Independent Barcelona studio Mango Protocol has developed another video game for its Psychotic Adventures universe. CLeM is the fourth, although it doesn’t seem like it will be the last. All titles in this fiction have something in common: strange girls with strange powers. This has already happened with MechaNika, Agatha Knife and Colossus Down. CLeM is no different from the previous ones, in fact it is the most macabre and mysterious of all.
The player takes on the role of a doll who wakes up in what appears to be the basement of a house, with a book lying next to it and the voice of a girl asking to bring her beauty. Now it is time to open the volume and understand what beauty is and, moreover, come to the conclusion that this specimen will be of great importance throughout history. Using the book, you must search the entire house for “beauty” and bring it to CLeM.
In the house, which is quite dark and dirty, we find that we can only enter a few places. As time goes on and the experience progresses, all of this expands to the point that at the end, when all the puzzles that arise are solved, the house will be completely accessible.
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However, the rooms are completely uninhabited, so the course of the entire game consists of the same character wandering around his house alone, looking for information. All of this is obtained through Puzzle,
The game and its story are divided into five chapters, which are quite similar in structure: discover something they ask of you, solve puzzles until you get it, and bring it back. Once you receive each requested item, slots will be unlocked and, most importantly, skills (one per chapter) that will help you make the game time more dynamic and entertaining.
To make sure you did the right thing, or to find new puzzles that you missed, there are times when you walk up and down the entire map a few times. However, you never feel like you’re stuck because if you read the book well you’ll understand everything (the important things are in bold) and if not, even the game’s voice gives little guidance on how to progress. One of the highlights is the story itself, which, as usual, is revealed gradually and only becomes clear in the climax. This plot has two endings and both are correct, only one is more emotional and the other more imaginative.
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If we go back specifically to the puzzles, you could say that the whole thing Tradition of the game is nothing more than a very legitimate excuse for you to entertain yourself by solving puzzles. They’re not really difficult, but they depend on it the player’s cunning and logical deduction
Specifically, it is a very unintuitive puzzle with questionable logic, but it is the only black mark as far as puzzles and tasks are concerned, since in general they are all very correct and some stand out for their brilliance. In general, the game lasts about four and a half hours, which makes it neither too short nor too long, making the “search and return” mechanics monotonous and tedious. Of course, this can all depend on the skill of the player, as someone very familiar with the genre could pass it without any problems.
The visual presentation is undoubtedly CLeM’s other big selling point, with a gritty aesthetic and daylight feel throughout, in addition to the fact that when merged with the story it becomes something that reaches a strange point macabre and dark The backgrounds are full of details and all locations and environments are represented perfectly. The transitions and character movements are impeccable and the loading times are the same, they are almost non-existent and very well justified.
In contrast, there is the soundtrack, which is very short and repetitive to the point of becoming annoying, although on the other hand the voices and the atmosphere adapt perfectly and particularly the voice of CLeM It’s a great representation.
To conclude and summarize, CLeM is a near perfect video game for the purpose it is intended for: spending an afternoon or two solving problems and exercising your brain. It’s a short story that, if it were longer, would be boring, but if not, it becomes a virtue. Despite the soundtrack and the cheerful puzzle that is so difficult to solve due to its lack of logic, everything that remains is practically flawless. The title made me feel like a child, not so much out of nostalgia for past memories, but because I’m being trusted with the solution to a problem and ignorance is playing tricks on me. In addition, CleM teaches you a crucial value for life in general: the meaning lies in the small details, because that is where the answers to all the questions it raises ultimately lie. That being said, I would definitely be back to being a creepy CLeM doll wandering around my home looking for gadgets, discovering secrets and solving puzzles. And you, Would it be you again?
