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SCHiM Review
Trapped In Its own Shadow
HIGH The golf segment.
LOW Literally waiting on the bus.
WTF Why is there not an effective synonym for shadow?
SCHiM makes an excellent first impression.
Shown from an isometric perspective, SCHiM’s world feels alive — cars buzz down busy streets, children play in the park, and birds fly through the sky. Each of these elements casts a shadow, some of which appear to be alive with great blinking eyes peering back and forth. Taking control of a displaced shadow, the player must leap between other shadows in pursuit of their missing human.
The story begins in childhood. A young boy and his shadow explore and play before he eventually grows into a teenager, young adult, and finally a man. Told entirely through pantomime, I watched as the man went through hardship before ultimately losing connection with his shadow. Each stage of SCHiM involves the player controlling the estranged shadow and pursuing him across city streets, construction sites, and beaches in an effort to reconnect. While the thematic elements at work here are not particularly unique, they are relatable, especially with the state of the world today.
Represented as a frog-like being, the player-controlled shadow can only survive in shadows cast by objects in the world. Missing a jump and ending up between shadows on “land” spells almost instant death – mercifully, the developers allow the player a single ‘safety jump’ to course-correct after a miscalculation.
In this situation, both planning and opportunism became my biggest allies. I surveyed my environment, analyzing things like the patterns of pedestrians, the flow of traffic and the flight path of a bird, waiting for my moment to strike. As the world wheeled around me, indifferent to my presence, I keyed into its rhythms, readying myself to spring forth. There is an almost tactical nature to this process that belies the simplistic, cutesy façade of quaint towns and living shadows.
Unfortunately, failure in these instances grinds play to a halt. More than once, having missed a critical jump, I found myself simply sitting, waiting for the next passing vehicle or cyclist to hitch a ride on. At times, these waits were so protracted that I wondered if I’d taken a wrong turn and hit a dead end. Many of SCHiM’s levels are expansive, and despite a button dedicated to moving the camera in the direction of the goal, I would often find myself lost. The top-down perspective with a limited window into the world only exacerbates this issue.
I found SCHiM to be more successful when it broke out of the monotony of open, sunny city streets and moved the action to more linear levels with intentional theming — things like a rainy night with shadows appearing and disappearing with each lighting flash, or a burning building with dynamic shadows that ebbed and flowed with the light provide welcome mechanical mix-ups. Unfortunately, these more tightly-designed stages are the exception rather than the rule, making up a disappointingly small percentage of the overall experience.
Beyond the general platforming that makes up most of SCHiM‘s play, there is also a mechanic by which the player can influence the object they are currently inhabiting. For example, it’s possible to raise the forks of a forklift when in its shadow, thereby creating a bridge to my destination. Some of these are more kinetic, such as a clothesline that acts as a trampoline, or a carousel that can be used as a slingshot to launch the player across the map. These moments, bouncing through the environment, skipping from shadow to shadow fluidly, find SCHiM at its best, and the juxtaposition of realism and whimsy provides real joy when the developers fully explore their mechanics of light and shadow.
Unfortunately, mechanics like these feel underutilized. Sometimes I could prod a bird into flight, but more often than not it would simply chirp, content to sit in the grass. Most of the inhabitants of SCHiM react this way – a dog might bark or a person might sneeze, but rarely do they provide a useful reaction. I sometimes found myself unsure where to go next, only to discover that I was supposed to interact with an object but had forgotten the mechanic even existed because it so rarely produced results.
SCHiM is built around contrast — light and dark, youth and age, harsh reality and naïve whimsy. Unfortunately, this dichotomous nature leaks into its mechanics, leading to an overall sense of inconsistency. The moments of touching beauty and joyful movement it sometimes creates stand in stark opposition to the frustration and confusion when play breaks down. This juxtaposition doesn’t make SCHiM a failure, but it casts a shadow over the experience that’s hard to see past.
Rating: 6 out of 10
— Ryan Nalley
Disclosures: This game is developed by Ewoud va der Werf and published by Extra Nice. It is currently available on PC, XBO, XBO/X/S, PS4/5 and Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBX. Approximately 4 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E and contains Mild Violence. The official description reads as follows: This is an adventure platformer in which players assume the role of a shadow creature reconnecting with a character who has lost their shadow. From a ¾-overhead perspective, players explore city locations and interact with shadows/objects to solve puzzles. A handful of sequences depict characters in mild peril, including a child inside a burning building.
Colorblind Modes: There is not a labeled, official colorblind mode, however SCHiM allows players to customize every color on screen. Each level is presented in a limited, high contrast color palette, and every color can be changed using a color wheel style mechanic. It should be noted that the color scheme changes with most levels and these settings are not pervasive.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: There is no spoken dialogue in the game, therefore there are no subtitle options. All audio cues are accompanied by a visual element, so this game is fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.
