Discolored

 

 

 

Genre:    Adventure 

Developer:   Jason Godbey

Publisher:    Jason Godbey

Released:  November 11, 2019 

          

Requirements (minimum):

  • OS: Windows 7 or higher (64-bit)
  • Processor: Intel Core i3-4005U @ 1.70 GHz or better
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Intel HD or better
  • Storage: 4 GB available space
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Additional Notes: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

 

 

By flotsam

 

Discolored

Jason Godbey

A deserted diner on the edge of nowhere is an intriguing premise. Throw in the strange tower nearby, and the fact that if you try and leave the local environment you get thrown back to the diner, and the intrigue grows a little. The flat minimalism of the presentation, and the monochromatic palette, add a little something as well.

Well, more than a little something.

The lack of colour is the point. The aim is to restore colour to the world, by solving the conundrums presented to you. Green, blue and red, then a grand conflagration that produces a “full spectrum”. It’s still an austere place, but eventually far more colourful.

Discolored is a gentle, solitary game, a tad surrealistic and a tad directionless at times. It took me about 90 minutes but I had played the demo, so skipped through that bit reasonably quickly. Still, I would be surprised if it clocked in much over that regardless. Find things, use things, prod and poke and have a think. It took me a little while to put the pieces together, to twig to how the coloured prisms worked in the game, and I enjoyed doing so. It may not have been hard or very long, but I had a good time colouring my world.

The moon puzzle warrants a special mention.

It did end a little unsatisfactorily, but the ending suggests there might be more to come one day. As well, some YouTube watching after finishing the game identifies some other (small) areas are available, had I been more meticulous in my exploration. Unfortunately, unless I have missed something, you can’t go back to an earlier point to access these (there is one autosave) but you can play again. Which I may well do.

You move with the WASD keys and explore the world with the mouse. The cursor though is fixed centre screen, and moving the mouse "drags" the world around that point. Right click brings up the inventory ribbon top of screen, and clicking an object allows it to be viewed or used in the game world, or combined with other items. You can't however move the game world while the ribbon is open, so if you want to, e.g. use a hook on a rope, you need to have the rope in view when you activate the ribbon. Occasionally I did have to exit the inventory, shift my view of the game world, then go back into the inventory in order to complete my desired action.

The centre cursor will generally indicate something can be done somewhere, but not always, so it pays to try things regardless. There is no spoken word, but there is no one to converse with anyway. The musical score changes as you move through the game.

 

I played on:

OS: Windows 10, 64 Bit

Processor: Intel i7-9700k 3.7GHz

RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR4 32GB

Video card: AMD Radeon RX 580 8192MB

 

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