Semblance

Since Semlance’s announcement, we’ve been waiting for this wondrous game that promises players the ability to change and reshape the platforms in its world. Semlance is a puzzle and platform game from the heart of the African continent, and here we test it for you.

This game piqued our interest when it was announced due to its strange idea based on changing the two-dimensional world and the platforms within it. When you hit platforms you can bend them up or down and with this mechanic you can overcome many obstacles in the game world. This is the basic gameplay and it is very simple: movement, jumping and fast hopping are the basic skills in this game.

Gameplay and Mechanics

Well, that is the basic idea on which Semlance is based. At first we thought the game was more about platforming and jumping, but as we played we found out that it is a game based entirely on solving puzzles. There is also no type of dialogue or text, the game only communicates with the player through visual language, and all you have to do is… enter each stage and collect a series of crystal balls within it. Obtaining each crystal ball presents a puzzle or challenge, and once you have obtained all of them you can move on to the next stage.

There are 4 worlds in the game and each of them contains a number of levels. Each of these worlds has its own artistic and color style and carries a basic idea of ​​the game that is different from the other worlds. For example, in one of the worlds you can change the shape of the character you are playing with to a horizontal or vertical shape, which changes his ability to jump and move, and the puzzles in this world are based on this idea. There is another world that contains laser lights that prevent the platforms from changing shape and you have to use this trick to your advantage and overcome many obstacles and obstacles. It’s worth noting that the fourth world is the shortest of the worlds, and in fact the game as a whole is a bit short.

Challenges and Difficulty

In general, we would like to warn you that Semlance is not an easy game at all and some of its puzzles may annoy you if this is due to the strangeness of the idea or the need for extreme precision in its implementation, and the game does not give clues of any kind. We managed to complete the game a few days ago, but had a lot of trouble solving some of the puzzles.

Graphics and Sound

This game is based on a very simple graphic style. In addition to the colors, there are only the most important shapes in the world. There is not much to say about this aspect, except that we unexpectedly noticed a drop in frame rate on the Nintendo Switch platform, and we hope that the developer will solve this problem in the future. By updating the game. The sounds in the game also consist of a few different tunes, some of which contain African drum sounds, and they are not the kind that you might remember after completing the game.

Final Thoughts

We were happy to have played and completed Semlance, and we are grateful for the openness to the independent developer and its creativity, which pumps the blood of innovation and innovation into the veins of this industry from all over the world. However, this game fails to fully utilize its special idea and its lifespan is really short. Ultimately, we felt the game’s price ($10) was justified and we recommend purchasing it to fans of puzzle games, not platformers.

The publisher provided a review copy of the game for the Switch device before the game was released.