Shady Part of Me (Narrative Platformer)

NOTE: This game is a narrative experience, and the gameplay reflects that. There is NO precision platforming nor impossible-to-figure-out puzzles along the way.

Options include volume controls for Master, Music, SFX and Voices; Brightness, Resolution (for me the default was 1536 x 864), Controller or Keyboard (re-mappable), and choice of Language.

Story and Gameplay:

The store page expresses the gist of the game and story well, but in my own words, this is about a girl struggling to face life and pain, darkness and light, yin and yang.

We journey as two parts of the whole... Part of us depends on the light, traveling through the shadows upon flat surfaces, whilst the other part is afraid of the light, and moves about in 2.5D world... It's not quite 3D, but it still *feels* 3-dimensional.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2324716145
Each character is controlled separately, and you can switch back and forth at will. You will have to cooperate with your shadow in order to progress, the goal being to get you both to the marked checkpoint. These are pretty close together, and you may be blocked off from the last segment once you both hit the save point.

Why is this important? Because there are collectible origami birds, and finding them can add just the slightest bit more to the tale.

You can see how many you've collected in the top right corner of the screen, but more helpful is the 'Revisit' section of the Menu, which will show you how many you've collected (and missed) per chapter. You can, I assume, replay a chapter at any time and not lose your progress.

There are no HINTS available, but in general, you won't need them. The puzzles tend to be on the easy-to-figure-out side, as the driving force behind this game is learning the story. Gathering the birds can be a little trickier, but it's obvious that the devs WANT you to complete the game, and rage-quitting doesn't exactly make one want to keep playing non-stop. XD
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2323376405
Although not super-challenging, the mechanics do evolve and become more complex as you progress, making things even more interesting, and blending beautifully with where we are in the story.

A lot of things come to mind as I think about the game. Whimsy. Fear. Sorrow. Beauty. Strength. The devs managed to convey these feelings in a manner that is both fluid and poignant, enhancing their tale in a variety of ways. There are elements of the known: A sprinkle of the shadow-play from Contrast, visible word play and environmental unlocks like in Epistory - Typing Chronicles, 2.5D gameplay reminiscent of Max: The Curse of Brotherhood... and yet as a whole Shady Part of Me is nothing like other games I've played.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2321264322

Verdict:

Shady Part of Me is a little slow to start off, but quickly becomes hard to pull yourself away from. I found myself completely engaged, and absolutely recommend the game to anyone who enjoys a good narrative. Quick reflexes are not required!

Shady Part of Me is a beautiful puzzle platformer with stellar art design, excellent soundtrack that mellows you out, many creative puzzles and well executed gameplay mechanics. The "shadow" part of you navigates through a 2D environment while the "child" is navigated through a 3D environment bound by avoiding light. You have the ability to seamlessly switch between the two in order to work together with "yourself" to overcome any obstacles. The light and shadow mechanic is executed flawlessly and surpasses both Contrast and iris.fall in terms of mechanic use (Both are good games regardless). For those that want an additional challenge, there are 98 origami birds hidden in puzzles that are sometimes harder to collect than to reach the exit to continue the story. The rewind feature is perfect since it keeps the flow going non-stop without you ever restarting from the beginning of the area. The game can be completed between 5-8 hrs. If you want to play an unique and enjoyable puzzle platformer, than give this game a try. [10/10]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2427857106

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2426871351

This is one of those games that will make you question yourself what's the point of growing up? just to lose yourself in the reality, forget that you used to remember your dreams, your favorite toys, your purest emotions. Instead of job, money, responsibility. It will make you feels like you living through your childhood once again. You might think I'm just exaggerating, and maybe you're right, but at least, that's my true experience with the game. Give it a try and see for yourself, i'd say it's worth it.(Bad Engrish, I know)

I'll update if my opinions end up changing, but so far it's okay. It's basically Contrast meets Limbo (minus the monsters of Limbo, at least so far), with a Prince of Persia-esque rewind mechanic that is very helpful if you make a mistake in your platforming. The mood is slightly melancholy, and the character movement is fairly slow, but not to the point where it truly hurts the experience. The visuals are understated yet certainly beautiful, and the entire atmosphere could best be described as ethereal and haunting.

It's not the most innovative game I've ever played but so far it's enjoyable.

SMALL UPDATE - I stand by everything I wrote initially (and the thumbs-up) but it bears mentioning that some of the later puzzles are really quite difficult, and largely due to mechanics that aren't explained at all. Trial and error does eventually get you there, and part of this game's whole "thing" is to be hands-off, but it put me off just a little bit.

Beautiful. I was immediately speechless. It's a game made with a lot of care and love, it has particular graphics and a dark atmosphere. An excellent platformer where we find ourselves in control of the real girl and her obmra, trying to overcome obstacles while remaining in the dark. I found the technique of rewinding time in case of errors very nice. Soundtrack really delicate and pleasant. my rating 9/10

Light/shadow-based games seem kind of getting popular recently, and though I normally love this kind of stuff, nevertheless I just can’t help feeling very conflicted about this game. Don’t get me wrong (as stated in some of my other reviews, I don’t judge this way spontaneously), no, again it really hurts me inside to give this one a negative rating after I finally finished it (even with all achievements). And I definitely don’t want to seem like the nitpicky kind of guy. But in the end I have to stay true to my experience over all the long hours, and the following thoughts are indeed what actually went through my mind when playing this game. I know, it’s kind of complicated to describe it in short, so I guess I have to explain this a bit further, just please stay with me for this.

