Chicory: A Colorful Tale

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a delightful experience that, while confronting some of the darker parts of creativity, will simply make you feel good. The world is cute and fun to explore, puzzles are a joy to solve, and coloring in the Picnic Province is relaxing.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a beautiful adventure where it’s your job to splash life back into this colourless world with the help of your magical paintbrush. You may not be the next Van Gogh or Picasso, but you will have a great time exploring what this land has to offer. With an endearing protagonist and a fantastic cast of characters, this experience will make you profoundly rethink art and mental wellness.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a frequent delight. It’s probably one of the better games we’ve played this year. This from an indie. Forget Ratchet and Clank, fun though it is. Chicory is possibly our favourite game this year.

From the side quests to the main story, Chicory: A Colorful tale is a fun time that will hold players' attention to the end, especially fans of The Legend of Zelda franchise. There are some nitpicks one could make about certain gameplay moments that require pinpoint brush accuracy not working correctly or some of the platforming sections feeling off, but really the only big knock against it are the lackluster boss fights. It's otherwise close to being perfect for what it is and is certainly one of the better Zelda-like indie games.

What elevates it from charming little indie to sitting alongside Celeste2 as a future classic is that beneath its cosy aesthetic is a beautifully written story that will resonate deeply with anyone who’s ever faced self-doubt or impostor syndrome. There’s also a wonderful reminder, aided by the many places you can just sit down, that sometimes you just need to take a break, even from the things you’re most passionate about. [Issue#3, p.135]

It's difficult, in fact, to find much friction in the gameplay of A Colorful Tale that prevents you from experiencing its deeply moving tale, and it's balanced well enough to offer an engrossing adventure with standout puzzle mechanics and satisfying solutions. Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a game about self-exploration, frequently presenting earnest themes that can be challenging to engage with given how relatable they can feel. But it's also an exercise in confronting these insecurities and barriers that prevent you from enjoying what you put out into the world and rediscovering its importance in the process. It's an evocative tale that doesn't rest on its narrative alone, making it one of the best games you can play this year.

As warm and refreshing as it is earnest and rejuvenating, Chicory is genuinely a game like few others and a joy to play. Even if, ironically, it sometimes limits the same creative capacity it encourages, Chicory also lets you know that’s fine. Whatever anyone else might think, the adventure you play and choose to create is what matters.

Chicory is utterly joyous. It's a warm hug of a game bursting with creativity and surprises. Every inch of the ten-hour adventure fizzes with sheer, unrestrained invention - I already want to play through the whole thing again. This game is an absolute triumph on every level, I cannot stress to you enough. Even when you strip away the excellent gameplay, beautiful visuals, and toe-tappingly great soundtrack, you're left with a story that shows passion and creativity will always win against cynicism and hate. A must-play for all.

Greg Lobanov has produced a game that has it all. It’s a truly heartwarming story with unique gameplay, clever puzzles and a colourful cast of characters in a gorgeous world that never feels limited by its retro-inspired, two-dimensional roots.

An indie adventure with the confidence of heavy hitters like Undertale, Chicory: A Colorful Tale is one hell of a pleasant surprise that excels on every level it is possible to do so. Would it be too hackneyed to say it belongs in an art gallery?

Chicory is the kind of game that reminds me why I enjoy gaming in the first place. It takes innovative, artistically driven mechanics and makes them accessible and intuitive. It combines them with a narrative which is emotionally charged and truly engrossing. This is all topped off with a fantastic world that houses oodles of charm, a top class soundtrack and puzzle design that challenges the player while rarely becoming frustrating.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a pristine little adventure with fun puzzles, a surprisingly rich paint mechanic, and a story that's disarmingly real, difficult, and heartfelt.

Under its thick features and its childish airs, Chicory shelters very tough challenges. Together, creator Greg Lobanov (Wandersong) and composer Lena Raine (Celeste) have managed to shape a universe generous in exploration, discovery and obstacles to overcome, offering a completely correct lifespan. If you don't want to take the time to solve the ingenious puzzles that present themselves to you, you will have the leisure to get involved freely in the other small quests of the adorable world of Picnic, populated by its charming animals. On the other hand, let's repeat it, the adventure will be much better if you opt for the keyboard.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is bound to the template set forth by The Legend of Zelda, but, rather than offering reflexive glibness, or inking the affair with irony, its critique wraps warmly around its subject, like a scarf.

Video games don't get much more heartwarming than Chicory: A Colorful Tale with its beautifully-interwoven gameplay and story.

If you like the idea of an open world adventure filled with wonderfully written characters, engaging puzzles and a heart-warming story, don’t hesitate to give Chicory: A Colorful Tale a try. It’s so much more than “a game you colour in yourself”; it’s a journey filled with heart and soul. It isn’t free of frustrations, but they’re easily forgiven thanks to just how charming and wonderfully unusual this adventure is.

A charming and imaginative spin on The Legend Of Zelda that is filled with cleverly original ideas and a deceptively serious script that packs a real punch.

As previous Lobanov's games, Chicory finds an interesting balance between its story, that explores different human problems, and our own artistic expression by painting. An "atypical" game that you probably will love as much as you love painting, although you can enjoy it even without focusing on it.