Puzzle platforming in the black & white 1950’s? That would be Nowhere Studios’ Monochroma that was Greenlit on Steam back in September last year. We follow two young brothers fighting against corporate tyranny.
We must overcome physics-based puzzles as we travel through this narratively led game, with no text or spoken words. It’s set in an ”alternate dystopian state” full of oppression.
To that end the game blends black and white with dashes of red, and Nowhere feel it’s ”instantly understandable by players of all nationalities”, requiring no localization.
”Monochroma mixes the paranoia and dreading forbode of the 1950’s with the recent geopolitical landscape of protest, upheavals and revolutions, and builds an alternate universe that places gameplay, atmosphere and narrative above everything else,” said Burak Tezateşer, Executive Producer of Monochroma. “We’ve been inspired by a mix of influences, from classic video games from our childhood including Abe’s Oddysee and Heart of Darkness, to classic tales such as Red Riding Hood and the Wizard of Oz and the urban architecture of the 20th century.”
Monochroma plays through four chapters from the vast ghettos, a sewer labyrinth, billowing industry and a city sized zeppelin hanging in the sky. They use realistic puzzles with physics that blend into the game world.
In the beginning the younger of the brothers has hurt his leg, and so the older boy must carry him and set him down in lit areas because he’s afraid of the dark. ”Being a responsible older sibling is mandatory—just as in real life.”
Monochroma releases this April on PC and Mac through Steam. It debuts at the GDC in San Francisco held March 19th - 21st. Monochroma is the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign that ended July 2013.
