[quote]A review copy was provided by the developer.[/quote]
[quote]Follow my Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41363546-Fruit-N-Doggie-Reviews/]Fruit N Doggie Reviews,[/url] so you can be updated whenever I post a new review.[/quote]
[h1]Overall Rating - Mediocre ★★★☆☆[/h1]
[h1]First Impressions[/h1]
Polychromia (PC) has been amongst my possible review keys for a long time, but I never felt a rush to pick up a copy. After playing a more complicated puzzle game, something more simple and straightforward sounded refreshing. Unfortunately for me, when I'd encounter each of the puzzles in this title, I'd more often than not struggle to wrap my head around the possible solutions. Typically it wasn't the blending of colors that confused me, but how to navigate the lines so that they'd fill in all of the blanks.
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
Honestly, these puzzles aren't as intuitive as I first expected. A factor I think is the hardest to contend with is how you navigate the board, and how the colors will or won't let you move through them. If a color is drawn in a straight line, you can intersect through it, or pass through a corner if you turn another direction. However, each color has to take its own route, as they can't intersect and become a single line. Although figuring out the right color combination is sometimes difficult, it's the part of the puzzle I often understand more easily. The best way I can describe it is once you've dragged a color across the board, any new color you place across it changes that new source, without effecting what was already placed. Think of it as working more or less the same way it would in real life, where crossing lines of paint would change your current brush stroke, without magically altering the rest of the paint already on the canvas. It means that the order matters for which color is placed first, where they intersect, and which one reaches its end point before the others.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3632602462
[h1]Controls[/h1]
Due to the game's mechanics, it'd be difficult trying to alternate and guide the lines properly without just using the mouse. It does have a tendency to move around to squares I wasn't trying to include, but this is easily fixed. You can undo single moves or reset the entire board with a button press, so I'd say the controls were well designed. I do think the home icon and ability to switch levels could have been done better, as it seems a little slow, but this is a minor complaint.
[h1]Story[/h1]
There isn't any plot or background as to the events taking place in the game. It's not too uncommon for puzzles titles, so this isn't an issue.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3632602815
[h1]Visuals[/h1]
Although this title has simple visuals, because its emphasis is on color composition, it's more vibrant than most puzzle games tend to be. However, I find the selection for each specific shade unusual. In the options, you can alter the background, which in turn has a significant impact on how the colors show up. Some of them distort the colors so badly, I don't know that I'd recognize them as the basic composition of primaries red, blue, and yellow blending into the secondary colors of orange, purple, and green. Taking an example from fighting games, where I've been able to blend my own colors together to alter the appearance of characters, I have to wonder if this system would have worked better for remixing the hues you work with. If I had the option to personalize the colors, they'd certainly look different from any of the pre-sets already in the game, as none seemed quite right to me.
[h1]Sound Design[/h1]
There's a handful of songs available in the game, but you have to select them one at a time from the icon in the upper right corner. I didn't notice an easier way of bringing down a list and being able to switch songs more quickly, which would have been more convenient. Personally, a few songs were a bit too slow or high in pitch for my taste, but by switching to other tracks, I was able to find a tune or two that better suited my preferences. On a similar note, I'm somewhat surprised there isn't a little musical flourish when you solve a puzzle. At most, when you connect the right color to a goal, it makes a twinkly noise, but it's easy to miss.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3632603058
[h1]Pros[/h1]
🌟 With just over 120 puzzles, there's a decent amount of content for an indie puzzle title.
🌟 There's options for color-blind people.
[h1]Cons[/h1]
❌ The difficulty curve isn't well established. It didn't feel like it starts with easy puzzles to build your understanding of the game before getting tricky. For a while, the beginning had me stumped, and then I ran into a series of puzzles that seemed incredibly obvious to me.
❌ If you get stuck, there's no system to help you get past the levels stumping you.
[h1]Tips[/h1]
🔍 When figuring out the paths, check crowded sections or corners first. More often than not, these limit the options available, as a color will only have one way it can start out. The routing is also often “artistic” looking, instead of following short, direct paths. Take the scenic route.
🔍 From my experience, few puzzles would over-mix colors to create black, or reverse it for white.
[h1]Final Thoughts[/h1]
Through the years, I've realized that some puzzle mechanics will and won't click for me. The hard part is having no idea whether it'll pan out with a new concept until after I've had the chance to try it. I don't think there's anything wrong with the game's core design, but more often than not, when I see one of the puzzles in this title, I can't see the intended solution. Due to its novelty, I'm unsure if this would be common, or if I'm just an oddball not catching on when everyone else would find it obvious. In this situation, I'd have to suggest downloading the demo to check what the sense of the puzzles are like for you, because I could see it going either way. Because I found myself having trouble, I'm cautioning against picking the game up without dipping your toes in the water first. There just might be something about this design that doesn't connect for most people.
[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Follow our curator page: [b]IndieGems[/b] if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/url][/quote]
[table]
[tr]
[th]PC Specs[/th]
[th]Performance[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Ryzen 2700
RTX 2070
16GB RAM
ADATA SSD
1920x1080
[/td]
[td]The game ran without incident on default settings.
💖 - PC is healthy
[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
