SCHiM Review (Switch)

It’s not often you get an original take these days. Most indie games have settled into the Rogue lite, Metroidvania, Soulslike mould or gone down the retro nostalgia route (or both), but SCHiM is actually trying to do something a bit different. It’s an arty, isometric platformer where you play a little shadow creature, separated from your human who needs to jump from shady spot to shady spot to find your way home.

The style of the game is the first thing that really draws you to it. It’s set out in a sort of clear, minimalist way with the environments mainly panted with a single colour and strong lines used for shapes and objects. This not only gives it a sort of ‘arty’ feel but also allows the shadows cast by the objects, people and creatures to be clearly seen as there is no clutter. It’s through these shadows that your little SCHiM creature must move in order to reach the goal at the end of each level. This is normally a bus or over vehicle which then takes it off to the next scene.

Levels start small and focused but soon get much bigger. This allows for some exploration to find hidden objects but can also be a bit frustrating as it can be unclear where you are meant to go at times. You can hold a trigger which will zoom over to show your next goal, but we found ourselves needing to this a little to often. Finding hidden objects helps other SCHiM creatures find their way home as well which is a nice touch.

The concept is simple. You need to jump from shadow to shadow and landing in direct light will see you die after a few seconds and revert to the nearest checkpoint. If there are connecting lines cast (such as lamp posts), you can zoom along these and as you progress, you’ll find things like telegraph lines cause you to bounce and objects such as signs and trampolines can be used to fling you around. You can also interact with objects to do things like turn lights on, change traffic lights and fly drones. It adds a distinct puzzle element which for the most part works well, although some checkpoints are a little too far away.

The jumping works for the most part but it can be difficult to judge where you are going to land. This can be frustrating as you don’t get much flexibility if you land outside of a shadow and when you are trying to jump from thin lines to other small areas it can prove clumsy. The isometric viewpoint doesn’t really help with this, and it can also be difficult to see where you are at times. You can rotate the play field around through some set angles, but we still found a few places where there just wasn’t an optimal line of sight. Generally though, everything works out fine.

Overall, SCHiM is a charming game that has a lot to offer to those looking for something a bit different. It’s certainly not as relaxing as it looks at first glance but there is a consistent logic to the game and a well thought out obstacle course of things for you get around on each level. It’s one of those games that is bound to be referred to as ‘charming’ in the weeks to come, and it is. But there's also a whole lot more here as well.

Overall 8/10