The puzzles are simple but challenging enough to be rewarding. You solve environmental puzzles with your brush powers in order to progress the story. Every time my tanuki Pizza interacted with the cutesy animal citizenry we would have frank and meaningful, but never oppressive, conversations about depression, anxiety, and that relentless bitch impostor syndrome.Ĭhicory is a kind of Metroidvania but, outside of boss fights, there is no combat. It acknowledges that the world is fucked up, and we are too, while not being so depressing that it makes you want to hide under your blankets forever. Or, conversely, a game will heap on misery after misery in service to “capturing the truth of real life.”Ĭhicory strikes a well-maintained balance between those extremes. That moment of reflection is completely forgotten. A game will make a wry joke or funny reference in a way that feels fitting for a quick screencap to be shared on social media with captions like “Mood,” or “Ouch,” or “Too real,” before it’s back to business. There’s a trap some games have fallen into lately in which they acknowledge the very real mental health struggles that seemingly plague millennials and Gen Z.
But in reality, Chicory is a masterfully designed surgical laser of a game designed to strip away all the defensive layers of your soul, leaving you with your deepest insecurities and the desire to do something about them while still managing to be a fun platformer romp. It’s got a cutesy art style and a relatively simple gameplay mechanic where you use your brush to fill in all the blank spaces in the world with an assortment of colours. But what starts as a standard, epic video game quest takes a turn into something more personal and heartfelt than just saving the world.Īt first brush (heh), Chicory seems like your typical feel-good indie game.
Then, as bad luck would have it, all the colour in the world mysteriously disappears, leaving your character charged with restoring colour to the world.
Chicory could not have come at a better time for people who need to learn how to be kind to themselves and gracious to others.Ĭhicory is a game about a tanuki (who, critically, is not the titular character) who lucks into a magical brush capable of painting the world in all sorts of colours.
Both games disarmed you with their charm and humour before murdering you with a story full of warmth, love, and knee-shattering poignance. Chicory: A Colourful Tale is special in the same way that Undertale was special.