At home we are very interested in puzzle games with a high “dark” component, such as LITTLE NIGHTMARES or LIMBO. When we saw the first images of what was going to be WHITE SHADOWS, it seemed to us that it was definitely going to be something that walked the same path. Little did we know that we were going to find one of the most “dark” games that we had tried, and in every possible way.
WHITE SHADOWS is available for Playstation 5, Xbox Series and PC.
I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING CHE, TURN ON THE LIGHT !!
The story takes us to a surreal world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. Legend has it that sometime prior to the start of the game, that world suffered a great war, which ended with the destruction of the sun and completely plunged the planet into the deepest darkness. While all the animals did their best to survive in such terrible conditions, the Birds and the Pigs began to collaborate and live under the motto of “All animals are equal”, in pursuit of mutual aid and survival. Everything was going well (as good as one can be in a dark world) until the Wolves appeared. They created a gigantic factory where they promised to give the Pigs a bath of light to free them from the darkness that made them sick, but also convinced them that the Birds were the true enemies and who brought darkness to the world.
In the role of Ravengirl, a raven girl, our mission is to enter the titanic factory of the Wolves and discover what is really happening there with the Pigs that come in search of salvation and with the Birds that are disappearing.
HE WHO WARNS NOT BETRAY
From the first screen that appears when you start the game, WHITE SHADOWS warns us that its content is not like that of any other title. Suicide, xenophobia, racism, labor exploitation or violence against women and children, are some of the “little things” that the game warns us that we are going to witness, in perhaps one of the strongest warnings I have ever seen in a game.
The playable mechanics are simple: we walk through the interior of the factory while solving puzzles, we overcome some sections of platforms and we face the occasional boss along the way, all in a style similar to the other titles I mentioned at the beginning. The aesthetic is totally “noir”, using only black and white tones, and although the visual is generally clear on more than one occasion we will have to strain our eyes to understand what is happening on the screen.
But the real darkness of the game is represented in the multiple metaphors and the message it tries to convey. The Wolves would come to represent the capitalist sector, with its great factory, and they are the ones who promise the Pigs, the middle class, a little of their benefits (represented in the light) in exchange for a very hard work and absolute devotion, although in the end all they do is enslave them and eat them. At the same time, the Wolves convince the Pigs that the enemy is actually the Birds, who would come to represent the lower class, who are also being exploited and decorated by the Wolves. And so, basically, the title builds an ode to modern, dark society, where while those below fight, those above devour them and have more and more. Of course, the story has other edges such as those mentioned above, such as the labor exploitation suffered by pigs is a search for a little light, racism and xenophobia that is applied to birds or the mistreatment of women and children in scenes where they are it forces female birds to lay eggs and their chicks are killed, so the interpretations of the situations can be varied depending on the viewer.
DARK BUT PRETTY
The title is technically simple but effective. Although darkness is absolutely predominant all the time, there is a lot of contrast of lights and something always happens that illuminates the environment. From lanterns scattered around the map, lights of the guards who are looking for us to eliminate us or even trains that pass above or below our position and that more than once we will have to use to reach another point, there will always be a nearby light source to cut through the absolute black of the environment at all times. The interiors of the enormous factory always look imposing, gigantic and even oppressive, such as the dominant capitalist machinery. Character designs tend to be bizarre, with scary animal heads and bodies with human limbs, another touch of dark and “terrifying” style to the overall atmosphere.
Sound also does its bit to make us feel uncomfortable all the time. There is no voice in the game, and all we hear from the animals are different types of grunts and murmurs. While there are times when nothing is heard but silence, at other times we will even hear the factory animals humming different famous melodies, which I am not going to reveal so that whoever plays it will be surprised when it happens. This decision to make the game not have a “true” soundtrack but rather that everything we hear comes directly from the mouths of the characters gives the world of WHITE SHADOWS a unique and very particular integrity.
Playable, as I already told you, the premise is simple. We go through all the corners of the factory in search of the truth, while on our way there are puzzles that are not too difficult to overcome, simple platforming sections and bosses with interesting mechanics and even some quite new. Ravengirl does not have any weapon or any way to attack or eliminate her enemies, so the only way to survive is to learn to use the environment, and especially stealth and darkness, to avoid being defeated. In any case, the game does not punish the error too much, and although it is likely that we will die a lot, we will immediately reappear at the exact same point where we lost, so we can calmly retry as many times as necessary.
BUT… WHITE SHADOWS It is the first title from Monokel, a small German studio, and it took them three years to develop (although the idea was born more than 10 years ago, according to the same members of the study). And considering that it is their first entry into the world of gaming, we can say that they did a good job. But, and hopefully criticism is to build and serve them for the future, WHITE SHADOWS He has a couple of small problems and one very big one for now. The first one is that the gameplay is extremely simple, straightforward, and any minimally skilled player will finish the game without any problem. This is not necessarily a bad thing, more when the game puts the emphasis on the message that it tries to convey more than on the difficulty itself. But this little problem is accompanied by the other, which is the very short duration of the title. Playing quietly, without rushing, the game lasts us about two hours, so everything ends faster than we think. And the most serious problem that it has until now, especially for me and for players who like to get achievements and trophies in their games, is that recently the developers have released patch 1.02 which has unfortunately blocked access to two trophies / achievements, which today means that completing the game to 100% / getting platinum is literally impossible. A serious error, yes, but that has a solution and I hope soon, but at the time of writing this review it has not yet been solved. Hope to hear from you soon, Monokel.