Every object, thing, and living being has a schim, but what happens when you get separated from yours? SCHiM is a game about jumping from shadow to shadow, and interacting with a relaxing and lively environment, while you journey back to your human.
Developed by: Ewoud van der Werf, Nils Slijkerman
Played on: Steam
Length: 4 hours
A review key was provided by Ewoud van der Werf and Nils Slijkerman.
Over the years, many games have tried to innovate on the platformer genre to mixed degrees of success. SCHiM delivers its attempt with a unique twist that reimagines flat platform design into a living, breathing world. You play as a schim, a spirit that jumps between shadows of animated objects and moving beings, using them as your pathway to reach your destination.
From an artistic perspective, the game is quite a beautiful experience. Its minimalistic aesthetic is easy on the eyes, while serving to emphasise its dynamic approach to level design. Each level combines light, shadows, and animations in interesting ways, and when combined with its lo-fi soundtrack and satisfying sound design, sets the foundations for a cozy gaming experience.
While the game’s concept seemed to set itself up for more complex ideas down the line, its final execution ended up fairly straightforward with little of the technical or mental finesse usually sought after in this genre. Each level seemed to railroad players towards one solution in spite of its large environments, and its lack of collectibles and infrequent checkpoints disincentivised any exploration off the beaten path. The checkpoint system was particularly punishing, as one wrong move could sometimes reset you halfway across the map.
Even putting those factors aside, there were a few unsatisfying bits of game design that made SCHiM difficult to play all the way through. Namely, I found my gameplay flow was constantly being disrupted by long animation cycles, leaving me to spend large chunks of my playthrough waiting for “my turn” only to be harshly punished by the checkpoint system if I happened to miss the jump.
The ability to swap camera angles also felt like a pointless addition, as it did nothing to help me estimate jump distances, and oftentimes presented camera angles that were either disorienting or blocked even more of my view. After experiencing this a couple of levels in a row, even its story couldn’t do much to keep me engaged with the title.
Despite that, I can still find it within me to enjoy the concept behind SCHiM. The game is filled with the beginnings of good ideas that could easily shine with more polish, a tighter run time, and perhaps a slightly lower price point. For a first-time development duo, the title shows promise for their future work and I look forward to see what they’ll present next.
Verdict: Try Again Next Time
SCHiM is the latest platformer to innovate on the genre to a mixed degree of success. Despite its strong concept and aesthetic art direction, the game suffers from overly simplistic level design and a lack of quality-of-life features. Still, it’s clear that the game is filled with the beginnings of good ideas that could shine with more polish, a tighter run time, and a slightly lower price point. Perhaps next time.
Check out SCHiM on Steam, and top up your Steam Wallet using Codashop to earn bonus rewards.
