Back in June, I got the opportunity to play the demo as well as be a part of the playtest for this little indie game called SCHiM. The game’s pleasing art style, especially with the way it blended light and colors, immediately caught my eye, and though the demo was short, by the end of it, I couldn’t wait to check out the full game on launch. And as luck goes, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a review copy.
A schim is a shadow that exists within every living and non-living thing. Everything in the world has a scheme, and they should not be separated from each other. However, in the game, a schim accidentally separates and tries to reunite with their human, forging a wonderful and relatable tale in the end.
A Story About Finding Purpose And Never Giving Up
At its core, SCHiM is a narrative-driven journey with a grounded story that took me by surprise. The game starts by following a little boy’s life who grows into an adult.
Other Previews: So, This Vampire Walks Into a Bar Preview – A Heady Promise
At each stage of his life, good or bad, his schim is there with him, and the bittersweet moments on my screen were scenes to which anyone could relate. But just like that, all it takes is one bad day for things to go wrong. As the human loses his job, more bad luck hits him where one thing leads to another, and his schim accidentally gets separated. At the same time, the game smartly transitions the player’s control to the schim, who is, after all, the main character of this story.
As the schim relentlessly tries to reunite with its human, the game neatly parallels the human’s story of feeling lost without realizing he has lost his own shadow. The one thing that connects both the schim and its human is determination. The game shows this by giving both of them a purpose – the schim that travels great distances to get back with its human and the human trying to get his life back together after losing his job.
By the end, the game made me realize one cannot exist without another. Because humans without their shadow are simply not meant to be. The story of SCHiM is fairly simple to follow, but there is a sense of impact with such a unique concept that made me go, “why didn’t anyone think of this before?”
More Reviews: Drug Dealer Simulator 2 Review: Find the Balance, Create an Empire
No spoilers, but the ending did feel gratuitously satisfying.
Shadow-Hop Your Way Through
The gameplay in SCHiM is meant to be relaxing and relatively easy. Since you play as a schim, that is basically a shadow. It can only move from shadow to shadow of other objects, animals, or humans. A schim cannot sustain in light for more than a few seconds. However, it can jump from one place to another, covering a decent distance.
Shadow-hopping in SCHiM isn’t rocket science. In fact, this is a good game for a non-gamer to play. But the tricky part is to control the camera angle. The camera can be controlled at 180 degrees in the game, but it is important to select the right angle whenever you traverse different areas, as the viewpoint is never constant. It took me some time to get used to it, but even then, sometimes I got hit by blindspots, and it got annoying to see where I was going.
Thankfully, the game can be played at your own pace as there is no timer or any life-and-death situation within the game that requires your immediate attention. The game also has an objective button, and if you get lost at any point, this button will let you know where to go.
Your schim can also interact with objects to solve puzzles. Not every path is direct and easy for your schim to travel as there are many hurdles, and not every area has shadows to jump on. So sometimes, the player has to make their own path, and the game subtly adds simple puzzles. There is no hand-holding regarding puzzles, as the game offers no hints or support. Sometimes, I felt lost and didn’t know how to proceed further, but in the end, somehow, I did end up finding a solution. That’s the best part about this game – it makes you think on your own.
More Reviews: Zenless Zone Zero Review: Innovative, Familiar, Satisfying
Apart from the breezy gameplay, every level in SCHiM has collectibles to collect, which adds more to the game’s exploration. I didn’t focus too much on this, but completionists might have to play certain levels a few more times to find them all. The collectibles are usually objects like a bike, a school bag, or a ball, and once you find them, they get added to the environment with their own schim, and this can be helpful for your schim to traverse further.
A Smart Play On Light, Colors, And Sounds
The artistic aspect of SCHiM might be the best part of the game. In fact, I would recommend that anyone play this game alone for this reason.
The art felt dynamic, so even though the gameplay remained the same, I didn’t feel bored because, with every level, the setting and colors were different. This review would not be complete if I don’t talk about how well the art style of the game blends colors and light so your entire screen feels alive. A small detail that I loved was how the colors within the environment also change when you rotate your camera.
The color palette in most areas is limited, where black and white are a constant, but there is always another color that changes according to the mood of the scenery. For instance, when a human goes through a breakup or loses his job, the colors change to blue, which depicts sadness. SCHiM basically talks to its players using colors and sounds. And in my opinion, this is where the game excels. Games do not need any dialogues to communicate with their players, and SCHiM is an example of that.
From the busy streets to the crowded parks to the chaotic zoo, each area looks like it was inspired by the Dutch/European aesthetic, just like developers wanted it to. For this alone, I would definitely recommend playing the game with headphones just to get a more personal immersion of laughter, chatter, the sound of traffic, birds, dogs, and much more. These sounds may feel like they are something you hear every day, but that is the beauty of it, especially with how well they fit the game’s theme.
A Game For Everyone
It’s true what they say: Your shadow is indeed your best friend. And SCHiM conveys that with its story.
Overall, it is the kind of game you can play after a long, tiring day or week. With 65 levels, the game took me around 10 hours to complete. Even though the replayability is pretty low, it is longer than I expected it to be. But in spite of all that, SCHiM’s well-balanced gameplay, story, and, above all, its creative art style make it an enjoyable experience for everyone.
I don’t know about you, but I will surely recommend this to all my gamer and non-gamer friends.
SCHiM
SCHiM is a narrative driven journey with a grounded story that took me by surprise. But the artistic aspect might be the best part of the game. In fact, I would recommend anyone to play SCHiM for this reason alone.
The Good
- Relatable and personal story
- 65 different levels with lots to explore
- Gorgeous art style that blends light and colors
- Even though the gameplay might be the weakest aspect of the game, it doesn't feel boring or repetitive.
- Non-gamer friendly
The Bad
- Not much replayability apart from finding all the collectibles
