Sights & Sounds
- The visuals are simplistic and highly stylized. You'll play most of the game with (mostly) black & white foregrounds with a background color that depends on which puzzle you're currently solving
- Not much to say about the music or overall sound design. It's serviceable but not really memorable
Story & Vibes
- The minimalism evident in the audiovisual design carries over into the story. Bits and pieces of narrative are doled out in the interludes that separate each puzzle section. It's a morose yet hopeful story involving the protagonist, his mother, and the game's antagonist, and their shared past
- Not a whole lot going on vibe-wise. I tend to really try to immerse myself in games, but Hue doesn't really offer anything emotionally, intellectually, or atmospherically substantial enough to latch onto
Playability & Replayability
- It's a puzzle platformer. One of the ones where you flip between environments (in this case, colors) to change the state of the current puzzle you're solving. If you've played something like Seasons After Fall, the gameplay will feel immediately familiar
- Some of the puzzles can take a minute or two to figure out, but there's nothing especially devious or unintuitive to trip you up
- Similarly, the platforming isn't going to pose many challenges
- Not much of a reason to replay the game unless you feel like getting the achievement for collectibles
Overall Impressions & Performance
- I played two very similar puzzle platformers before playing Hue (Seasons After Fall and Moonleap), but I'd say that Hue is the best of the three. Still, though, unintentionally playing 3 games in a row with essentially the same gameplay hook was a little disappointing. There's definitely some room for creativity in the puzzle platforming space
- The entire game ran flawlessly on the Steam Deck, and it's a pretty good game for playing on handheld
Final Verdict
- 6.5/10. If you don't already own a free copy from another storefront (it's been give away twice elsewhere), I'd say Hue is worth a look if it's pretty heavily discounted. Otherwise, it's a little pricey for what you get
- The visuals are simplistic and highly stylized. You'll play most of the game with (mostly) black & white foregrounds with a background color that depends on which puzzle you're currently solving
- Not much to say about the music or overall sound design. It's serviceable but not really memorable
Story & Vibes
- The minimalism evident in the audiovisual design carries over into the story. Bits and pieces of narrative are doled out in the interludes that separate each puzzle section. It's a morose yet hopeful story involving the protagonist, his mother, and the game's antagonist, and their shared past
- Not a whole lot going on vibe-wise. I tend to really try to immerse myself in games, but Hue doesn't really offer anything emotionally, intellectually, or atmospherically substantial enough to latch onto
Playability & Replayability
- It's a puzzle platformer. One of the ones where you flip between environments (in this case, colors) to change the state of the current puzzle you're solving. If you've played something like Seasons After Fall, the gameplay will feel immediately familiar
- Some of the puzzles can take a minute or two to figure out, but there's nothing especially devious or unintuitive to trip you up
- Similarly, the platforming isn't going to pose many challenges
- Not much of a reason to replay the game unless you feel like getting the achievement for collectibles
Overall Impressions & Performance
- I played two very similar puzzle platformers before playing Hue (Seasons After Fall and Moonleap), but I'd say that Hue is the best of the three. Still, though, unintentionally playing 3 games in a row with essentially the same gameplay hook was a little disappointing. There's definitely some room for creativity in the puzzle platforming space
- The entire game ran flawlessly on the Steam Deck, and it's a pretty good game for playing on handheld
Final Verdict
- 6.5/10. If you don't already own a free copy from another storefront (it's been give away twice elsewhere), I'd say Hue is worth a look if it's pretty heavily discounted. Otherwise, it's a little pricey for what you get