In My Shadow – Review

Our Rating: 8/10

In My Shadow is an innovative tale with 2.5D mysteries from Playbae. The main character is a girl who recalls the incidents that have rendered her alone and depressed because she has lost touch on what is most essential: Family.

Story Overview

We will play as Bella, a girl who has lost touch with her loved ones. Bella’s sorrow is apparent from the first scene, indicating that the emotional bond continues. Her parents attempt to re-establish contact with her, but an inner barrier prevents them from doing so.

We’ll learn about Bella’s relationship with her loved ones throughout our journey, as she tells us about it. Each chapter will detail a protagonist’s life, including how he felt and what transpired. And she presents it to us not as something flawless, but as a recognition of her own flaws and errors. It has a very powerful nostalgic tone that it transmits to us.

Gameplay

As the title suggests, we follow the little girl’s shadow along the walls of her old house, recalling both happy early memories and dark glimpses of rebellion. There are a total of 53 levels spread across 4 categories.

To progress, we’ll need to work around the shadows cast by the objects in the room. To achieve our goal and avoid obstacles, we can move and combine them in a variety of ways. This is going to cause us a lot of problems. Although each screen is not two-dimensional, when placed in the corner of a room, the objects will cast two shadows that may or may not be of different sizes.

As if that weren’t enough, some of the items on the stage won’t move or will only move on one axis, others won’t cast a shadow, and some boxes will break as soon as we jump over them. Obstacles that are difficult to overcome include mobile saws, spike barriers, and mobile saws.

The challenge of the levels increases over time, and despite the game’s simple premise, we’ll often be looking for a way to find all of our memories and move forward.

The Good, the Bad, and Overall Experience

The lack of incentives to encourage replayability, (such as different endings or collectible aspects) throughout our game, stands out in contrast to games in recent times. In My Shadow is primarily concerned with telling us a story about Bella and her emotional conflicts.

Audio-Visual

The level design reflects Bella’s childhood vision. Colors and object placement are reminiscent of a dollhouse, with multiple elements more akin to a playroom than a typical home. This contributes significantly to the sense of calm that progressing through our game conveys, as well as giving it a melancholic tone.

Music contributes to this feeling at all times, with a piano melody that changes depending on where we are in the game, but always has a relaxing and sad component. We will have no trouble understanding the story because it has been translated into multiple languages.

Final Thoughts

In My Shadow is one of those games that, despite its lack of a fancy plot or stunning graphics, manages to touch the heart. They do this in two ways: the story’s simplicity and innocence, and how it speaks to us about a situation with which we can identify.

It’s possible that more than one tear will escape our eyes because the game integrates with the player’s emotions on a level you didn’t expect from a game of this genre. This game leaves the heart warm because of the calm, melancholy, and love that it transmits.