ref: e7815d279aa18ec5cc997e79e0b7b551abcba917
parent: cb32038d94d795fde7156e059977b8e00bb367ec
author: sirjofri <sirjofri@sirjofri.de>
date: Sun Feb 23 06:02:13 EST 2025
adds chromagun 2 review
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changeblog/1740304625.txt
@@ -1,0 +1,69 @@
+ChromaGun 2: Dye Hard
+
+‥‥Disclaimers‥‥:
+Right now, there's only the demo freely available, so the review is about that only.
+Furthermore, since ChromaGun is about colors, it ‥has‥ a specific colorblind mode, which I didn't test, and I'm also not the right person to test this.
+
+ChromaGun 2 (Demo!) is a puzzle platformer which surprised me with a good story and challenging puzzles, especially for a demo.
+Often enough, the story and the complexity of the puzzles in a demo are reduced to a bare minimum, not showing too much to make people buy the game.
+In this case however, the demo is perfect for exploring what the game is about.
+It even has enough replay value due to achievements and collectibles.
+
+The demo teases a great and deep ‥‥story‥‥ which can't hide behind other great puzzle platformers, most notably ‥Portal‥.
+While the story shares some similarities with Portal (“Testing”), it is clearly not a clone.
+In the story, the player is guided through different dimensions with very distinct styles.
+Each dimension has its own sections with puzzles to solve, and a different narrator.
+Judging from the demo, it seems like there's not much choice the player has about the story; there are no branches, no different endings.
+It would be easy to spoil more parts of the story, but it's even easier to say:
+Just play it—it's worth it!
+
+‥‥Gameplay‥‥-wise, it looks very similar to the first part ‥ChromaGun‥, though I can't really tell as I haven't played it.
+The player has the ability to color specific plates and objects in the level using the Chroma Gun.
+These colored plates will behave like magnets for various gameplay objects with the same color.
+The challenge is to color the correct plates in the correct order to manipulate the level so we can finish this section and continue.
+
+The colors themselves are oriented around three primary colors (red, yellow, blue) and their secondary colors (orange, green, magenta).
+Those secondary colors can be achieved by mixing the primary colors accordingly.
+
+It's worth noting that at some point the plates and objects are “overcolored” and just turn black, deactivating any magnetic behavior.
+This, and the fact that some objects can't change their color, is used as an additional puzzle challenge.
+
+Throughout the demo there are challenges of varying degrees.
+While some challenges can be solved very easily by just looking around and coloring two objects, others require careful thinking and also thinking out of the box.
+One challenge even let me pause playing to continue at a later point.
+Yes, the demo is not just made for a single testing session—you can enjoy it multiple times!
+
+The ‥‥graphics‥‥ of the game are kept simple, there's no over-realism or hyper-realism.
+The image is clear to read, there are no strange lighting artifacts or blurring happening.
+Various effects and animated objects fill the otherwise almost sterile levels with life.
+And did I notice some very well known Niagara effect somewhere?
+
+Other than that, it's hard to judge the game graphics based on the demo and in total.
+Each dimension has its own art and graphical style, one going into a more organic direction and the other looks like a comic.
+Each style however looks very well thought out and matches the dimension.
+
+As a game developer, it would be quite interesting to take a look behind the scenes and see how they achieved those different styles.
+And of course, I noticed a few things that I'd have done differently.
+
+‥‥In total‥‥, the ChromaGun 2: Dye Hard demo is a wonderful demo that showcases what a demo in 2025 can be.
+It gives a good taste of the story, and has a lot of replay value for a demo by making use of achievements and collectibles.
+The gameplay covers a nice range of easy and complex puzzles, I sure hope they can find the right balance in the final game.
+Pixel Maniacs, good job!
+
+[[[ms
+.IP •
+https://store.steampowered.com/app/2982340/ChromaGun_2_Dye_Hard/
+]]]
+[[[ebook
+<ul>
+<li><a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/2982340/ChromaGun_2_Dye_Hard/">ChromaGun 2: Dye Hard on Steam</a></li>
+</ul>
+]]]
+
+Comment:
+[[[ms
+.CW https://pleroma.envs.net/notice/ArPM0sC5Xp2tGkgQgS
+]]]
+[[[ebook
+<a href="https://pleroma.envs.net/notice/ArPM0sC5Xp2tGkgQgS">Fediverse Post</a>
+]]]
\ No newline at end of file
--
⑨