Chicory: A Colorful Tale takes us to a world in black and white so that we can bring it back to life by painting its cute settings. A fresh and original indie work but
In the creation of Chicory: A Colorful Tale, five people have collaborated: its director is Greg Lobanov , an independent author whom we know from previous works such as Wanderso ng, its artistic section has been commissioned by Alexis Dean-Jones and Medline Berger , while the Sound section features a soundtrack composed by Lena Raine , author of Celeste’s songs , and a sound design by Em Halberstadt . Five people have given life to this peculiar project, a game with a heart that caught the attention of Finji , its editor, and he is now coming to PS5, PS4 and PC to let us paint his cute world.
It is easy to see the benefits of Chicory: A Colorful Tale just by taking a look at its trailers, GIFs and promotional images: we control a dog in a black and white world that we can paint with the help of a magic brush , a tool that It will not only help us to color the scene but also to interact with it, solving puzzles integrated into the environment and fighting with the occasional final boss . All this led by an adventure story that puts us in the main role of a hero by surprise, taking advantage of the most common stereotypes of the genre (a dark threat, mystical mentors who help you find your inner magic, a legendary tool … ) in order toreflect on the hero’s expectations, responsibility, and feelings .
Hero by surprise
It all begins when our protagonist, to whom we will name our favorite food, is cleaned in the Chicory tower , the current possessor of the power of the brush ; Right off the bat , Picnic, the game world , loses all its color, turning completely black on white. Since this problem would have to be solved by the current Artificer , we rush to her room only to find that she is locked in, depressed, and refuses to grasp the brush that colors the world. Wrapped up in the desire to receive that gift, we took the tool without permission and began to paint the scene, trying to give it back the glow it had before the incident.
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Thus begins a story in which, as we said before, it is used to investigate some nuances of the figure of the hero by surprise , the one we have seen in many video games, movies, books and series. It is not a transcendental or especially deep reflection, but it is well woven with the development of the plot and with the application of the main mechanics. In addition, the dialogues of Chicory: A Colorful Tale are written in a superb way, with a comic simplicity that turns each and every one of the characters into adorable beings that we will find it difficult to forget. It comes translated with a very well brought Spanish localization, in addition, which is appreciated because they have managed to understand and adapt the language to the original intention.
The adventure of ‘Chicory: A Colorful Tale’ will take us to various corners of the Picnic world, where all the places and characters have food names (even us!).
Coloring to save the world
Perhaps what most attracts the attention of Chicory: A Colorful Tale is its main mechanic, which allows us to color the world at will . Without a doubt, it is an original and fresh idea that is also very well applied here: not only can we choose the colors with which we want to decorate the landscape, but the brush also helps us to interact with the world , solve puzzles and fight bosses final, among other things. With the mouse -or with the right joystick , if we play with a controller- we can control the brush and move it across the screen, regardless of where the character is positioned, and as we advance we will unlock new ways of interacting with the environment, thus opening new ways of passage.
The level design constantly plays with the feeling of discovery : the map is divided into very small 2D screens in which we can practically see the entire scene as soon as we enter them, which a priori could make solving the puzzle in that section too much easier but, in reality, it has us thinking for a while about the optimal way to find a way to solve it. Sometimes it is a genuinely intelligent design , which surprises us by revealing a solution that was all the time in front of our eyes, although other times it suffers from a certain lack of readability of the scenario , which means that we are not facing a good puzzle, but rather a both obtuse. There is everything, although removing the occasional dead end,the difficulty of the game is well measured and is not at all high ; Of course, there is a very nice idea to get clues when we are stuck: call Mom and Dad to help us solve the mess.
When we talk to Mom we will receive an abstract clue of what to do, as an advice, but we can also choose to talk to Dad so that he can tell us more exactly what the next step is.
It is worth noting the number of situations and interactions that have been extracted from the main mechanics: the brush is acquiring new skills, as well as new styles that allow us to modify the pointer when drawing , which constantly alters our way of drawing. understand space and take advantage of our knowledge to move forward, like a good 2D adventure game (the comparison with the classic The Legend of Zelda is on the plate). Of course, at the level of narrative justification there are things that are better brought than others: There are reactions in the world that make sense, such as painting a dark cave with luminous paint to reveal the way to the exit, but others do not even fit with this fiction, such as erasing the painting of a tree and being hide in the ground to make way for us.
Even so, Chicory: A Colorful Tale is such an adorable game that it is difficult to give importance to those defects that, in fact, do not have a vital weight in the overall experience. They win, by a landslide, the details that make this experience very pleasant and easy to recommend: from its additions, such as an internal tool to capture GIFs or its fun photo mode , to its local cooperative multiplayer mode , which is not proposed as a solid alternative to stand out among games more oriented to this format, but allows two people to draw at the same time, each with their brush. Chicory: A Colorful Tal e demonstrates in these respects a dedicated attention to detail .
A beautiful world with a very special soundtrack
Regarding the artistic direction , Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a joy: not only because of its obviously good visual section, which exudes personality, charisma and also allows us to be part of it with the colors we choose (although on each screen there is a predetermined color palette in which sometimes, during the game, more variety is needed), but also with regard to its sound section , which has a very good selection of original touch themes adventurer that fits perfectly with the idea of the game, but also with very funny sound effects, even a bit eschatological. Both the design of characters and settings as well as that of sounds and animations is the best of this project.
Conclusions
Chicory: A Colorful Tale is an adorable adventure driven by an original main mechanic that allows us to color a 2D world in black and white , something we not only use to bring this cute world back to life, but also to interact with the environment and solve puzzle . Although the level design leaves something to be desired at certain times, in general this work is one of those that is difficult to fault: its good writing in the dialogues , its charismatic characters , its nice artistic section, both graphically as in the sound, and, in general, the fun of his proposal, they get this little indie to be consolidated as one of the best of this year and, of course, an experience worth recommending
, above all, adorable.
