“Shattered” by Yasaman Farazan, Jasmin Habezai-Fekri, Svenja Rösner & Sadegh Boroomand.
“The player takes the role of the little blue bird and starts the game by searching for his brother. Once reaching the village, he uses his magical bell to defeat the dark creatures threatening his fellow birds. To find the source of these [so-called] ”Nightmare” creatures and to save his brother, who is headed to the mountain, the player has to embark on a journey to the top of the mountain.”
The visual style of the narrative puzzle platformer “Shattered” was what caught my interest first, but at the end I was left with a little shock. That might be surprising, giving that the game world seems to be a peaceful and colorful one despite the shadow monsters. They are pretty harmless as you can fight them off easily with your magic bell and some reaction skills. The little puzzle elements in form of disappearing platforms are not difficult to solve as well. So what makes this game so special in my eyes?
Besides the wonderful color choices and the character design, it is the writing. The small dialogues manage to evoke the feeling of a mystic danger that is heading for the village. Even better is the plot twist in the end: After we built up enough courage to find our brother and to face any menace eventually, it all gets broken with a very interesting ending you can interpret in many ways. This makes “Shattered” a short adventure with shallow cuteness, which might deceive you to hope for an happy end. [PLAY]
