When it comes to video games, many of the titles that are most fondly remembered have a simple premise combined with addictive game play. Multiple indie games have fallen under this category, in particular titles such as Thomas Was Alone and Fez, which have won critical acclaim as well as a cult following. Developed by newcomers Fiddlesticks, Hue hopes to follow in their footsteps, and by all accounts, it certainly succeeds in doing so.
Hue is a puzzle platformer that follows the story of a young boy, who is given the task of restoring colour to the world after a freak accident causes it to disappear, trapping his mother in an unreachable dimension. The only way to complete this task is to use an artefact known as the Colour Ring, which has the ability to alter the colour of the world depending on the choice that is made by the player. In order to restore balance to the world and rescue Hue’s mother, you will need to find the missing colours from the Colour Ring, which were scattered across the world when the accident occurred, and pursue a mysterious shadow which seems to be watching your every move.
At its core, the main aim of Hue is to get from one side of the level to the other, through a mixture of jumps, pushing and pulling blocks and manipulating the world around you by changing the background colour. As you recover more of the scattered colours, the player will be able to travel to new areas in locations that you have previously visited by changing the world colour to the one that bars their way. The Colour Wheel is mapped to the right analog stick, which makes it incredibly easy to invert the environment on the go. You will need to tread carefully when faced with a number of coloured objects, as you won’t be able to switch to another dimension if an object exists where you are currently placed. For example, if you are stood in the yellow world, and a box exists in the blue world, you will need to move to empty space in order to proceed with the switch.
