Shout out to Focus Home Interactive for supplying a copy of this game for a review!
Shady Part of Me, is an interesting little indie game that pairs a shy little girl with her shadow to cooperate and overcome challenges in a surreal narrative puzzle adventure voiced by Hannah Murray (Game of Thrones, and Skins).
Story: Shady Part of Me, is a game based on a little girl who doesn't just live in her shadow, she's completely disconnected from it. It's so bad that her shadow is like a complete stranger, which is understandable when she's frightened by the light (which represents a number of things for her... as seen in the gameplay below). Believe it or not, the story is also told through the environment... so I won't go into great detail about this in order to keep the review spoiler-free, but I appreciate them using the world to also tell the story.
Gameplay: The game is based on the protagonist being an introvert, and her fear of the light/fear of being seen. It makes for some interesting gameplay that combines 2D + 3D gameplay. I think the combination does the game justice because you have to use the 3D navigation to set things up for her shadow's platforms, and her shadow does the same for her as far as shadows are concerned... so it's a team effort (her shadow needs light, the little girl needs the shadows).
I like the way the 2D + 3D work together, but I also appreciate those sections where you don't need the little girl or her shadow in order for each to progress to the end of that particular area. It's a nice break that prevents you from getting tired of the teamwork so that you can enjoy some platforming action before switching back to dodging the light.
You also get some replay value tucked in here as well, and this comes in the form of these little origami birds you can find in the environment. There are 98 of these little birds in total... which increases the challenge.
Visuals: The visuals for this game... come in the form of a cel-shaded watercolor combination. On the 2D side... I'm reminded of Super Mario Odyssey where you're taking on platforming challenges via the walls and floors (it's nice). It's more than just that though, they inserted some awesome visuals in the game that will take a section and completely transform it visually as you progress, taking it from the surreal dreamscape (of the little girl's imagination) to the real world. I think that's awesomely accurate.
If I could give the game a con, it would be how easy the game is in some areas. Maybe the focus was the narrative to pull you in before increasing the challenges, but some were too much of a cakewalk for me. I could give a strike against the playtime being on the shorter side, but I won't... since I'm sort of familiar with narrative-based games usually having their set lengths to tell their story.
Price: Pricewise... Shady Part of Me comes in at $14.99, which I think is actually spot-on (even if $19.99 would've been an okay launch price).
Story 4
Gameplay 3
Visuals 5
Price 5
4.25 out of 5 Cool Points
