This is not a game with a lot of setup in the story. You play the role of Sarah who wakes up in a strange forest pretty much as you hit a button to make the title melt away from the screen. At this point its just Sarah in a 2D platform world you will have to explore to make sense of. That is not to say there is no story, but there is no real cohesive one until the very end of the game. And even that really doesn't say much, so much as let you go "huh... so that's why" before the credits roll. It doesn't leave you annoyed that there isn't any more, but it's also not exactly satisfying. It just... is.
On the way you will meet people and find objects both to solve puzzles involving them as well as to grant you new powers you can toggle as you need or want. Some of these will be very useful like the very first one you will find: an umbrella that once equipped will let you hold the jump button while falling to slow yourself down and glide for greater control and distances. Others will be completely useless. But all eight of them will give you some new power Sarah can use.
Using these items you will move through the forest and various other locations, but as noted earlier, there isn't really so much a story to guide you as you wander around. Rather, you will progress by character interactions, picking up some new object and seeing how the world has changed for it, or what new place you can reach when a new ability is gained. There are no enemies in the entire game leaving exploration as it's single distilled feature. This is also one of those games where you can not die, so if you think something might help or even just be interesting to do, there is no reason not to try it.
So needless to say this is not going to be a game for anyone looking for any action at all. It simply does not exist here, leaving everything to be simply environmental and character-based puzzles, but do not expect to get much challenge from these either. Most of these puzzles involve either finding the right power to access a new place or when interacting with someone or something, having the right inventory item at the moment. Still, that is not to say the power-based puzzles are not interesting, as you never know which one is going to do something unexpected in any given map. And there are at least some interactions which will make your jaw drop once you do them... often for the unease of the result that just jars you from the rather passive but odd feel of the game right into creepy "what the fuck" land.
Bugs: While the game ran well for the most part, I can not say it ran flawlessly. Rather there was one point in the game where the game's controls froze on me and I had to force it closed. I do not know what happened, but if I had to hazard a guess, the power menu did not play well with going down the ladder I was at.
Overall: This is not a game I can call amazing on any level. It isn't. And if you are looking for any kind of action what-so-ever, you are definitely barking up the wrong tree. But, however, if you are looking for something to chill out and just absorb for a few hours, it's not a bad choice. And while at 2 hours long it's also a very short choice, it's still not too bad for the price of entry ($6 without a sale). It's just nothing special.
Score:
6/10
System Requirements:
- Intel Core 2 Duo
- 1 GB RAM
- Intel HD Graphics 4000
- Windows 7
- 200 MB hard drive space
- Ryzen 3 2200G running at 3.5 Ghz
- 16 GB RAM
- Windows 10
- PDP DX Wired Controller (Crimson)
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