Hue Review

Limbow.

A young boy named Hue goes in search of his mother who has gone missing. Along the way, he discovers the ability to change the color of the world around him which makes objects of the same color disappear, and thus Hue can walk through where they were as if they don't exist.

Swapping colors with a color wheel via the right stick, basic platforming, and moving around some boxes are the only interactions you'll have playing Hue. While simplicity isn't a bad thing, a majority of the game's puzzles are far too easy as they consist of just being able to recognize colors, swapping to the intended color, and then proceeding. Only around the last 10% of the game's puzzles required any thought or skill on my part, and I don't exactly consider myself a brainiac. As it only took me around three hours to finish this, I was left disappointed with the lack of challenge.

This is one of those games that has more style than substance. The artwork is beautiful, and the colors pop off the screen; however, there are a few issues. For one, there is some kind of grain filter over the screen for the entirety of the game that makes it look like your screen has burn-in or dust on it. I was hoping that perhaps it tied into the story or had some specific reason for being there, but that isn't the case. A baffling design decision to say the least.

At least this short-lived journey has one of the more beautiful scores I've heard this year and manages to tug on the heartstrings, even though the story isn't all that deep or emotional. Along the way, Hue finds pieces of a letter written by his mother which are read along with expert voice work. While this made it a bit easier to connect and care about Hue's mom, the story is extremely shallow. Many of the letters come across as deep thoughts that basically amount to "What if everyone doesn't see the color blue the same?" and things of that nature. Again, it all lacks substance and comes across as trying to be artsy and pretentious.

Setting aside the score and art style, you're left with a very basic platformer. While the color shifting concept is simple enough and I can appreciate the developers doing something differently, it just isn't enough to make this a memorable journey that you'll want to revisit, especially since most of the game is just breadcrumbing you along with no real thought or skills needed.