White Shadows Reviews
There's no doubt that White Shadows has something to offer in raw artistic spectacle, but there's far too many issues with the game to be celebrated. It comes across as a game that has its priorities completely upside down. While it's commendably brave that a brand new studio would explore delicate themes on their debut game, this preoccupation has apparently left no mind toward the fundamentals of what makes a gaming experience rewarding. Furthermore, these themes have not been handled in a very sophisticated manner. Social commentary aside, unoriginal level design, a forgettable narrative and poor frame performance sadly render White Shadows as one you can miss.
There's no denying that White Shadows' atmosphere and visuals are the stars of the show so I sincerely want to see the developers make a second game that hopefully offers a lot more substantial gameplay and perhaps a narrative that's open to some interpretation.
The unique art style, excellent lighting, and mechanical world design are all great.
White Shadows is a bold attempt as the first development team project but has suffered from many unsuccessful decisions in the play experience and heterogeneous storytelling.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
White Shadows is a middling puzzle-platformer with interesting Orwellian themes. Although its black and white world design is commendable, it is limited by bland gameplay and an ungainly eleventh-hour exposition dump.
The amount of criticism dished out here may paint a negative picture, but White Shadows is by no means a terrible product and so evidently houses a clear visual style and competent-enough execution of puzzle-platforming.
The best way to describe White Shadows is that it feels like playing through the winner of the Best Animated Short Film at the Academy Awards. The visuals are incredible and the world is bristling with life and imagination. It's a shame that there's so little gameplay on offer, and what is there is hamstrung by poor controls and glitches. White Shadows might have been better suited as a short film, but as it stands it's a middling video game that drags down an exceptional presentation.
The platforming is mediocre, the performance is terrible, but there is heart here. I look forward to what Monokel has in store for us with their next title as there is clear talent on this team, and they are not afraid to tackle some very delicate topics.
White Shadows is a game that is swallowed with one stroke. Short, the game tries to send us a good number of messages on strong, current topics and which obviously speak to us a lot. However, by wanting to bet everything on this aspect, the game forgets everything else and we tend to lose the thread. Fortunately, the title is only done in about two hours, and sports a singular aesthetic as well as an effective artistic direction.
Review in French | Read full review
White Shadows is a breath-taking, story-driven, puzzle-platformer in the vein of Limbo.
I feel like it’s especially hard to put into words how well-constructed this game was graphic-wise.
'White Shadows' is a 2D platformer. Visually, it is a black and white work of art with a lot of depth. You want to play through it and learn all about this dark place. The game plays quite smoothly, but has a minimal sloppiness. It's unfortunately very short, but the platforming, puzzles and artstyle make it worth every second. In addition, this story tells more than the foreground suggests.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
It's also ambiguous, at least until the latter moments when the world's history is laid bare in a somewhat out of place but impressive nonetheless storybook sequence.
White Shadows does nothing to hide his sources of inspiration: Limbo and Inside. A dark and obscure location is the right place to set a dystopian, anthropomorphic future story which can be read as a hermetic social metaphor. Though fascinating, White Shadows does too little to explain to the players where they are or what exactly it is that they're doing, and its very simple mechanics don't help. At the same time though, you often feel like you just can't leave, like when watching a Lynch movie.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Familiar but still containing enough of its own identity to stand out among similar titles, White Shadows is a compelling, albeit brief experience. It could have done more with its gameplay and commentary, but the game is mostly a success.
White Shadows is a cinematic platformer with a truly captivating style, which is not afraid to tackle important issues such as discrimination, slavery or suicide. The surreal and macabre world that the young protagonist crow has to face is really nice and distressing, but unfortunately the gameplay and the technical side are not always in step with the beautiful environments. Nevertheless, It's recommended to all fans of the genre, especially for the topics covered.
Review in Italian | Read full review
White Shadows is a dark and oppressive experience, but don’t write it off. It’s reminiscent of Limbo and the like, but homages can be a good thing at times. It is criminally short, however, and would have really benefited from a bit more challenge and/or length in its puzzles. If you enjoy your misery in small bursts, this will be for you.
I really didn’t know what to expect from White Shadows, but I’m glad I had the chance to cover it. It’s a very ambitious first effort by Monokel, and it doesn’t pull any punches. While the difficulty of the game was a bit top-heavy, I still enjoyed my time with it. If you enjoy puzzle platformers and don’t mind some truly haunting imagery, I’d definitely give it a shot. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to see if there’s another ending I have yet to unlock after unintentionally becoming the “destroyer of worlds”…
Black and white Dystopia animal farm with nice look and good but short gameplay.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
After three years of actual development and a decade of incubation, White Shadows presents the German team Monokel Games to the gaming community. Composed of less than a dozen professionals, the latter assembles a work in black and white, but not without nuances. With an environmental narrative of strong impact, the Indie paints a violent anthropomorphic dystopia, able to disturb and make you think.
Review in Italian | Read full review