Game reviewDarkness can also be incredibly beautiful, say the Swedish gamedevelopers behind the feisty 2D platformer ‘Gloom’. And that fits more or lessinto a local tradition.
What do those Scandinavian game makers have with dark worlds? Danish studioPlaydead has already plunged you into darkness with their top titles ‘Limbo’and ‘Inside’, last year Sweden’s Zoink Games scored high with its bleakfairytale game ‘Lost in Random’, and now it lands the by the also Swedishindie studio You Will Get There developed ‘Dismal’ on the PC. From the titlealone you can of course deduce that this is not a game with unicorns,gingerbread houses and rainbows.
But ‘Gloom’ also fits in again with a tradition: the world that you crosswhile jumping is – just like that of the aforementioned games – in a strangeway pleasantly sinister. “Our dimly lit world may seem scary at first,” saiddeveloper David Söderström upon the game’s release. “But like most things inlife, true beauty can often be found beneath the surface.”
Image from ‘Gloom’. © You Will Get There
Meditative and Mysterious
When ‘Lost in Random’ came out last year, we talked at length about theuncanny atmosphere that characterizes many games from that cold north, but atthe same time, a spark of hope bubbles up. It actually fits in with the sametrend from which, for example, Nordic Noir series on TV have arisen: inScandinavia it is pitch dark for many days of the year, which gives theotherwise quite happy inhabitants a melancholic touch. And that alsotranslates into the art and entertainment products they create.
That lyrical quality is also hidden under the shadows in ‘Somber’. Theindefinable, eyeball-shaped creature that makes you bounce through the two-dimensional scenery ends up in shady places, but they also have somethingdistinctly alive at the same time. The dangerous, helmet-waving flora that cankill your creature when it lands flat in the midst of it also seems to bebreathing. And then there’s that enchanting music, and the mysterious sounds,which give the fairytale world something extra meditative. If you have a pairof headphones handy, you’ll be doing yourself a favor by plugging them intoyour PC and putting them on.
Image from ‘Gloom’. © You Will Get There
Image from ‘Gloom’. © You Will Get There
damn hard
The hand-drawn design of ‘Somber’, which you immediately associate with theequally obscure illustrations in children’s books by Roald Dahl or fairy talesby Hans Christian Andersen, also works particularly well with the sometimesspicy difficulty level, which you already have fifteen minutes after startingthe game. to the edge of your desk chair. Certain jumps require impeccabletiming and precision, which of course quickly gets on your nerves. But themeditative world ‘Gloom’ brings you will keep you calm for much longer thanyou will in a game with a busier world. Also, ‘Gloom’ invites you, with itsoutstretched paths, to explore its world, so that you can take your mind awayfrom that difficult passage for a while.
This is a video game review, but we’re not rating “Dismal” for this occasion.We only say: buy it! The game only costs 7 euros, and for that price it is bydefinition difficult to advise against this little gem. Just pop in and letthis tenebral pearl move you, even if it’s just for a few hours, like abeautiful poem or painting can. Brief, but sincere.