Game Report: Chicory
May. 18th, 2023 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indi_timberpathIf someone asked me what Chicory was about, the first thing I'd think to say would be "It's about creativity," and then I'd have to do a whole bunch of backtracking and extra explaining.
There's are whole areas of games that people describe as being "about creativity". There's immersive sims where there's different solutions to most of the problems, and then there's sandbox games like Minecraft where almost the whole game is about seeing what you can make yourself. They're about creativity in the mechanics. Chicory is about creativity in the thematics, and yet it also does a pretty clever job of getting creativity into the mechanics too, in a style of game that's not known for being that creative.
Mechanically, Chicory feels a lot like a classic Zelda-style game. There's a dense map with various dungeons and obstacles which are surmountable by using powers unlocked in other dungeons. There's a pretty clear main path through the game, dictated by which powers you unlocked. Mechanically, the main difference from a stock Zelda game is that most of your powers come from a magical paintbrush that you can use to paint anywhere on the 2d world, and most of the powers involve more things happening with that paint, like using it to light up dark places, or swimming through it to explore new areas on the map. None of this really requires a 'creative' solution, in the immersive-sim or Minecraft sense. And yet, talking about the game like this says about as little, and is about as misleading, as saying it's "about creativity".
So, let's try to talk about it all at the same time. Chicory takes place in a world where all the color comes from the Wielder, and artist with a magical brush that can paint the world itself. You start off as the newest Wielder, after the previous one (named Chicory) gave up the brush. You have to unlock its powers and use it to fight off a colorless corruption that's encroaching on the world.
That pretty much sounds like a very standard video game setup, but what makes it really stand out is the characters, and the moment-to-moment interactions. One that stands out first is the circumstances of Chicory giving up the brush: It wasn't because she was defeated, or wounded, or cursed. It's because she felt overwhelmed by the pressure of bringing color to the world and essentially being an artist-celebrity, while still knowing she has to deal with the corruption. To anyone with sporadic bouts of creative inspiration, it's really relatable.
Wherever you go in the game you run into characters who talk in loose, friendly, personable ways, and they all want you to do things. Sometimes save someone, but sometimes just design a t-shirt, or a donut, or get furniture for their party. It can be overwhelming too (or at least it was for me), and it's to the game's credit that it doesn't really force most of this on you. There's a lot of stuff I know I didn't find in the game, but there's a lot of stuff I'm glad I did do; I loved seeing people wearing my T-shirt design and eating my donuts. I really loved the 90's-style sign I designed for a pizza place, that then showed up in the world.
I found the puzzles in the game really rewarding; I love figuring out Zelda-style puzzles, and I especially love when they rely more on thinking than reaction time. I also actually loved the "combat," which had more to do with dodging clever bullet-hell sequences than it did with really shooting. And I loved the creative bits that I did.
Sometimes I worry I'm not very creative in the traditional sense, I like to figure out cool ways to problems but I don't often embellish things or make elaborate aesthetics. This game, that's so much about accepting creativity and not letting imposter syndrome crush you, did an awesome job of meeting me where I'm at, both in terms of difficulty and in terms of what I want to do with the game. And the best part is, there's plenty of things I can go back to later, to explore more and get more creative if I want to. It's a really lovely, well-crafted game and I'm so happy I played it.
There's are whole areas of games that people describe as being "about creativity". There's immersive sims where there's different solutions to most of the problems, and then there's sandbox games like Minecraft where almost the whole game is about seeing what you can make yourself. They're about creativity in the mechanics. Chicory is about creativity in the thematics, and yet it also does a pretty clever job of getting creativity into the mechanics too, in a style of game that's not known for being that creative.
Mechanically, Chicory feels a lot like a classic Zelda-style game. There's a dense map with various dungeons and obstacles which are surmountable by using powers unlocked in other dungeons. There's a pretty clear main path through the game, dictated by which powers you unlocked. Mechanically, the main difference from a stock Zelda game is that most of your powers come from a magical paintbrush that you can use to paint anywhere on the 2d world, and most of the powers involve more things happening with that paint, like using it to light up dark places, or swimming through it to explore new areas on the map. None of this really requires a 'creative' solution, in the immersive-sim or Minecraft sense. And yet, talking about the game like this says about as little, and is about as misleading, as saying it's "about creativity".
So, let's try to talk about it all at the same time. Chicory takes place in a world where all the color comes from the Wielder, and artist with a magical brush that can paint the world itself. You start off as the newest Wielder, after the previous one (named Chicory) gave up the brush. You have to unlock its powers and use it to fight off a colorless corruption that's encroaching on the world.
That pretty much sounds like a very standard video game setup, but what makes it really stand out is the characters, and the moment-to-moment interactions. One that stands out first is the circumstances of Chicory giving up the brush: It wasn't because she was defeated, or wounded, or cursed. It's because she felt overwhelmed by the pressure of bringing color to the world and essentially being an artist-celebrity, while still knowing she has to deal with the corruption. To anyone with sporadic bouts of creative inspiration, it's really relatable.
Wherever you go in the game you run into characters who talk in loose, friendly, personable ways, and they all want you to do things. Sometimes save someone, but sometimes just design a t-shirt, or a donut, or get furniture for their party. It can be overwhelming too (or at least it was for me), and it's to the game's credit that it doesn't really force most of this on you. There's a lot of stuff I know I didn't find in the game, but there's a lot of stuff I'm glad I did do; I loved seeing people wearing my T-shirt design and eating my donuts. I really loved the 90's-style sign I designed for a pizza place, that then showed up in the world.
I found the puzzles in the game really rewarding; I love figuring out Zelda-style puzzles, and I especially love when they rely more on thinking than reaction time. I also actually loved the "combat," which had more to do with dodging clever bullet-hell sequences than it did with really shooting. And I loved the creative bits that I did.
Sometimes I worry I'm not very creative in the traditional sense, I like to figure out cool ways to problems but I don't often embellish things or make elaborate aesthetics. This game, that's so much about accepting creativity and not letting imposter syndrome crush you, did an awesome job of meeting me where I'm at, both in terms of difficulty and in terms of what I want to do with the game. And the best part is, there's plenty of things I can go back to later, to explore more and get more creative if I want to. It's a really lovely, well-crafted game and I'm so happy I played it.
