The Taiwanese studio Coconut Island, already known to the owners of the Switch for the story walker Detention, recently transferred another project to the current Nintendo console – Shio. This is a completely different game in spirit – an extremely hardcore platformer for jumping exercises fans who want to test their abilities and nerves. Despite the change of genre, Shio boasts close to Detention, although not so dark visual style, just pleasing the soul and even the story.
The latter is presented traditionally for the Asian games very slowly and in very small portions. The main character, a tall type in a wooden mask, carrying a flashlight with a blue spiritual flame in his hands, will meet scenes from the life of one Chinese family and even conduct dialogues with its members. Also, the disclosure of history will help the diary entries that are revealed as you progress.
However, the basis of Shio is not a plot at all, but a gameplay based on extremely simple control. In addition to activating the dialogues and viewing the stylish, as if drawn on the blackboard, the hero can run and jump cards … That’s it! However, the story of the mechanics will be incomplete, if you do not mention the Chinese lanterns hung at all levels – with a wave of his lamp the character repels himself from them as if making a double jump. It is this function that underlies all the difficult areas that the hero has to overcome, sometimes without touching the solid surface in minutes.
If at the very beginning it is only necessary to push off from the flashlights in time, controlling the flight, and trying not to fall into the abyss, then over time, the player will need all the concentration and reaction. Moving wheels full of flame, gradually heating up surfaces, whole labyrinths filled with astray and throwing spikes – all this and much more will stand in the way of the hero. In general, the further, the more in Shio there is an interesting complex physics, which must not only be avoided but also used for the benefit of itself. After all, the same wind can become an assistant, allowing a complicated labyrinth to fly with the right entry into it.
The game has two modes of difficulty, even the first of which will make you sweat! The second greatly reduces the number of torch-saves at each level and adds secret locations. In each mode, you can collect special flashlights, revealing some parts of the diary.
I mentioned the Shio visual style a little bit above. A great selection of pastel colors, elegant parliamentary backgrounds, simple and cute visual effects make the game very attractive. In general, Coconut Island clearly has a sense of style that makes me look at all their projects with interest.
Shio goes perfectly on the Nintendo Switch, although it takes up almost two and a half gigabytes. For such, let’s say straightforward, uncomplicated, visually and not too large games, the volume is decent. It means that it, most likely, is executed on the Unity engine. In cons Shio, I can write and indecently long download time between levels.
Concluding the review of Shio, I can safely say that the game without discounts refers to good quality platformers made with soul. Moreover, the platformers are very hardcore and do not have the edge of old-school graphics crammed too many gamers. The game is clearly niche, but it costs a little more than 700 rubles, which is quite a bit.