What a beautiful little puzzle-adventure this game was. Figment is definitely one of the better-looking games released recently, with the art and music creating this wonderful atmosphere that I found myself easily immersed in.
Edit: This review was updated after some game-breaking bugs were fixed. This review now represents the experience had those bugs never occurred.
Pros:
Absolutely beautiful art style and music. Figment is a beautiful game. Both the art and the music are top-notch. The backgrounds, levels, characters, everything is just designed so well. The music matched this outstanding quality as well. In fact, the bosses would actually sing while in battle, which sounds dumb, but was actually rather refreshing and really fit with the game’s atmosphere. There were numerous little things that would just bring a smile to my face, such as the dialogue from certain residents or the fact that the flora (in the shape of instruments) actually plays music when interacted with. All of this made Figment a fun, immersive experience.
Great puzzle and level design. Figment’s puzzles were pretty well designed throughout. In general, they were not too difficult to complete, steadily increasing in difficulty over the course of the game, with only a few towards the end taking any significant effort to complete. This lends well to the game’s aesthetic, maintaining the immersion while still being fun to complete. The levels are equally well designed, maintaining a mostly linear path, yet leaving just enough room to explore and find all of the little extras scattered throughout the game’s world. There are collectibles to find, residents to meet, and a entire world to be immersed into. Overall, the level and puzzle design meshed quite well with the game’s aesthetic and really helped to better the experience.
Cons:
Movement can be awkward at times. I ran into some minor issues with the game’s movement. I would sometimes get teleported back when rolling through tight corners or up staircases and there were also numerous instances in which it looks like I should be able to move across something, but was not able to. This mostly was due to how the game is played, or rather the perspective that the game is played at. Many of the bridges, stairs, etc. have tight invisible walls surrounding them, forcing me to realign myself in order to cross. This is very noticeable when crossing certain bridges. Although it did not inhibit gameplay, it was rather annoying at times.
Long loading times. Figment has several loading screens, all in-between each level. Normally this would not be a problem, but these loading screens can last quite some time. While recording my playthrough of this game, I mentioned the long loading screens several times, with the longest one lasting 18 seconds. I did not have the game installed on an SSD, but I do have Skyrim installed on the same drive and the loading times there definitely do not last anywhere near 18 seconds (not even 10!). This is especially annoying when having to traverse through multiple levels just to get somewhere. Missed a secret in an earlier level? Have fun backtracking through all those loading screens.
Overall, Figment really is a good game with a beautifully drawn world and a great soundtrack to go with it. The puzzle and level design was solid throughout, even if said levels are separated by such long loading screens. The movement may be awkward at times and may take some time to get used to, but it is worth it.
You can buy Figment on Steam here.
I was provided a free review copy of the game in order to write this review. Read more about how I do my game reviews here.
cublikefoot 