Hue
Year: 2016
Rating: E
Time Played: 270 minutes / 4.50 hours
The strength of a 2-D puzzle platformer boils down to how well its gimmick works. In this genre, you move from point A to point B and collect items in tough spots for an added challenge. It’s how BoxBoy! + BoxGirl! works, and it’s how Gris works. If the puzzle aspect is lacking, then the game just becomes a platformer. And making an interesting platformer is its own challenge. Fortunately, Hue has a well-done puzzle gimmick. Using colors to solve puzzles also gave this game a natural difficulty curve that was satisfying to complete.
I’ll applaud Hue for having some semblance of a plot that explains why changing the colors of the background is the main mechanic. I’m not wild about the student falling in love with her professor, though. It’s also obvious that these sections of exposition could have easily been edited out since they occur in corridors that are just long enough for the narrator to finish speaking. Yes, the story was nice, but sometimes just having a 2-D puzzle platformer is enough without having to explain why it is the way it is.
I felt the length of this game was just about right. I’m sure I probably could have spent a lot more time backtracking to find all the hidden items, but just getting to the end was enough for me. The color change mechanic was creative, and playing on my Steam Deck made it easier to control compared to using a keyboard and mouse. With each new color unlocked, the puzzles became more complex but it also became harder to hit the right color as quickly as I needed while platforming. Still, it’s an enjoyable game and worth a playthrough for anyone who likes the genre.
A well-done 2-D puzzle platformer gimmick, I give Hue 4.0 stars out of 5.
