Join Dusty and his cute companion, Piper, on an action-puzzle adventure through the human mind, filled with music, nightmares, and worst of all, unfulfilled dreams.
Back in the year 2021, the Bedtime Digital Games studio released an unknown title called Figment. This turned out to be a great game that combined adventure with action and puzzles. Quickly, Figment became a cult and undervalued title. In that first installment, Dusty and Piper had to protect the mind of the person where they live from some ideas that had become a nightmare. Two years later, this endearing couple of characters have a new mission, since it seems that the mind is once again being attacked by new nightmares. Join me on this new adventure, I promise you that it will be worth it.
Yin and Yang
Our adventure begins with our brave protagonist, Dusty, and his faithful companion, Piper, on the run and fighting new nightmares. After moments of uncertainty, our duo manage to defeat these nightmares that attacked the mind, but there is no time to rest, since the mayor warns them that the human mind is not working as it should, so they must go investigate. After this, they run into the game’s villain, the Jester, who seems to be the cause of everything. Now, Dusty and Piper must defeat the Jester and fix the Moral Compass, which is malfunctioning and seems to be the cause of the mind not working either..
In this peculiar way our adventure begins, where our protagonists must learn to overcome situations in a different way than they are used to. Dusty is very grumpy and brave, he tries to solve all conflicts with the sword, since he represents the idea of bravery. On the other hand, Piper is a bird that always accompanies our protagonist, and that represents optimism, trying to solve situations through common sense and reason. These two very different personalities will collide throughout the adventure, having the most interesting and deep conversations.
The plot of the title, although not surprising, is quite interesting, since it mixes what happens inside the mind, with what happens outside, in the life of the person in which we live. The game deals with such common themes as overwork, the relationship with the family or the dreams imposed by other people. Everything that happens in the real world to the person we live in is interpreted in his mind. This is quite interesting, since we can see, for example, how two ideas (symbolized in characters in the mind) argue, one supporting the need to spend more time with the family, and the other supporting more work.
Closed or open mind, that is the question
The mechanics of Figment 2 fit very well with the story of the title. One of them is the way we see the world, with a closed or open mind. This will be very useful to solve many of the puzzles that the adventure poses for us, thus making the world change before us.. For example, maybe a character didn’t want to help us with a closed mind, but with an open mind, or paths that open and close depending on the state of our mind. To switch between these two states of mind it is only necessary to press a button, so it is very intuitive.
Removing this interesting mechanic, we find ourselves with a classic action and adventure game, with plenty of puzzles to solve, as well as a rather interesting rhythmic component. The fights with the enemies are very simple. There are 4 types of enemies, something that seems somewhat scarce. It is true that each enemy has a different mechanic to be defeated, but in the end it falls short. Dusty will be able to swing his sword and roll to dodge attacks, nothing more. A little more complexity could have been added to the combat, which although correct, stops there. The boss fights are very spectacular, and although we only have two different bosses (one is repeated for most of the game), thanks to the music, these confrontations will be more entertaining.
The puzzles are quite fun. It is true that they are quite simple, since none is too complicated, but they are very intelligent. Special mention to one in which a character has been attacked, and we must find out who it was, becoming real detectives. The only negative is that this all ends soon, since the game lasts only 3.5 hours, getting almost all the secrets.
A hand drawn mind
The world of Figment 2: Creed Valley is beautiful. Both the characters and the settings are drawn by hand and are worked with great care. It is true that perhaps many scenarios are repeated excessively, but despite this, each and every one of them leaves you speechless. The title on Xbox Series X, where the title has been analyzed, looks spectacular. The effort that Bedtime Digital Studio has put into this aspect is noticeable.
If the graphic aspect of the game is spectacular, the sound is already a hat off. The game, although it is fully translated into Spanish, is not dubbed, although the original voices are at an unbeatable level. All the characters are interpreted in a spectacular way, also having the difficulty that many of these characters sing. These fabulous voices, mixed with the game’s music create an outstanding cocktail. Such is the level of the sound aspect, that some scenes seem to come out of a Disney movie. Nothing to object in this aspect.
Conclusions of Figment 2: Creed Valley
Figment 2: Creed Valley is an intimate journey into the human mind. A very beautiful and evocative trip that will not leave anyone indifferent. Its graphics, music, story and characters are at an outstanding level. It is true that there are things that could be improved such as the title combat, its duration and that it can be very easy for experienced players, but in general it is a great game. Bedtime Digital Games has done a great job and from ComunidadXbox we are looking forward to learning more about their upcoming video games.
Figment 2: Creed Valley
19.99€
Pros
- Beautiful and intimate story
- Very nice graphically
- very clever riddles
- Sound aspect at an outstanding level
Cons
- very fair duration
- very low difficulty
- The combat could have given more of itself