Many of you may not have heard of Nihilumbra. Well i’m here to enlighten you. Nihilism is a 2D puzzle platformer inspired by the retro roots of gaming so expect nightmarish monsters paired with a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack to help tell a story that will really pander to the existential dread lurking dormant within us all. It also boasts hand painted dark environments to help immerse you into the story further.
You will play as the character, Born, which is a fitting name for someone who was created from a type of anti-matter known as The Void, which is basically a dark mater of nothingness. During the course of the game, you discover that The Void is the main antagonist. It turns out that The Void isn’t too happy about Born being around and wants to destroy Born and anything standing in the way with the help from Shadowy Minions to try and restore balance to the universe.
Nihilumbra’s main feature is that you can modify the environment through the use of colour, which is a pretty unique concept. There are 5 colours available, granting various abilities to change the physics of the world. As you can probably guess, different colours can either solve puzzles or dispatch enemies depending on you apply your colours. So if you consider yourself an artist in hiding this could be your time to shine as many puzzles can be solved in different ways and you can freely paint whenever you please which offers a great range of creativity and a unique experience.
You will embark on a long dangerous journey spanning over 10 hours of gameplay, which is unusual for an iOS game but still very welcome, with 5 worlds to colour your way through. Each world increases in difficulty and complexity, and offers a ‘great surprise’ upon completing the game that gives it additional replay ability.
Overall, Nihilumbra has been well received within the iOS community and has already been given many glowing reviews:
“Nihilumbra is one of those games you’re going to finish and remember. It feels like a combination of S&S and Waking Mars. Memorable.”
Sean Yuan, USA. 5 stars.
“It’s gorgeous, entertaining and clever. And that’s before we get to the story.”
Nissa Campbell, Touch Arcade. 4.5 Stars.
Keep a look out for this one.
