Originally published on Nintendo Castle.
Short and sweet puzzle games have made significant progress in recent years towards perfecting the formula of charm. Cute characters, funny interactions, and stellar voice acting normally all permeate this genre. Figment steps in as a game that attempts to emulate such puzzling charm. It is cute, short, and relatively cheap. But, does it hold up in the face of other, similarly compelling puzzle games?
Platforms: PC [Reviewed], Playstation 4, Switch, Android, Xbox One, Google Stadia
Developer: Bedtime Digital Games
Release: September 22, 2017
MSRP: $19.99
In short, Figment is a mixed bag. In terms of gameplay, it attempts to emulate Bastion in its style and, to a lesser extent, its combat. Combat basically involves dodging every few seconds to avoid attacks while mashing the attack key. It can get more tactical, as certain enemies can only be hit after attacking. But, that is about as deep as it gets. Other fights attempt to augment the puzzles, but end up falling short because of the gratuitous hints given by Piper, one of the game's main characters. The main draw of this game, in terms of gameplay, is definitely its puzzle aspect.
The puzzles are not overly taxing, and not very mentally stimulating. For some, this may be a plus, but I found myself breezing through the game without much of a thought as to what I was doing. The game is intended to ramp up the puzzles, but throughout my playthrough I was never really challenged.
So, the game is easy, both in fights and puzzles. This may be a plus for some, and a minus for others. But, in general, if you're looking for fights as intense as Bastion, or puzzles as mind-numbing a Zelda game, then you're not going to be looking for Figment. There is some value in the combination of genres, but Figment doesn't excel in either genre and so they both end up detracting from the primary draw for the game: its presentation.
To summarize the visual presentation: it's fantastic. Every level feels alive and filled with secrets. Every house has a resident, every tree has a theme. The levels are alive and create beautiful music in time with your actions. The characters all speak in puns or rhymes, and there wasn't a single level where I thought the theme was visually bad. There may not be many environments to play in, but the ones the game does present are done flawlessly.
The audio presentation, however, is as lacking as the gameplay. The voice-acting is fun at first, but quickly gets annoying. Piper, the bird who follows you around, is an especially poor case of this. Not only does she give unneeded hints, but also her voice is high-pitched and lacks any real character. The main character has a very strange voice actor, and tends to dismiss other characters, making him exceedingly unlikable. Other characters will sing and dance as they attack you, making this a stretch towards the charm I discussed earlier, but their songs are short, uninspired, and sometimes harsh on the ears.
As you start the game, you will see the poor audio in action as soon as you step on a lily pad. The squish it makes made me visibly cringe. In addition to this, though, the squish those lily pads make is repeated as a sound effect throughout the game, making it even more annoying. Sound design is an important part of presentation, for any game, and where many games succeed, unfortunately Figment fails.
Story-wise, the game is okay. The characters are charming, or they would be if they had better voice work, and the progression is short, sweet, and says some interesting things about mental health. The game's message is clear, concise, and positive.
The game is good in many ways, but it is just that: good. There isn't a single area, except visually, where the game excels. However, the game does succeed in making a cute, short, and memorable game about mental health and overcoming trauma. Other games have tried to make similar strides towards understanding the human psyche and failed, but Figment succeeds, and that is worth celebrating. Get it on sale, you won't regret it.
Pros:
- Short and memorable
- Fantastic visual presentation
- Good music
- Very relaxing
- Positive message about mental health
Cons:
- Gameplay is repetitive and boring
- Fights are uninspired and tedious
- Puzzles are easy
- Sound design is poor
- Voice acting is not particularly good
Verdict:
Good
Good games are simply that: good. They are generally fun to play but might be lacking in longevity, replay value, or presentation. These games might be good buying decisions for some people, but not for others. Some otherwise great games may fall into this category if they are priced unreasonably high. The devil is in the details.
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