In The Shadows (2017)

"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.

Good story, nice music, highly recommend

[b]Plot[/b] The game leaves you to search for the meaning of the story yourself. You don’t have to venture through every door but if you do then you’ll know what this game means to the developer. It’s a really beautiful little story that you don’t have to delve into but will encounter a much more meaningful experience if you do. [b]Character[/b] There’s not much to the boy we control beyond how he obviously is perceiving the world around him. Given we control him he appears to be without fear, easily dodging the shadow creatures without a care but at the same time we know these games are figments of his imagination and that he really is a scared little boy living through a confusing experience. [b]Environment, Art & Design[/b] The music is surprisingly beautiful for such a short game, it’s got a Fez-like, retro feel to it’s sound with synthesizers and jump noises. The pixel based backgrounds are simple yet make you want to just stop and look at them, especially the sun and moon levels. [b]Mechanics[/b] Very simple stuff for the boy which was enjoyable, lending itself to focusing on the logic puzzle rather than your abilities. The range of shadow creatures was good too and mixing…

The volume of the sound would not adjust for me, so it was very loud. Also, I was disappointed to find that the game is virtually unplayable if you have issues seeing low contrast images, because there is no way to adjust the visuals. Yes, I understand that the game is meant to be about shadows and the interplay between darkness and light, but I have played plenty of games of this sort that I am still able to see because I can tweak the video settings just enough. Besides, this is not a horror game that relies on darkness for spookiness, this is a puzzle game that has no combat and no jumpscares (admittedly I didn't play that long so I suppose I don't know). A cute (and this game does have charming art) and casual puzzle game should not be unplayable because I can't see the images. It might be easy to make a game that's no problem for you to see, but there are lots of people who would love to play your game but can't because of disabilities. It takes a bit more effort, but making a game accessible to everyone means that so many more people will be able to enjoy it. Please do better, developers. I would be willing to try other games by this team (because this is a cute and clever g…

Got stuck at one of the submarine levels and asked myself, do I really want to deal with this anymore? Inexact controls, timing puzzles, mechanics popping up and disappearing... The answer was no. And you can save money by using my answer if you so wish.

an incredibly beautiful platformer that shouldn't be missing from any game collection.