Forma.8

Form.8 is not an easy game, it was said. And it is not even from the “plot” (quotes are mandatory), which sees a small probe (called, in fact, form.8) plunges onto an unknown planet, due to a fault inside of the mother ship carrying it. Because we find them and wh

at hides that celestial body we do not know. The feeling of dissipation and loneliness is total, and from now on something “left” is created, a kind of fil rouge, protagonist protagonist and the planet itself. No cut-scene or kinematic sequence will illustrate the history of the story, and perhaps it’s better like this: form.8 is a game that focuses on the silence and the long distances to go in the shoes of our robotic friend.

And even the gaming system seems to be relying on this philosophy of conceptual “solitude”, seen and considered that as a primary goal we will be called

upon to explore every single anthrax of this seemingly empty and inhospitable planet. And to do this, the player will be given the structure a few lines up, a structure consisting of resolution puzzles and the search for new macro areas to unlock.

form.8 is then subdivided into seamlessly linked levels, some of which are initially excluded from the player (as by tradition). A map will show us every ar

ea we visit, as well as the abilities and everything that the probe will collect or unlock during its wandering through caves and tunnels, such as the ability to generate mines or powerful shock waves. But beware: form.8 is not the new Samus Aran or the heir of Alucard. His skills are very limited, considering that at the beginning we will have only one shield and bombs available. And it will not be enough to save our wheels for a long time.

No tutorial, adventure companion or screenwriter will tell us what to do or where to go: It will be our direction of orientation to push us in the right direction, which will only come after a constant workout of our little probe. In fact, understanding how to use the skills given to our fr

agile form.8, as well as the ability to interact with the (few) creatures present on the planet, will prove to be an effective and truly amazing tool, which makes the Mixed Bag title a small jewel of game design, albeit with its own structural limits (after all, backtracking is a constant which can have its side effects).

The small mechanized protagonist can also interact with different elements of the scenario (strictly 2D), so that it opens up a range of well-structured and never redundant enigmas. If there is a thing that in all the 6/7 hours you need to complete the game you will never encounter boredom.

The kids in the tricolor development team have so balanced the progress of the title that it’s seriously difficult to find a passage equal to another.And this is rare, especially in titles of the kind that are based on often repeating an enigmistic type of stage.

Just as rarely, it is possible to find a cure so obvious in the realization of a graphic and aesthetic compartment, despite the apparent independent nature of the title: a versatile engine such as Unity enables a series of motion pictures to be defined and never washed, a palette of really bright colors capable of giving to the forgotten planet of form.8 a “realism” (quotes are obligatory in this case) that will push us more than once to think that such a place, in the deep space, maybe there really is.

And even the audio industry, often in the background and never invasive, is tied to the rest of the work spent (beautifully) in the technical processing of the game. Because form.8 is a metroidvania as if they see few, capable of clashing up with sacred monsters of this genre, though struggling to hide its aspect from low-budget independent products and sometimes suffer the limits of the case. Perhaps, in this case more than in others, the thing is not so serious.