"I must not fear. Fear is the mindkiller..." - Frank Herbert's quote portrays Figment well and this Danish indie game dwells around psychological issues that ruminate one’s soul. There are many facets of depression and hopelessness even alcohol following protagonist around and player recognizes them if experienced such in real life.

But Figment is not a dark heart-breaking game by any means. One word I can think that illustrates Figment in art, music, narrative flow - is hope. You play as Dusty, quite grumpy character, I’d say he's a realist. Dusty will solve any problems “life” throws at him, but he does not bother to go out and seek new ones to confront. Back to Herbert’s quote “...I will face my fear and let it pass through me”. Well, breaking the fourth wall a little, Dusty is like hero of player's mind, a safe-guard to help face one’s anxieties.

How to get Dusty out of comfort-chair, to go out on an adventure, to actually face some (new) problems? A side-kick! Friends are always necessary, they bring hope and luckily Dusty has Piper. A bird-like creature, shot out of ultra-positivity-cannon™ and her energetic annoyance actually does get Dusty to take a step or two : )

This annoyance-grumpiness balances nicely out between main characters and now player has a cool duo to explore the world which Piper nicely introduces to Dusty - because “why not?”. It seems their world is in trouble. Fear is the mind killer and personified aspects of various angsts want to rule different parts of their world - the Mind. That’s how Dusty-Piper story begins, to save their world by defeating all fear.

Bedtime Digital Games has worked hard to depict this world. Artwork is close to their other games Back to Bed and Chronology. It’s very colourful, absurd and surrealist - almost Dali like and vivid. Narrative flow is well done also environment wise, every place has something new and outstanding. And here come the puzzles. Whilst traversing their world and chasing delinquents, Dusty and Piper come across different challenges: combinatorics, logic, music etc. Combating enemies and bosses even, well this is also a type of puzzle. You can get better in your sword fighting skills, nothing hard there. So all in all, puzzles are solvable, nothing mind breaking, just patience needed - and Piper also helps a little : )

One thing that really amazed me is this game’s sound. Especially music. General sounds and amazing voice-overs were also very very nicely done. But music - wow! Lucasarts’ iMUSE (interactive music system) came to mind when I heard Figment’s music laid out. It has micro level dynamic changes, tied into actual game scripting. For example: You start a scene to explore, music is still quite subtle and going further and further, more instruments are woven in. You get closer to some environmental element and even interact with it - that’s also present in background music, some instruments get louder, augmented or there are slight changes in melody variation, rhythm. Slight small changes, nothing permanent, always dynamic, layered. Mind blown!

What else. This is a Unity game. Well done one. Recognizes all controller types. Played it on PS4 and Xbox controllers, everything worked. Game had some glitches, nothing game breaking, not even repeatable nor worth a mention.

TL;DR;
To sum it up. Well the game begins with actual calamity someone has went through. I got very emotionally attached because many things this game secretly points to have happened to me. Was almost in tears when Piper sang this song: Piper’s Intermission > https://bedtimegames.bandcamp.com/track/pipers-intermission.

...things still count while we’re alive. This game counts. I full heartedly recommend you Figment.

// 21.11.2018

"I must not fear. Fear is the mindkiller..." - Frank Herbert's quote portrays Figment well and this Danish indie game dwells around psychological issues that ruminate one’s soul. There are many facets of depression and hopelessness even alcohol following protagonist around and player recognizes them if experienced such in real life. But Figment is not a dark heart-breaking game by any means. One word I can think that illustrates Figment in art, music, narrative flow - is [b]hope[/b]. You play as Dusty, quite grumpy character, I’d say he's a realist. Dusty will solve any problems “life” throws at him, but he does not bother to go out and seek new ones to confront. Back to Herbert’s quote “...I will face my fear and let it pass through me”. Well, breaking the fourth wall a little, Dusty is like hero of player's mind, a safe-guard to help face one’s anxieties. How to get Dusty out of comfort-chair, to go out on an adventure, to actually face some (new) problems? A side-kick! Friends are always necessary, they bring hope and luckily Dusty has Piper. A bird-like creature, shot out of ultra-positivity-cannon™ and her energetic annoyance actually does get Dusty to take a step or two : ) This annoyance-grumpiness balances nicely out between main characters and now player has a cool duo to explore the world which Piper nicely introduces to Dusty - because “why not?”. It seems their world is in trouble. Fear is the mind killer and personified aspects of various angsts want to rule different parts of their world - the Mind. That’s how Dusty-Piper story begins, to save their world by defeating all fear. Bedtime Digital Games has worked hard to depict this world. Artwork is close to their other games Back to Bed and Chronology. It’s very colourful, absurd and surrealist - almost Dali like and vivid. Narrative flow is well done also environment wise, every place has something new and outstanding. And here come the puzzles. Whilst traversing their world and chasing delinquents, Dusty and Piper come across different challenges: combinatorics, logic, music etc. Combating enemies and bosses even, well this is also a type of puzzle. You can get better in your sword fighting skills, nothing hard there. So all in all, puzzles are solvable, nothing mind breaking, just patience needed - and Piper also helps a little : ) One thing that really amazed me is this game’s sound. Especially music. General sounds and amazing voice-overs were also very very nicely done. But music - wow! Lucasarts’ iMUSE (interactive music system) came to mind when I heard Figment’s music laid out. It has micro level dynamic changes, tied into actual game scripting. For example: You start a scene to explore, music is still quite subtle and going further and further, more instruments are woven in. You get closer to some environmental element and even interact with it - that’s also present in background music, some instruments get louder, augmented or there are slight changes in melody variation, rhythm. Slight small changes, nothing permanent, always dynamic, layered. Mind blown! What else. This is a Unity game. Well done one. Recognizes all controller types. Played it on PS4 and Xbox controllers, everything worked. Game had some glitches, nothing game breaking, not even repeatable nor worth a mention. TL;DR; To sum it up. Well the game begins with actual calamity someone has went through. I got very emotionally attached because many things this game secretly points to have happened to me. Was almost in tears when Piper sang this song: Piper’s Intermission > https://bedtimegames.bandcamp.com/track/pipers-intermission. ...things still count while we’re alive. This game counts. I full heartedly recommend you Figment. // 21.11.2018