In The Shadows

This game is soooo close to being a game that is ready for the market, but there is are a few things that keep me from recommending this game: primarily, bugs. During my playthrough of this game, I encountered the same glitches over and over again. Sometimes it would be bad behavior of the NPCs, who started floating and then would completely freeze, forcing me to restart the level from the beginning. Sometimes I would just fall through the floor, forcing me to restart the level from the beginning. I must have encountered at least a dozen different instances where I could reliably say "that shouldn't be happening", and that's in a complete, start-to-finish, 4 hour playthrough. That's too many bugs, most of which were game breaking or forced me out of the atmosphere, or both. Next is the general lack of polish on some game mechanics. Now, this is a puzzle game, so the game is supposed to be somewhat difficult of course, but sometimes the mechanics would screw you over, pushing boxes where they weren't supposed to go, forcing you to backtrack several minutes to get to where you wanted to be again. Sometimes it was behaving frustratingly where sometimes shadows would activate at a shorter distance than they deactivate, and other inconveniences that were either part of poor level design or poor game design. There also seemed to be a story somewhere in the game, but it was impossible to figure out and overall distracted from the game than it added to the game. This could use a lot of fleshing out; I might even be able to forgive bugs and poorly implemented mechanics if the story was enjoyable. The atmosphere and soundtrack were incredible, and the visuals tied it all together beautifully. The game is a great proof of concept; and there's a good game within the mechanics, but the level design and glitches make it more frustrating than it is a good game. On top of that, this game sports a $16 price tag; for that price, you could get games that are more polished and more fun with a better story. This game is not worth $16; it only has 4-5 hours worth of content, maybe up to 8 if you want to 100% it. If you can get it on sale for $10 or less, and you're really a fan of atmospheric puzzle games and can withstand ample bugs, by all means try it out.

Solid art and concept. But the mechanics and level design are a bit tedious at times, even if the solution is fairly obvious, it takes a bit too long to actually execute. The movement is also a bit clunky and multiple times I experienced weird physics, mostly with moving light sources and boxes around.

The developer of this game has clearly poured a lot of passion into this game, from the emotional, yet entirely unobtrusive, narrative and themes to the charming design of each new area. A puzzle platformer which puts you into levels containing shadow monsters, and various lights which scare the monsters so that they morph into useful objects which help you navigate the room and collect the stars. There are some interesting mechanics as the smooth difficulty curve escalates throughout the game, however its unfortunate that some of its best ideas are short lived and don't function as smoothly as you'd like. That being said there's plenty to keep the levels varied and enjoyable throughout. If you're looking for a mind-bendingly difficult puzzler this is certainly not it, however that feels like the game's intention; although there are challenging moments the objective here is more of a sleepy experience for the player. While it may not be perfect the atmospheric, steady pace is enough to draw you in and make the 3-5 hour experience (depending how many secrets you wanna look for) well worth the few quid you'll pay for it.

Adorably inventive 2D puzzle platformer - in the same vein as Braid and Fez - where you use light sources to transform monsters into props to your advantage. The voxel artwork is beautiful - especially the use of light and shadows - the puzzles are well thought out and the audio makes things feel very relaxing. It’s a little buggy - nothing that can’t be fixed with a room reset - but this game has a lot of heart The small story segments were very thoughful and, obviously, very personal to the developer. Lovely stuff.

как будто 2д версия Among the Sleep

"In The Shadows" is an indie game by a single developer. That alone is respectable! A short and flawed pixel art puzzle game that is a bit overpriced. Best to get on sale. While the pixel art is great and the animations are funny, the mechanics are what drag this game down. The level design is not the best and quite tedious. When playing a pure puzzle game, I prefer to take a slow and methodical approach. Without time limits, timing and precision mechanics. I voiced that concern in many other similar games but at least they all were functional. This game on the other hand is plagued by bugs and glitches that can ruin an entire run and force a restart. If the developer irons out these few mistakes, the game would be pretty solid. The shortness of the game did not please me either. Yes, you can replay missions to collect all stars which adds another layer of puzzles but it would be appreciated for a $15 game to offer a bit more meat on the plate.. Nevertheless, it is an indie Solo project. The game was crafted with heart and personal experiences. It was beautiful to look at but gameplay wise, pretty mid. Steam we need a middle rating ffs.

Muito bom. A atmosfera, a trilha sonora, as animações e a iluminação são muito bem trabalhados, o que torna muito mais imersivo do que esperado de um puzzle. Monstros que são afetados pela luz que podem se tornar diferentes objetos e até mesmo chaves para acessar outros ambientes no mesmo quebra-cabeça o que tira a sensação de repetição.

Puzzle/plateforme 2D. Un gamin contre les ombres. Je dois avouer que j'ai mis énormément de temps avant de temps avant de rentrer dans le jeu: maniabilité assez lourde, narration quasi absente, progression lente, les premiers niveaux sont beaucoup simples et nécessitent d'attendre, encore et encore, c'est pas agréable. J'ai dû limite me forcer à jouer sur les premières sessions, je faisais 1 niveau puis passait à autre chose sans avoir envie d'y revenir. Puis cet aprem, j'ai enfin passé le premier monde, après 45mn de jeu environ. Et là, illumination! Dès le début du second monde, les niveaux sont bons, avec quelques phases de plateforme bienvenues. Les énigmes sont originales, pas compliquées mais elles demandent de bien comprendre les mécaniques de jeu et sont souvent renouvelées. L'histoire se dévoile petit à petit, malgré une narration toujours timide. Ça se laisse suivre, sans être bouleversant. Pas d'attaque ici, pas de gameover, si on se fait toucher on recommence quelques pas plus tôt. Les énigmes consistent à observer différentes ombres bouger dans les tableaux, et de les éclairer afin de leur faire subir une transformation qui permet de progresser. Il faudra évidemment combiner ses transformations pour avancer dans le jeu, et parfois bien se casser la tête afin de récupérer toutes les étoiles des niveaux, sortes de bonus. Du coup j'ai joué (presque) tout l'aprem, j'ai retourné le jeu à 100%, j'ai bien aimé malgré une trop faible durée de vie (4h30). Un bon petit jeu pas très ambitieux donc, avec un début qui peine à se lancer, mais qui sait se renouveler et avec des énigmes très bien trouvées.

Beautiful looking game with interesting puzzles. You turn the enemies into what you need to get through a level! A slower paced game which will be relaxing for some. You have to wait for enemies to get into position before you can use light to convert them. Which might be a little too slow for some. Overall, the shadows are well designed and each level is beautiful. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/26701155-The-Pepp-Selection] Click to see my curator for more reviews! [/url]

What an underrated puzzle platformer! I enjoyed a lot my time with it and hoped it would last just a little longer. The puzzles where very good, loved the mechanics and the secret rooms telling the story behind the game even better. While some people say it is similar to "FEZ" (and i do see some likeness) for me it was much more similar to "Full Bore". To anyone that loved "Full Bore" I highly recomend to play "In the Shadows". It's a piece of art!