Anyway, I admit the game really starts out tremendously great, the way the shadows are introduced (especially when the 2D effects merge into 3D), the awesome breathtakingly melancholic music all over (fantastic soundtrack), the sensitive dialogs in the beginning. I’m talking about a kind of quality that let me and my wife think, oh my god, this could actually be a candidate for our next favorite indie-game of the year. Seriously, that’s how good it felt for the first hour, no kidding. But the longer I played, I don‘t know, it’s kind of hard to explain, it somehow felt like I COMPLETELY lost the emotional connection to the game. Maybe it was the lost-in-translation English voice-over (if you know The Missing, it’s the same voice-actor, but here she speaks as a child, always weird when an adult speaks one, Clemmy from Walking Dead as a huge exception). Or maybe it was the general under-tone of the game, especially the undecided, sledgehammer-wise psychology (the main topic of the game is a kind of interior struggle after all). Particularly at later chapters the ‘light’ child sounds more like a spoiled brat, while the ‘shadow’ child seems like a self-righteous know-it-all, and honestly, this wasn’t really helping me to connect. This way the message overall relates to, hey girl, if you’re depressed or suffering under self-isolation-issues, just get your act together. And seriously, this is just too simple in my opinion, might even be through-out insulting for people who themselves are suffering under similar afflictions. Apart from that, gameplay-wise there was also definitely too little variation for my taste, it’s always only about lifting boxes here, or pulling levers there, with a lot of trial and error.

So my final verdict, for people who expect a decent-to-mediocre narrative puzzle platformer with little variation, and who don’t listen to the story, go ahead, you might enjoy this one. All in all it’s still kind of fair, checkpoints are plenty, and there’s even a clever rewind mechanism. But if you’re a bit more sensitive like me, especially the psychology (which even doesn’t get resolved in the end, like, what the heck happened here anyway), and the arbitrary stereotypic environments (though drawn well) really turned me off in the end. Sorry. Just seems like the devs wanted too much, and at some point didn’t know what to write anymore, so they repeated themselves over and over again (with gameplay AND writing), up to the point at which the main characters just get unsympathetic, and you just want the game to be over. It’s kind of sad, really, because the core of this one actually could have been really good.

Within the first 10 minutes of play, I fell in love with this game. I had no expectations and was hesitant to take on a 'platformer.' It has elements that reminded me of Limbo (avoiding dark stuff but without the monsters) and Little Nightmares (directing a faceless child through a surreal landscape but without the monsters). I am most reminded of Iris.Fall which also focuses on a child's journey and uses shadow play as part of the game mechanics.

For me, Shady Part of Me is better than all three of those, put together. It is a journey of self discovery and overcoming fear to become your true self. The narrative is told through 'self talk' between the child and her shadow (her light and dark sides) and an outer voice that offsets the self doubt and provides encouragement. To be honest, I missed a lot of the narrative because I was so enchanted with the landscapes, the creative puzzles, the music, and the style. As far as platforming goes, I did not struggle. The game is fairly forgiving and has a rewind that lets you re-do a mistake (rather than having you die and start a sequence all over).

Shady Part of Me is broken into many short segments with the puzzles being to get the child and the shadow from entry to exit point. Your game is automatically saved at each exit point. The shadow is navigated through a 2D environment bound by 'edges' of light/dark and the child is navigated through a 3D environment bound by avoiding the light. This makes for some very interesting problem solving as cooperation is required to get both through most of the scenarios. There are 98 birds to find (some light, some dark) as optional collectibles and you have the option of revisiting completed sections to pick up any you may have missed.

What I loved most about this game was the diversity of the artwork and how the puzzles changed and had elements added as you proceed through the four major Acts. There are toy trains and airplanes, paper boats, cogs, elevators, and a host of different scenes (a carnival, a hospital, a clock, a theater, etc.). My sense of wonder continued throughout the game. And, by the way, the music is haunting and beautiful to listen to. The voice overs are well done and I may have to replay just to listen to the dialog more closely.

The ending was satisfying and heart warming. If childhood was a time of inner struggle for you, the game will have additional meaning and impact.

I wish my shadow could talk to me... I would be feeling less lonely

Great game. Interesting mechanics with the character and her shadow, amazing visual and audio.

I love platformers, puzzles and especially twisted realities where mental illness themes included so it was a really nice game to my taste. It could look dark but essentially it's lighthearted.
Basically, it's about loosing and finding yourself.

Plot is pretty plain but still entertaining. I love the aesthetics and sound design.
Played on PC+gamepad and SteamDeck. Works great on both.

The game could be considered as a modern piece of art. I've continued my playthrough on a PC for the reason - to better observe the stunning views, cinematic and sceneries. And I got lots of good moments with it (made a ton of screenshots also).

Gameplaywise it's linear and not complicated. But it should not be.
Easy 100%.

I recommend it *thumbs up*