In 2018 the adventure game Wandersong offered us the opportunity to develop in a world influenced by music. Its creator, Greg Lobanov, decided this year to devote himself to another art: painting. Chicory was first featured on Kickstarter and invites us to add color to the vast monochrome universe of Picnic. A delicious adventure of puzzles and platforms.
The province of Picnic, rural area of Chicory: A Colorful Tale, has lost all its colors and is now in monochrome tones. Chicory, the official painter of these countries and owner of the large magic brush, has fled to her room and categorically refuses to work. We play as his concierge – and admirer – who has a personal name, that of the food you prefer; ours will be “chicken”. Poulet decides to equip himself with the sacred brush of his favorite artist and gives himself the mission to return Picnic to its splendor. In addition to its open fairytale atmosphere and its decoration worthy of a real coloring book, Chicory offers us an adventure that vacillates between great explorations and arduous puzzles.
The art of dyeing
Seeing painting as a central part of a game’s gameplay is nothing new. This is a feature that has already been vividly used in Splatoon, or with a little more poetry in Concrete Genie and The Unfinished Swan, which often asked us to reveal invisible backgrounds with rays of color. With chicory, these are all already drawn, characterized by a thick lead and a very childlike imagery. Equipped with our brush, whose styles – i.e. shapes – can vary depending on the discovery, we can decorate the landscapes with the colors of an evolving palette. We are free not to go beyond the contours and adjust the tones or scribble roughly to simply mark our territory. If it is illegible at the start of the game, the card should be viewed as a blank canvas on which all parts will become visible as the game progresses. And painting what surrounds us quickly becomes an automatism to sign our passages. Entering and painting every piece of land is as fun an activity as our main goal.
We enjoy talking to every resident and engaging with their touching little topics. The writing is simple, light, but still delicate. Beyond the perishable evil that rages and preoccupies everyone, we discuss the little problems of everyday life or Chicken’s questions about his legitimacy to inherit the brush. Nothing that should bring you to your limits or tear you a tear, but the whole thing is a nice story to walk through, between downtown Collation, the village of Ptitdèj, through the hills of the Apéro to the water of the Grande Cup. Greg Lobanov, author of the music game Wandersong, is at the origin of the creation of this universe, which may seem as simple as it is abundant. On the soundtrack we are happy to hear the always so catchy compositions by Lena Raine – which we already knew from the music of Celeste – which perfectly capture the atmosphere of Picnic.
Chircory: The first 20 minutes of the game
Brilliant content
The inhabitants of this fantastic world offer their little quests, which consist of finding all of an angry father’s runaway kittens, landscaping the garden of a grieving neighbor, or investigating a terrible break-in. Some achievements give us rewards, such as furniture or other trinkets that we can have in our home or that of other characters. We can also collect fashionable outfits and accessories, from hats to glasses. Chicory is so sober in appearance that it is bursting with content, between small recreations and dangerous journeys full of obstacles. Finally, count on a few drawing mini-games about creating a pastry shop logo, taking a painting class, or doing the portrait of chicory. A total of, the adventure should take you well over 10 hours if you live it to the fullest
Most of the time, completing our main quest will involve opening corridors, digging up codes to open doors, or showing an excellent sense of direction to find your way around. Our environment and equipment can be put to good use: giant mushrooms serve as trampolines between the platforms, lianas serve as means of transport and large stones can be destroyed by bombs placed nearby. You can also clear passages by crossing water, climbing hills, or jumping in clouds, with each path marked with color. And if the goal is difficult to achieve for your taste, you can always ask your parents for help by calling from one of the booths on the map; an always pleasant moment when your father, a raccoon with boundless energy, tries to always give you very accurate advice. And then, another pleasant surprise during the discovery of Chicory: the end of the pigmented chapters of boss fights with mesmerizing aesthetics that require evasion and frantic brushstrokes at the enemy. There’s no question that the game is full of great ideas to keep us busy.
And the co-op mode, how does it work?
Chicory features a local two-player cooperative mode that turns out to be very anecdotal when it comes to solving puzzles or exploring. However, it can be enjoyed much more in simple painting sessions with others in the world of picnic or in creative mini-games.
Chicory: Un Combat de Boss
From little apprentice to great artist
Passed every new chapter the game gives us a comfortable feeling of progress translated by new capacities given to our heroine or our work tool. So Poulet can light up the darkness with her brushstrokes, she will learn to hop between platforms, or better still: she will be able to swim in her own painting. In other words, it will be able to make strokes in stripes of color. Equipped with all these possibilities, the visit to the huge picnic world becomes even more pleasant in the course of the adventure and gradually reveals new areas that we were initially not allowed to enter.
This quite wide field of action, which is skilfully used for puzzling, can, however, underline a somewhat tedious grip. and not the most convenient. We can only recommend using the keyboard / mouse, which is far more convenient for applying large coats of paint. With the pad, creating the trace on the trigger is much less precise, almost annoying. In either case, you will certainly not be able to achieve your best artwork with the tools given in Chicory. Conversely, using the movement capacities during the platform phases with the lever in hand becomes easier and more fluid. In fact, we switched between the two accessories during the game; Imbalances without which the experience would have been truly extraordinary.
Points fortresses
- Robust puzzles
- Little boss fights that are real recreations
- The relaxing pleasure of painting unspoiled surroundings
- Satisfactory content for a decent lifetime
- A charming little universe
- Impeccable soundtrack
Weak points
- An unbalanced grip between the keyboard / mouse combination and the pad
- Orientation that is difficult at times and can become frustrating
Chicory presents great challenges under its fat draws and its childlike charisma. Together, the creator Greg Lobanov (wandering song) and the composer Lena Raine (Celeste) have succeeded in creating a universe that is generous in exploration, discovery and obstacles to be overcome and offers a completely correct lifespan. If you don’t want to take the time to solve the ingenious puzzles that await you, you have the leisure to freely embark on the other little quests of the enchanting world of Picnic, populated by its enchanting animals. On the other hand, let’s repeat, the adventure will be a lot better if you choose the keyboard.
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By Tiraxa, Journalist igamesnews.com
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