Monochroma

Ignore Monochroma's provenance and forget about its place in a broader context, and just focus on what's here — and on that count, it delivers.

While I enjoyed the game from an aesthetics perspective, I wish that the controls were tighter and the puzzles more challenging.

Monochroma can proudly hold its metaphorical head high among other classy 2D puzzle-platformers. This is a game whose developers extensively studied the greats of the genre, and obviously understand what they did right. While it may not bring anything particularly new to the table, Monochroma is a beautifully executed adventure that kept me enthralled all the way from the promising opening to the slightly annoying finale.

If you’ve been harkening for something like Limbo, that isn’t Limbo, then take a peek at Monochroma. It’s a little frustrating to start off, but once you’ve got the nuances down then it all starts slotting together. As Nowhere Studio’s first title, I can only see their future games getting better as they go.

Nowhere Studios' game has got as many qualities as defects: the brilliant artistic design and the good environmental puzzles get counter-balanced by lots of bugs and imprecise controls. All in all, it's definitely a game worth trying for Limbo-like games lovers.

At around three hours’ running time, there’s not a whole lot of game on offer, but if you enjoy a puzzle platformer and liked the style of Limbo, Monochroma is definitely worth a visit.

Monocroma tries to capitalize on the success of games like Limbo, but unlike those games, it fails to achieve anything of substance. The story is open to interpretation and leaves you wondering why the developers chose these set of events to try and convey that.

It is above average, but only just. It misses the mark on several key points, and this is a shame, as Nowhere Studios have made an effort to improve upon the Steam release 2 years ago.

It’s a shame that Monochroma ended up this way, as there are sparks of brilliance buried within. There is a real quality to the sound and level design, which really add to the atmosphere and the puzzles could have been challenging with a little extra work. But the poor controls and the frequent frame-rate issues hamper this puzzle platformer. If you liked Limbo, do yourself a favor and go and download Inside instead.