Chroma Zero

(I'm really surprised this game has under 200 reviews, truly a hidden gem. People recommended it to me several times, which I guess shows that I am in a very specific social media bubble.) Chroma Zero is a first person puzzle adventure inspired by Outer Wilds. It is more explicitly puzzly than Outer Wilds, and also considerably more abstract. Here you will feel like you are solving puzzles and not just wandering around (to be honest, I like both approaches). You can't jump, but there is a little bit of platforming. There is a storyline, it is relatively slight, but it features one of my favorite science fiction themes: Help out a nonhuman sentient being who is in trouble. Yes, here I am!! I'll help you!! I don't want to share specifics, because these kinds of games are best played unawares, but there is one small point I want to make about the start of the game. I heard some people say (both online and also in person) that the beginning is a bit stressful because a stressful thing happens over and over. It takes, I'd say, half an hour to an hour of gameplay to figure out how to keep the stressful thing from happening - and it is *very* satisfying once you know what to do. So I'd suggest to keep at it at least a little, there absolutely is a payoff. I did get stuck sometimes in the second half of the game - the official guide is *very* good, everything has several tiers of hints that you can look at before trying the solution. I wonder if it could've been incorporated into the game somehow. There was one puzzle that *really* stumped me, and it seemed so self-evident in retrospect - truly the hallmark of great puzzle design. The game ran well on the Steam Deck, I actually tried the demo before buying it - as suggested on the Steam page - and felt like the demo ran a bit slower? (Maybe I just imagined it...) In any case, I saw that other people completed the game on the Deck, and decided to go for it. There is ONE thing that you need a mouse for, to use the pause menu - which has options, and a log of all the dialog (which helps if you get stuck). I wish this was also somehow accessible from the controller, I ended up just plugging in a mouse. Another thing I would've liked to have was either a save state or rewind, because sometimes I made pointless mistakes that could've been easy to revert. I took some notes on paper, but I don't think this is as necessary as with some of the other puzzle adventures like Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, or Tunic. I also found some secrets, which were fun! Overall I think this is a great game if you like puzzles - even though it is pitched as an Outer-Wilds-like, it is quite original and not derivative at all. I think the very late 2024 launch did not help it, because it just missed the Thinky Games awards, which is how I find out about a lot of puzzle games. So now I'm telling you about it! ____ Source of the game: Bought with my own money (I think in last year's winter sale)

Stopped playing when the game started introducing mechanics that are just arbitrary and make no sense, which have no hints, and which you're required to figure out in order to progress.

Chroma Zero is a clever puzzle game with an impressive array of mechanics to discover along the way! Color as a primary focus for the puzzles is super interesting, and I think some basic color theory is now a permanent resident in my brain... The puzzles are challenging, and while there are a few hints provided in-game on what to consider exploring next, there's not a lot of hand holding, which I appreciate. It's really on you to figure out how this chromatic world works. That said, the later-game sequences can get complex, and there were some points that I felt very stuck. I highly recommend using the game guide created by the developer as a resource in those moments (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3391124193). I might not have finished without it, but in retrospect I'm glad that I did and got to experience the rest of the game! I wouldn't recommend this game to all of my friends, but I certainly recommend it for puzzle game lovers, especially if you like self-guided exploration games like Outer Wilds (but more puzzle-y than environmental) or creative application of new mechanics, like in many metroidvanias.

Super fun puzzle game! Not very long but it's pretty satisfying! Took me about 7 hours to complete and I had fun the whole time! Even when I was horribly stuck. Music is really peaceful and good too.

Soo confusing ! I don´t want to start over and over again ! This is really not for everybody.

Fun explore and xperiment to learn how the world works similar to Outer Wilds. Each time you reset you go back in with more knowledge and more things to discover which gave a nice sense of prepgression. However, when making small mistakes (like using the wrong colour or forgetting to close a warp) often that require a full reset, I found myself desperately wanting a rewind button. This is only a minor setback that can be countered with better planning.

Pretty cool loopy learny puzzle game that's way more focused on the actual mechanics and puzzle than a lot of games like it - basically nothing but the puzzles and a little bit of lore/flavor text every so often - and for the most part it works, really well! I will say, I felt like most of the discovery portion of the game was frontloaded for me - I'd figured out a lot of stuff within the first hour and a half and the rest of my playtime was getting hard-walled by some of the more obtuse puzzles for a while, which was a little frustrating? Figuring out one way to [spoiler]recolor the warps[/spoiler] but it turns out it's the wrong way and the game never expects you to do it that way had me chasing bad leads for like, an hour, I swear. I will also say that the ending sequence is... kind of annoying, given that you have to do everything in one go *and* some of the puzzles need to be done before others... for a game that was pretty good about not making you redo too much it stands out like a sore thumb and with how easy it is to softlock yourself, felt like I spent way more time here getting got by gotcha traps than I should've. A little sour way to end the game, but the ride up to that point was wonderful, and I did kind of play the whole game in one 6.6 hour sitting so like, it's definitely compelling. Maybe not the greatest puzzle game out there but definitely worth a look!

This is a fun and challenging little indie puzzle game. Very clever, especialy as the work of virtually a single person. It’s occasionally a little rough around the edges, but definitely worth your time if you’re into this kind of game.

This game is fantastically well designed, it definitely scratches that metroidbrainia / exploration itch. I played this game in soft-coop - my friend was streaming the playthrough, and we were brainstorming together. If you enjoy playing that way, this game is perfect for that. Also, don't let the first 1h - 1.5h discourage you; after the initial confusion, the pacing quickly ramps up, giving you a near-constant stream of satisfying revelations that lasts until the end credits. I also felt like the mechanics were well developed and thoroughly explored, loved the puzzles. If you're into unique puzzle games, you will enjoy this.

Very cool puzzle game. I'm a huge fan of these "observe and learn" type games, and this does it spectacularly, with lots of neat, clever twists to solutions. Highly recommend!

Don't let the minimalistic audiovsisuals discourage you from playing this little gem. Awesome puzzle design, very cool dev.

If you're here asking yourself "Will this game scratch that Outer Wilds itch?", let me tell you the answer is most likely "Yes".