I usually don’t like to compare games when I review them, but I have a funny feeling I’m not the only one who was reminded of other moody puzzle games when I first saw them. White ball. It’s a game with a monotonous color palette, chaotic setting, an extremely abstract story, and for the first few minutes I had to push around boxes to get past the obstacles, so yes, it will remind you of Limbo or Inside of Playdead. White Shadows came close to growing its own wings and taking off, thanks to its incredible focus on musical pieces and cinematic presentations. Sadly, some unappealing puzzles and an incoherent final act clipped its wings before it took off.
White Shadows begins with a paragraph-filling content warning, warning the player about themes of racism, xenophobia, suicide, etc. But it explores these themes in the same way that George Orwell explored them. the corruption of socialist ideals in the Soviet Union: with animals.
You play as a little crow walking through a hyper-industrialized city, devoid of natural light and stuffed with metal structures. It’s not uncommon to see signs in the background that say “All animals are equal… Except for birds,” or signs that encourage violence against creatures with set pitiful feathers.
The commentary is a bit overt – even more so later in the game in a way I’m not going to spoil – but the sinister environment it manages to build on is worth it. Especially with the amount of scary ads spread all over the place, the city of White Shadows feels like a true backward capital. A place where all the pigs are trying to sell you artificial light, because God knows what happened to the sun. Some of the animal and machine designs are awesome too. There is a depiction of a pig whose face makes eight different chins.
When you can’t see the wrinkled pig cheeks, it’s likely that you’re solving some puzzles, and these puzzles are somewhat of a hit. Mostly miss. They’re not terrible, or so vague that you’ll be stuck with them forever, they’re just too simple. This is probably due to the lack of physical simulation of White Shadows. I’ve never spent any time playing with the various moving parts of a puzzle game, so there’s no experimentation that usually comes from most 2D puzzle games. Instead, the answer to most puzzles is either extremely obvious, or you can simply go back and find another box to use as a foundation. However, you should never spend too much time on any of the puzzles due to their relatively simple nature, so at least they serve as largely unsightly obstacles throughout. your playtime.
Much of the game is fast-paced, fast-paced and fun, never really releasing the tension. That is until the last action on the left. In an awkward pacing change, the game literally depicts the city’s history, how society turns into an industrial hell, and lots of other perverts. For a game that seems so committed to interpretive storytelling for most of its playtime, this part just feels like a hit. While the rest of the game from that point forward tells an incoherent story, it’s at least full of some great levels.
I don’t want to overshadow the shortcomings of White Shadows because White Shadows is a short game. I finished it in less than two hours, so any part where I had real problems never lasted long. When the White Ball was at its best, it flew as high as the industrial stone blocks scattered across the background.
I’m specifically referring to the game’s great musical segments, in which you can dance and acrobatics for a lifetime while a classic like Ride Of The Valkyries explodes in the background. The music is perfectly timed with jumps to save your life, or machines to swoop down and try to kill you. These installments are both heart-pounding suspense and breathtaking cinematography. All in all, it’s not like White Shadows is a two-hour musical, but these intros pop up often enough that they’re the main thing I remember about the game.
But even if an epic opera doesn’t narrate your survival, the game retains its cinematic flair. The camera often zooms out or pans up, drawing your attention to a menacing monument or other startling character design. White Shadows never left the springboard in this respect. The entire game is filled with incredibly well-composed photos that can be turned into a poster – if you’re looking at sick stuff every day.
White Shadows is at its best when it focuses less on puzzles and more on these moments. Those moments where you’re just focused on running from point A to point B, jumping over a few gaps, or dodging some mechanical chainsaws are meant to sharpen you. When the game operates at this level, it reminds me more of an art installation or a theater work; something to bewilder and admire rather than something that will challenge you.
So some of the individual parts of White Shadows are flawed, but I really enjoyed my time with it. If you’re not really bothered with the game’s simple puzzles and you’re willing to skip the exposition results at the end, I recommend it. White Shadows offers two hours of fun, creative design, a fun instrument set, and enough screen-viewable attractions to fill your hard drive.
