Shio is a platformer developed by Coconut Island Studios. The game tells the story of a man who is looking for a girl he sees in his dreams. To navigate throughout the world, you jump from lantern to lantern avoiding obstacles. While it sounds simple enough, the game is very difficult.
The narrative to this game isn’t the easiest to follow nor is it very captivating once you do understand it. It starts off slow and very confusing. The story pieces together by uncovering the redacted parts of your journal. It reveals who your character is and what he’s doing in this world.
The gameplay is better than the story, but still not the best I’ve ever played. The game is challenging and can be infuriating at times. As you progress, the obstacles you face become more difficult. There are even parts near the end of the game where the obstacles become invisible, which was the hardest part. There are loads of checkpoints in the game that helped me keep my sanity. Another feature that added to the gameplay was the signs at each checkpoint that showed you the obstacles you’ve already seen to help you complete the level. This was helpful in the later levels of the game when you really needed to study how to beat it.
The music and the images used in the game don’t really do much to further the gameplay or narrative, but they do pair well together to make you feel like you’re in ancient China.
The gameplay felt inconsistent at times when I was jumping from lantern to lantern. Sometimes it felt like you could be farther away from a lantern and still make the jump and other times you could be close to a lantern and fall to your death. The animations also looked very stiff when jumping almost like the character was in pain while jumping.
A price-point of $12.99 seems a little steep for a game with only a few hours of gameplay and not much replay-ability.
All things considered, if you’re looking for a challenge that will keep you occupied for an evening, Shio is worth a shot.