SCHiM was provided by the publisher for review. Thank you!
There are plenty of intriguing 3D platformers that exist, but there hasn't been anything like SCHiM before. The trailer tantalized me with its unique aesthetic and cool idea of moving across the world through shadows. I was very curious to see how the game could translate into a full experience to justify the full game price tag. While I think it's an awesome concept that I really enjoyed, it feels like something is missing, which keeps it from being as great as it could be, and that makes it hard to recommend at its $25 price point.
The plot behind SCHiM isn't super intensive, but it does set the stage for why you go through all of the levels you go through. You are a shadow who has lost its host. From there, you will go on a cat-and-mouse journey to get back to your host. It's a little bit of a heartwarming and cute tale when it happens, but there isn't much more happening outside of that. It doesn't really expand on the idea and instead just feels a bit repetitive as you keep getting close to your host, but then you have to start over again following him. He doesn't have as much color as the rest of everyone else, but other than that, he seems to be completely fine and goes about his day doing everything normally. I didn't feel much urgency to get back.
Before getting into the gameplay, I want to talk about the visuals. SCHiM uses a minimalist color palette to highlight its world, making the shadows stand out while the buildings and props have a small outline to make them pop. There's also a different hue that encompasses each character, with brighter colors during the day, like light green, and darker colors, like dark blue, during the night.
I think the graphics are one of the big highlights of the game. I find it quite appealing, and there are lots of beautiful areas where minimal detail really shines. There are some levels that don't look as great due to an ugly hue, but what we are looking at and the shadows you can jump to are very clear. There are more good levels than bad, so overall, it's great to just go through each level. The music keeps things relaxed as well, and I felt it was fitting for what the game was trying to be.
Unfortunately, the gameplay isn't as relaxing as I would have hoped. SCHiM is a 3D platformer at its core, and you will be jumping to and from different object's shadows to get from one end of the level to another. You can do one big jump and a small jump to try to get to the shadows, and you have to do this while some of the objects are moving (like people, animals, and vehicles). You can also interact with objects to change their shadows or create new ones. Some interactable objects don't do much, but there are others that can cause vehicles to move, turn on lights to create new shadows, and more.
I really like how this idea is executed for the most part. Jumping from moving shadows going from one shadow to another, while some are moving and require a little planning to figure out the best way to get to the end of the level, is a lot of fun. It can make each level feel challenging to some degree while trying to figure out where to jump to next.
But there are a couple of glaring issues that stop me from fully enjoying it. The camera can feel a bit janky at times, and I felt it had more trouble than not. You are able to turn the camera around to see all different sides of where you are, but there are some angles that are terrible and even points where none of the angles are optimal to see where to go next. This can also make it hard to accurately depict where you will land in some of your jumps, and if you miss it, you may be sent back a bit further than you expect.
These issues, coupled with the rush you sometimes have to be in to get to the moving shadows, make the game much less relaxing than I expected. I thought it was going to be much less punishing due to how the game is described, but it wasn't as cozy as I wanted it to be. There were some nice moments, but I definitely got a bit heated on some levels when I made a lot of quick progress. when I messed up, I was sent back much further than I thought. I understand that I am not spawning back at the moving shadows, but I was sent back past stationary ones, too.
While these can make gameplay harder, one thing that won't be hard is playing SCHiM on the Steam Deck.
SCHiM is especially easy to run on the Steam Deck, playing wonderfully at both 60 and 90 FPS with under 10W of battery drain. 90 FPS tends to drain around 9W, while 60 FPS will hover around 7.5W. But either way, both are fantastic and they work wonderfully on the portable device.
There is one minor issue that bugged me, though. When moving the camera around or to and from the objective you have to go to, it can sometimes feel a bit stuttering. This happened at both 60 and 90 FPS, but 90 felt a little better. It isn't the end of the world, but it does feel a bit weird, considering how smooth the game should feel at the solid framerates.
There aren't any accessibility options included in SCHiM. You can change audio sliders, controller bindings, and how thick the outline lines are, but that's it.
The game does support 16:10 resolutions and has both cloud saves and gamepad/controller support. There are no HDR settings.
SCHiM is a great example of an interesting idea that could have seen a lot of benefit from a little more execution. The game is gorgeous, and I love the idea of a 3D platformer with shadows, but there are some glaring problems. The story is interesting but under-utilized; the camera gets in the way from time to time, and the game doesn't feel as relaxing as I think they were going for. It does run perfectly on the Steam Deck, apart from some camera stuttering, but it's not the end of the world and is great to play on the go.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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SCHiM is an intriguing 3D Platformer that could have benefitted from better execution, but at least it is perfectly playable on the Steam Deck!
