Been There, Done ThatPlaying as a blob running from the void, a purple fog that absorbs everything it touches, the goal is ultimately to get from one side of the screen to the other. Like Limbo or, Nihilumbra, a $7.99 digital download, is a moody puzzle platformer with a distinct visual presentation.
Nihilumbra's plot revolves around a mysterious creature that's born from the nothingness of the Void and is compelled to discover the meaning. Jan 05, 2016 Nihilumbra, by Spanish studio Beautifun Games, is a puzzle platformer that was originally developed for iOS in 2012. The reworked Vita version was released in January 2015. It relates the story of Born, created from the absolute nothingness called The Void, who somehow separates himself from the black emptiness and appears in the world.
Unfortunately, puzzle elements repeat constantly throughout the 2-3 hour campaign and the narration isn’t nearly as strong as games like Bastion.Just about every screen features dialog narration by an ominous voice that either explains what is happening or what is about to happen. However, this voice work is rather lacking and often doesn’t even sync with that the player is doing. More often than not, I was already on the next screen and the next round of dialog before the previous screen’s narration was finished. This brings down the presentation and gameplay as I was able to move faster than the game. The main gimmick behind this slow-paced 2D platformer is the color system.
In time, the player will collect colors that unlock abilities. For example, the blue color allows the player to lace the ground with ice to increase traversal speed or push blocks. Brown makes things stick and lets the player walk without making noise. Tracing the ground or walls in green makes things bounce. Red is used offensively to burn enemies to death and yellow sparks electricity to power machines. Unfortunately, the puzzle elements are never difficult, which is fine, but they are used repeatedly. In fact, one of the first puzzles the player must solve is a block pushing puzzle, because, you know, pushing blocks in a 2018 game has never been done before and is always super fun, right?
This would have been fine if it happened once, but the player will push many blocks before the credit roll. Or lay down the brown sticky stuff to sneak around a sleeping Venus fly trap. Or jump on the green stuff to bounce to the next platform or ricochet a bullet to kill an enemy that moves back and forth constantly.
The puzzle variety becomes stale within minutes as the player uses these abilities in the same way throughout the entire but brief quest. One problem with Nihilumbra on Switch is the control scheme. Thing is, the player MUST use the touch screen as the game cannot be played in the docked mode. Not knowing this, the first time I fired up the game, I was playing connected to my TV using a Pro Controller. However, when I found the first blue power, the screen indicated that I needed to touch the screen, forcing me to get up, undock the Switch, and play in handheld mode. Worse yet, I had to unsync the Pro Controller and resync by Joy Cons which actually forced me to restart my system.
Needless to say, this was super annoying and the game doesn’t even warn the player that this game can only be played in non-docked mode. Holding the Switch with the left hand while tapping the screen with the right hand also become difficult to hold in a short amount of time and sometimes tracing the colors on screen is inaccurate.Once the quest is completed, the player will unlock a new mode that ups the difficulty, mostly to the point of frustration, but ultimately acts as more of the same. There is also an option to view some artwork from the main menu but this is holds little to no entertainment value whatsoever.
We know how it is. You worked hard for your 10:1 KDR, but sometimes, you just want to take five, relax and enjoy a quick game on your phone. Unfortunately, finding good games is anything but quick – most mobile gems end up buried under a mountain of trash. But like we said, we know how it is, so every month we shine a spotlight on a great diversion to get you through the work week.For the past few months we’ve been highlighting more story-centric games. Although lacking in actual gameplay, they can offer a good change of pace to what you usually find in the over-saturated mobile market. The month we’re going to do our best to combine the two. A little bit of gameplay here and a dash of storytelling there and you can have yourself a decent mobile game.
That’s exactly what is: a decent mobile game. It’s lacking on the storytelling side, but makes up for it with some nice puzzles to make you forget the voice trying to make you think you don’t exist.If you haven’t figured it out from the title, Nihilumbra is all about validating your existence. The game opens with you as a tiny blog surrounded by what will later be called the void. You and it are one until you try to escape making that day the day you were born.
From there you run through the world doing your standard platforming things as a tutorial and you make it to the real world, but the void isn’t giving up on reclaiming you.While you’re escaping the world and solving puzzles, you also have a narrator trying to give you insight on existence. Do you or don’t you? After all that’s what nihilism is. The rejection of existence, religion and morals is the definition of the word.
The only problem is that someone spouting out these things doesn’t do much in the way of making a good story. It’s lacking and at times you’ll just ignore it, but it’s not all bad. Mechanically Nihilumbra can be really simple from the beginning.
There are five levels in the game and during each of them you gain an ability that will help you progress along the way. You can make things slide, stick, bounce, make monsters burn and lastly send electricity to devices. When you feel that you need to combine these that can make for some interesting finger work which is a nice layer of difficulty added to the game. Considering the last few games haven’t had any mechanics at all, it’s a great feeling to be reminded that you’re playing a game with a bit of a story to it.While Nihilumbra’s story may not be anything to write home about, it can be a good puzzle game for you to enjoy. After your initial run you unlock a mode that allows you to revisit the five levels, but with far more difficult puzzles.
If you’ve been looking for an interesting platformer, give this one a try. Best part is it’s also available on devices other than mobile like PS Vita, Wii U and Steam. For mobile though you can get it for Android and for iOS.Looking for even more casual gaming? We have you covered.
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