Schim

A "Schim" is a kind of spirit or soul that every living being or object in this world has. They live in our shadows and are usually seen as small frog-like creatures that peek out from time to time.

Getting separated from your Schim can have disastrous consequences, but that's exactly what you experience at the start of the game here, where a guy, through some unfortunate circumstances, loses his Schim - and from there his life is not the same. You must now take control of this abandoned Schim and make sure it returns to the somewhat unlucky and Schim-less guy.

Schim is a simple platform-puzzler where you jump from shadow-to-shadow through 65 levels of different sizes, located on construction sites, playgrounds, in factories and supermarkets and many other places. A Schim can only exist outside of shadows for a very short time, so it's all about creating the shadows you need by manipulating objects in the environment.

For example, you might need to switch on lamps to create light, which also creates shadows, use different machines that create new shadows when they move, or perhaps transport yourself over longer shadowless distances by jumping into the shadow of, for example, a pigeon or a car that can transport you.

Sometimes the shadows are used quite inventively, like when you stand in the shadow of a toaster, you can leap like bread jumping out of the toaster and if you stand in the shadow of an office chair, you can swing around quickly and be shot across the room.

In fact, most of the environment can be manipulated and it's not just things you need to create life-giving shadows. It's quite relaxing just to jump around and make cars honk, dogs bark, clothes racks spin and rubbish fall out of bins.

The game can be completed in around five hours and once you've completed it, you can choose to play it on a harder difficulty level where there are no checkpoints during the levels, or where you only have one jump at a time instead of the usual two, or can activate a Risky Mode where you only have 20 attempts to complete a level - which may sound like a lot, but it's not, I can tell you.

The five hours of game time is actually an appropriate length, as this is not the most varied game. Most of the time is spent finding your way and jumping from shadow-to-shadow, but there are a few places where this mechanic changes slightly. For example, the levels that take place at night, where there aren't many actual shadows, only darkness, or in a burning house, where there are plenty of shadows and light, where there are also some quite inventive moments.

Developed primarily by two Dutch developers and designers, Schim is quite an interesting concept and not least visually interesting. The visual side is very abstract and consists almost entirely of coloured line drawings, using a maximum of 3-4 colours at a time for a rather beautiful and minimalist look.

Schim is a nice little puzzle game that is quite relaxing to play. There's no stress and you can explore the surroundings as you wish - and there are often several different things to find. You might miss a little variety in the gameplay and perhaps a little ingenuity in the use of shadows and light, but overall it's a pleasant puzzle game with a good vibe and a nice minimalist visual style. So, if you're looking for a cosy little puzzle game, Schim is a good choice.