Followers of our work will likely be aware of our hilarious
and extremely well-produced podcast, Vanderhoff and Co, featuring insightful
and intelligent conversation, up to the minute news, and the occasional and
professional, well-researched interviews with a variety of top guests, well, in
among our EGX Rezzed 2017 episode quadruplet was an interview with Jonas
Byrresen of “Bedtime Digital Games”, part four to be precise, and what we
chatted about was his upcoming title “Figment”.
Figment is an action-adventure game set within the depths of
a human mind following an accident, this trauma manifests itself as living
nightmares causing wreckage and disarray throughout the mind, fears and anxieties
brought to life, an ailing psyche in turmoil, and in response to this, we’re
introduced to reluctant hero Dusty, the mind’s former voice of courage, who is rallied
into action by his ever-optimistic partner, Piper, the two of them working
together to overcome the nightmares and hopefully restoring their world to
normality.
A chance meeting with the rhyming Mayor Relic of Clockwork
Town reveals that Dusty is needed now more than ever, and armed with just a
sword and determination, our duo make their way from their home in Cerebrum
City, hot on the heels of the nightmares Fear has unleashed, battling the nasties
on their way through the parts of the brain, avoiding obstacles, and navigating
the many numerous puzzles that lay in their path.
Using your brain is the name of the game, venturing through
each area of the mind leads you to problems to be solved, locating missing
pieces to contraptions, moving platforms and walkways, or clearing the path for
a thought train to carry a particularly heavy thought along the tracks to Geometry
Square in order to lift our team up the Clock Tower, and whilst they’re not the
most difficult puzzles you’ll find in a video game, the variety and imagination
that has gone into each one will often leave you with a smile as reach a
solution and your progression continues.
Similarly each region you enter carry their own look and
feel, making your way from the lush and green creative part of the mind, Freedom
Isles, to the mechanical and metallic logic centre, Clockwork Town, eventually
leading us to The Pathway, the grey and electrical core adorned with sparking
wiring, flickering warning lights, and warped street signs, beautiful
hand-drawn locations brought to life, Salvador Dalíesque real-world objects and
materials twisted and incorporated into the landscapes.
Floating pastel-coloured islands with curling brass
instrument bridges and foliage, lightbulb balloons, pencil paths, and cardboard
clouds hanging from strings, autumnal islets decked with cobweb-covered train-tracks,
incomplete rotary telephones, protruding clock hands, and spinning cog flowers,
and at its centre, platforms made from books, post-it notes and receipts,
interconnected by catwalks of envelopes and drawing pins, overlooking cracked
and knocked-over china mugs spewing rivers of strong-looking coffee.
These troubled landscapes wouldn’t look out of place in a Terry
Gilliam animation or Dr. Seuss book, as would its inhabitants you meet along
the way, the almost mouse-like Dusty, sporting a red scarf around his neck and
satchel at his waist, the apothecary mask-faced Plague, the huge striped worms
and oversized caterpillars that wind their way around between platforms, and
Fear himself, standing tall with four arms, and menacing red eyes taunting our
pair with negativity, despair, and power ballads.
The embodiment of having a tune stuck in your
head, each boss-character issues their intentions by way of song, each with
their own style, a stark warning of what is to come, littered with humour and
clever rhymes, I especially liked the Metallica-like finale, the culmination of
Dusty and Piper’s efforts as they reach their inevitable showdown with Fear, the
locations you visit each brought to life with their own themes too, the
acoustic guitar-lead cold sobriety of Cerebrum City, the faint ticking-drums,
soft flutes, and gentle xylophone leading into a haunting organ accompanying
you as you work to solve a puzzle in Composition Row, and the dark atmospheric
rock as you enter The Ascension, echoing Fear’s melodic lament.
Music is not the only aural delight within Figment, the
voice acting is really great too, you really believe in each character’s
presence, Dusty’s brave yet unenthusiastic hero, Piper’s boundless optimism,
and the pitch-perfect Fear, his menacing yet convincing antagonism, swaying our
pair on a slim balance between confidence and despondency, each voice helping
to convey more about the character than what is said, and whilst little
information is given about our characters, we still care about their plight.
Dusty’s impromptu quest is brought about by an accident
which we hear in the opening to Figment, with elements of this starting to
appear as you progress, collecting memories along the way gives ideas about the
outside world, but it isn’t until the end that more is revealed, and whilst I
really enjoyed the ending, I felt it could’ve been more touching with the
addition of more story elements dotted through the game, the same can be said
for Dusty’s character too, just ever so slightly lacking in backstory to give
his progression enough effect.
That aside, the underlying message of confidence and
self-belief shines through as our duo’s quest unfolds, confidence and optimism
in the face of fear and the unknown, in a world where more people than ever, including
myself, struggle with mental health issues, Figment hits close to home, tugs
gently at the heart-strings, and brings a degree of light-heartedness and great
understanding to a subject that often goes unspoken, here we find a balance
between entertaining game and deep sincerity that few developers achieve.
Figment looks, plays, and sounds beautiful, losing
nothing in the move to the Nintendo Switch, in fact the added bonus of being
able to play in portable mode means short bursts of play are even possible on
the go, in fact, staggering your play-through is probably the best way to experience
this game, whilst in no way does Figment feel incomplete, its short length did
leave me wanting more, but it’s such a unique experience I believe it will
stick in my own, and anyone else’s mind for a long while after playing.
Figment is out now on PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, Xbox One & Nintendo Switch