on a sale, but it might not be worth the full price (at least in comparison to the game’s sequel, which looks way more polished, judging from the trailer and the playtest I participated).