Shadow Puppeteer Review

"My Shadow Friend"

Campaign

Shadow Puppeteer is a game based around controlling two characters at the same time as you solve puzzles and traverse the environments you come across. One side of this is a regular young boy in the current living world moving across a 3D space whereas the flip side is playing as a shadow moving across a 2D space. It's actually quite neat to see these two characters moving around the environments and the different reactions they have in areas is well done. This is a neat aspect since few games allow players to control multiple characters at the same time so it does take time to get used to, but is a unique property of the game. The story of the game is based around chasing this obviously bad character that's trying to take the shadow with his magic music box. It doesn't get much more in-depth than that and it really didn't effect anything with the game being like that. The main bad guy also occasionally sends out some mystical creatures that are formed by the throwing of vials. There was some variety within this creatures and they generally worked out well in the game providing occasional boss fights. The levels were mostly interesting though they're cut into these small portions with somewhat long loading screens and it would have been nice to see it streamlined better. Overall the story was decent enough and I enjoyed the Tim Burton like atmosphere that the world had going for it.

Gameplay

The game was simple in terms of knowing what you're doing and in general play though it was made difficult by the style of the controls. This isn't saying the controls are bad as they're actually good, but it's difficult for players to adjust playing as two characters. It's made easier if you choose to play in coop as each players controls one of the perspectives though by yourself it can at times be difficult. I thought they did a great job in making this two character control work well and it was great seeing it function in the game. There were times where the two were in sync or others where the shadow would fly across the front of the screen with the light. They did a great job in setting up these environments for that effect and loved how it melded into the puzzle solving. When it came to puzzle solving I really didn't have too many issues with solving things and it went really smooth while playing. The checkpoints were also well done in the title having many placed throughout the game to remove any frustration. The graphics could have maybe been a bit better since the game looks aged to some degree, but the charm of having the style they went with makes it look decent enough.

The Conclusion

Shadow Puppeteer was an interesting title that aimed to create a unique atmosphere that definitely stands on its own. I felt that it did seem a tad dated graphic wise and the loading screens were somewhat long due to the amount of them though it still ran well. The puzzles throughout weren't too difficult while being largely engaging for players and using the light systems with the shadow character versus the regular person was neat. Definitely an unique title and worth checking out as it does its own thing very well.

Shadow Puppeteer for Wii U
Review Code provided by Snow Cannon Games

Rating Overall: 7.6