Let's Talk... Contrast

The idea that the very shadows of your surroundings could be used to solve puzzles within the same environment may be an interesting one, but it’s also kinda clunky by nature. Whilst Contrast may combine a potentially interesting gameplay concept with a grim, noir-filled world, some of the disjointed mechanics and rough physics make the whole experience feel experimental at best.

The story takes place in a noir art deco atmosphere. There’s a slightly dark undertone to the jazz filled air thanks to the bizarre Tim Burton look of the protagonist and the surrounding world, as well as some of the rather surreal floating platforms and structures. The story itself follows Didi, a young girl who lives with her Cabaret-performing mother, who desperately wants her father to come home after it’s revealed that there’s been some family dispute over some of his quirky “get rich quick” schemes. It feels sort of generic and done before, but it suits the game’s shady undertone and, at times, the story can feel somewhat inconsistent with Didi wanting her father back one moment and then not wanting him back and she wants him back again.

For some reason, only the protagonist and Didi are physical entities 

The basic premise of gameplay involves using shadows to perform simple platforming and solve basic puzzles. It’s a neat mechanic but feels a little rough, and once the novelty of manipulating light and shadows to solve puzzles wears off, some of the puzzles begin to feel somewhat disjointed and a little rugged. Mostly with some of the platforming-heavy puzzles that require you to move shadows yourself, where there often doesn’t feel like there’s an exact solution but rather you’ll simply reach a “close enough” point where you can essentially game your way through with the games dodgy physics.

There’s some interesting cohesion between story set pieces and gameplay, where the game requires you to traverse the shadows of the looping conversation to get to the next objective. It’s an interesting method of character development and filling in context for the game, and it sort of feels like audio logs that are also used to solve puzzles. There’s some interesting variety in the gameplay, including one section where you’re required to re-enact a puppet show (that plays out in a way that’s extremely reminiscent of LIMBO, it even has a giant spider) but it’s mostly basic things like taking a box into the shadows to activate a button to open a door.

Some really interesting gameplay ideas are buried under their shaky execution

What feels like a bizarre and interesting world is unfortunately rather poorly fleshed out, and almost no context is given for why you are not a shadow but everyone else is, why only Didi can see you, or even what the hell luminaries are (collectible items required to solve puzzles and make progress). The game has a great art style with some striking lighting effects and excellent manipulation of shadows; it looks great and runs smoothly. There’s also voice acting of varying quality, mostly pretty decent though, with some rather iffy writing to accompany it.