SCHiM Review: A Great Idea That Sometimes Soars

Every so often, a game comes along that's able to make its case in just a few seconds of gameplay. developed by Ewoud van der Wouf and Nils Slijkerman and published by Playism, fits this mold perfectly. Focusing on the idea of jumping from shadow to shadow, sets up light platforming and puzzle elements in a world that only ever has a couple of colors on screen. It's a fun, creative concept that can sometimes really shine, but the game isn't always operating at its highest potential.

is generally light on plot, but it does follow a basic narrative thrust that opens with a boy, his shadow, and an indistinct spirit in that shadow called a schim. Before long, the two end up separated, and the schim embarks on a journey to reunite with its person. This quest carries the game across 65 levels of widely varying lengths, populated with everything from conveyor belts to umbrellas to lots and lots of vehicles.

The mechanics of are often as simple as they appear, fixating on the key aspect of jumping even more than the typical platformer does. Landing just outside a shadow can be rectified with a small grace hop, while ending up completely stranded will quickly reset the to the last shadow that the game deems relevant. In the earliest levels, these concessions can feel patronizing, but it doesn't take long to be very thankful for the helping hand.

Like the length of the levels, the difficulty of 's challenges also covers a wide gamut. Some scenes orient the puzzling around shuffling, disorienting intersections, and others double down on the -like nature of the gameplay for relatively intense gauntlet runs. Many, however, are more or less just about hopping to the end, and it often embraces the sensibilities of something meant more for relaxation than mastery.

In any setting in, the greatest pleasure to be found is usually from nudging objects for reactions.

's shifting nature makes the most sense when thinking of it as a series of vignettes, with each level serving up