Scott Watson reviews TurnOn…
Have you ever wondered what life would be like without electricity and light? Simple things we take for granted such as me typing this review on a laptop persistently connected to the internet, or my son asking if wifi is available wherever we go, would be completely lost.
These are some of the thoughts TurnOn asks us to ponder while playing this gentile platform puzzler. The team at Brainy Studio, based out of Russia, took a vested interest in the WWF’s Earth Hour global movement and tried to apply its goals to a game. Earth Hour focused on the ability for us all to take a step back and look at how we could change climate change for the better.
TurnOn tells the spellbinding tale of a brave alien creature and its striking journey through blackout world, in an incredibly colorful and detailed platformer without platforms. Like most indie titles, it has an art style all of its own that is captivating and enthralling to let yourself be drawn into. The game is more like a puzzle journey than perhaps a real platformer per se.
Each chapter consists of you guiding your little electrical creature, who looks so happy and cheerful all the time, across one end of the level to the next, finding ways to return not just light, but pretty much everything we take for granted these days. The puzzle elements come as you get deeper into the game and have to find ways and means of activating particular areas or re-lighting a building in full. Bouncing from wire to wire, left, right, up and down, your goal is simply to get the electricity flowing. The premise itself is simple, but it’s the story that draws you in more than anything without so much as a word. Images convey your tasks at hand for the most part, or observations of your surroundings, and help you look for ways across the level to maximise the bolts of electricity for that perfect finish as three light bulbs light up to signal the end of a level.
There’s even a nice nod to the perpetual running games in short bonus levels as you traverse between sections. Avoiding red bolts, ensuring to hit the blues and greens. It’s a nice change of pace before returning to the puzzling and main storyline of the game.
Is it a bit too simple? Perhaps, but I can forgive a lot more with indie developers trying to produce something thought provoking and with some genuine character. It’s not a game that’s particularly tasking on the player, but then again, when the story is paramount I’m not sure it needs to be.
I’m going to round up this review by quoting a wonderful piece from the developers FAQ that you can read here
“Most developers think that they are making a masterpiece. Now we just have to hope that you’ll enjoy our debut game and appreciate it. All game studios were firstly indie. All.”
I love that and doff my cap at Brainy Games and their first effort with TurnOn. A beautifully imagined and thought provoking start guys.
Rating: 8/10
Scott Watson
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https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published June 3, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
