#Inmost switch full#

For the most part, I didn’t find the puzzle-solving fun it slowed down the more enjoyable exploration of the castle. Some of these solutions require precise timing or doing a task that is not as hinted at as it could have been. This is where I had the most problems with Inmost. The main character’s segments are the largest where players solve puzzles, talk with almost Lewis Carroll-esque characters, and go through stretches of trial-and-error gameplay. It also would’ve helped if the little girl could move items around just a touch faster. These moments have some of the best scares of the game but I could have used a few more details for the story to really drive home. In these sections, players will steadily explore a large house, uncovering the troubles of the family and maybe even a secret darkness, all while carrying around a sassy stuffed rabbit. Our third character, a little girl, is used in moments that are closer to the horror genre than anything else. Most of the interactions of the game feel just slightly off. Unfortunately, the combat boils down to using the same one or two moves without any sense of a combo and it gets old fast. The music swells perfectly, the story is narrated by such gravitas, the knight moves much faster, I could’ve played a whole game on this character alone.

#Inmost switch full#

I always felt energized by the knight’s sections because they were full of excitement. In these scenes, players will be slashing at inky monsters and using a grappling hook to access other sections of the stage. The knight’s gameplay is the most action-oriented element of Inmost. Luckily, this is broken up with moments of action where players don the heavy armor of a knight. The main hero is also weak compared to the monsters, which means that he has to run away or trick the creatures into falling into a trap. Of course, each item is contextual so the gameplay stays static throughout with the main character. Each section is accessed through a particular item which creates more paths and shortcuts. I was amazed to find that the entire map is connected. Throughout this adventure, players will mostly be exploring a rundown castle covered in thorny vines with lots of winding paths and secret alcoves. This is most apparent in an early section where an elderly man has to carefully walk down several flights of stairs. In fact, all of the animations in the game feel measured, setting a deliberate pace. Due to this, jumps feel risky and characters move with more realistic speed. Movement in Inmost is heavy with each of the playable characters having a particular cadence and rhythm. This is mostly due to the trial-and-error scenarios whenever there is danger and the way items are used contextually to explore. The gameplay of Inmost is marketed as a 2D puzzle platformer but it feels closer to a traditional point-and-click adventure to me. Inmost has since been released on Nintendo Switch, Steam, and Apple Arcade. From there, the duo was determined to make Inmost into a full release and eventually they found a publisher in Chucklefish. Thankfully, the gamble paid off and their demo won an award, prize money, and much-needed attention. After a tough two month development that gambled their funding, the first demo for Inmost was complete and entered into a contest. The pair started their game design journey with simple Flash projects and mobiles games but they grew hungry for something more meaningful. Inmost was developed by Hidden Layer Games, an indie studio in Lithuania that is composed of just two people, Alexey Testov and Andriy Vinchkovskiy. While it may have shocking moments and the story concludes in an exciting fashion, the actual journey is full of missteps.

Inmost is a game steeped in dark fantasy that mirrors a bitter reality. There’s a level of care and precision that has to be injected into scenes to spark a certain emotion and that doesn’t consider interpretations from players. Interactivity can make actions have more weight, even though sometimes instances going for a particular feeling can end up being quite the opposite. Some of the deepest emotions of the human psyche have the potential to be explored in games in ways that other mediums lack. A BITTER TRAGEDY WITH LAYERS OF UNCERTAINTY