Klaus Review

"Simply Red"

Campaign

Klaus is the tale of this guy that awakens in this basement in some unknown location that remembers nothing, but has the word Klaus written on his arm. From there the game goes step by step showing off the many mechanics present in gameplay and then immediately puts these steps into use. It takes great strides in constantly making sure that every level finds a new way to use the various mechanics to keep it fresh throughout the experience. Things get even crazier if you end up finding one of the secret levels that are hidden throughout the campaign that add a completely strange variable to gameplay. Some examples of the starter secret levels are controlling two characters at the same time in differing areas like the game Kalimba and another where you could only move in one direction. This in combination with all the other puzzles you come across is crazy as it keeps you thinking. I did however have some issues with the length of the campaign as it went through many chapters and got repetitive since the colors keep largely the same the entire time. Not to say I didn't love the simple and vibrant look, it just made the whole thing very much the same. The story of the game is told through text layered within the world which works well and is complement by the Playstation 4 controller making noises. I honestly hated the controller making grunts or sighs from the character though it does provide a more full experience of the game. Aside from that functionality the game also makes use of the touchpad so that you could manipulate things like platforms and that worked really well.

Gameplay

The controls are smooth for Klaus and the platforming is very well designed. I didn't have too many frustrating points which is important for me in platformer titles and frequent checkpoints were available. The game looked great with the simple colors and text that appeared throughout the story. The environments looked great, but I did find the colors to get repetitive along the story. The touchpad was well utilized for controlling objects though the sound aspects of the voice were annoying right from the start.

The Conclusion

Klaus is a solid platforming title that presents a solid story and many hours of campaign gameplay. Aside from the main narrative there's also an arcade portion to aim for speedruns and of course many secret level areas to discover within the campaign levels. The game also looks great with a very clean and stylized artistic choice to it. There are also some more fourth wall aspects as you progress which are interesting to come across and definitely threw me off when I first saw them. I didn't like the whole voice through the controller feature though the touchpad integration was well done. It's an interesting title and definitely worth your time to check out.

Klaus for Playstation 4
Review Code Provided by Evolve PR

Rating Overall: 7.9