Developed and published by Analgesic Productions, Sephonie is a brand-new 3D action platformer. Analgesic Productions is known for its previous great titles such as Anodyne 1 & 2, Even the Ocean, and All Our Asias. Sephonie is about the journey of three shipwrecked biologists who discover themselves, form intricate bonds, understand their past, and uncover the mysteries of an island. This is our review of Sephonie in which we explore a huge underground cave system with parkour and form links with various creatures.
The story of Sephonie follows the journey of three biologists, Amy, Ing-wen, and Riyou. All three come from different backgrounds and each of them have their own things to worry about while working towards a common goal. They are out on an expedition to explore Sephonie Island however upon arriving there, their ship is wrecked because of a weird electromagnetic storm and the three of them are stuck on the island. They decide to explore the island and find its secrets in order to get off the island. You can switch between the three biologists at any time and all of them have the same gameplay mechanics without any strengths or weaknesses.
Each of them is also equipped with the ONYX implants which allows them to study and form bonds with the creatures found on the Sephonie Island. The Island is free for you to explore however some of the parts are initially cut off since you need additional moves for accessing them. The game is not really linear when it comes to progression since you have big environments to explore however you can use multiple paths to reach the same progression spot which is vital for the story.
For moving around the island, you have plenty of moves at your disposal and as you progress in the game, you unlock additional moves and abilities as well. Parkour plays an important role in your movement, and you have abilities like wall run and dash which helps in reaching areas and platforms which are not accessible otherwise. While there is plenty to explore on the island, the main focus of the story is on the huge and intricate cave story found underneath the island. After entering this cave system, you get to see how much bigger the game actually is.
The level design of Sephonie is suited for the movement style and you will notice that some of the platforming sections in the game greatly emphasize advanced movement mechanics. After certain progression, you also unlock additional movement options such as grappling across vast chasms with frog-tongue-like creatures called Ribbats or the sticky Gripshrooms for climbing areas that are not accessible during your normal movements. Each of the creatures you found in the world of Sephonie is unique and your goal is to interact with them and unlock the mysteries of the island.
For doing this, you use your ONYX implants which trigger a mini-game that is actually a Tetris-like block stacking game. You pass these bonding links by stacking same-colored bricks together and after you run out of them, the same color bricks are destroyed and leave behind the ones that are left. You get two lives for clearing it otherwise you have to start again. You lose a health bar if you fail to reach a target link during your current attempt. Once you have reached the target link, you complete your link and eventually unlock new abilities and skills.
Each of the creatures offers a unique challenge during their linking as well for example some of the creatures have blobs that destroy bricks when you place them on them or some of the creatures have bonus zones that massively increase your scores if you put similar colors on them. These puzzles have no ‘straight’ solution as well and you are free to complete them however I want. This is the thing that I liked about Sephonie it does not really force you to stick to a linear path for progression.
While it is fairly linear, you have complete freedom of how you want to explore the island and its caves, which route you want to take, how you want to solve the linking puzzles, and even if you want to link with optional creatures or completely ignore them. For completionists, the game has plenty of secrets and collectibles hiding here and there that could drag your completion time significantly. You can also revisit the previously-visited areas with your new abilities and skills to explore areas that you missed initially.
You can even re-link with creatures at checkpoints that you have already linked earlier. While there are no straightforward enemies to fight in the game, you can consider some of the tougher creatures of the game as bosses, and all paths usually lead to these important creatures since they play a vital role in the narrative of the game. The story has cutscenes and the dialogue is mostly just text on the screen. There is no audio dialogue in the game, which is a little bit disappointing but overall, it sits pretty well with the theme of the game. On the other hand, you get to listen to the amazing soundtrack developed by Melos Han-Tani.
For capturing your gameplay moments, the game also has a built-in Photo Mode which allows you to place down all three characters with custom poses and different visual tweaks. Overall, Sephonie is one of the best 3D adventure platforming titles that I have played this year so far. I will agree that some of the platforming sections were a little hectic, but I enjoyed my time with the game. I loved the Anodyne-inspired visuals however I do have some reservations over how the controls of the PC version of the game are designed. There is no mouse support, and you have to move around the camera with your keys but if you have a controller, pop it in, and it is perfect.
Final Verdict:
While Sephonie is a great 3D platformer, some of the story might be a little too much for players and the messages hidden in the dialogue requires an unexpectedly higher level of focus on the whole narrative. The movement feels fluid in most areas however the later platforming sections can become a little tedious and difficult if you just want to experience the story and the game’s beautiful world. I had a great time playing Sephonie and having played both Anodyne 1 and 2, I can easily say that Analgesic Productions is improving massively with each of their release. If you love platformers with a bit of parkour-ish gameplay, Sephonie will be right up your alley. If you are simply looking for a decent time-kill, Sephonie is still a great game to be in your library.
Final Score: 8.0/10
