4.5/5 ★ – SlashStriker's review of Chicory: A Colorful Tale.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale, created by a small team, directed by Greg Lobanov, is an incredibly inspired take on fusing the themes of creativity, community, anxiety/depression and self-worth into Zelda-like top-down adventure game. It succeeds at this task well beyond my original expectations and I really loved my time with it. In Chicory you play as a dog protagonist who you name through a cute Q&A at the start of the game. This protagonist is not Chicory, they are Chicory’s assistant (janitor). Chicory is a famous artist of this world, the wielder of THE BRUSH (!!!) which is the sole means to providing color to the world and it’s inhabitants. Through events that transpire at the opening of the game you get your grubby paws on THE BRUSH and spend the next 10ish hours figuring out where Chicory is, why the brush was left behind, and if you are the right person to wield it. Gameplay in Chicory is divided into two key aspects, the manual act of moving your character around the environment, composed of ‘screens’ in classic Zelda fashion, and interacting with it as you would in a standard top down adventure game. The game does have combat but not in the traditional overworld sense, which is its biggest differentiation from other Zelda-likes. The other key aspect is coloring, which can be done on just about any surface of any area of the game, alongside people and puzzle objects. Coloring is done in sets of 4 colors that change based on your location, allowing for variety without overwhelming. It also offers tons of tools such as ‘fill page’ functionality, shape stencils and patterned brushes to keep things fresh, and as demanding on you as you want it to be. If you don’t want to be creative on every screen, that’s okay! There are key puzzle elements that require careful coloring, but everything else is pretty much just for aesthetics. The art style of the game can best be described as on of those cutesy adult coloring books come to life. There are darker areas of the game that stray from the overly cute general aesthetic, but the majority of your time is spent in the overworld exploring the varied environments. I enjoyed the diversity of characters which becomes very important when you realize every random NPC character you meet moves around and interacts with you in varied ways across the game’s runtime. This has the great side-effect of making the world feel so much more lived in than its contemporaries. The music in this game, composed by Lena Raine, is absolutely mesmerizing. Lena was already a favorite of mine following playing Celeste, but Chicory’s many town themes and more intense story pieces really hit me hard. It is a real treat! There is no voice acting in this game, simply sounds and text boxes. The game features an absurd amount of unlockable customization options for your protagonist and the brush primary obtained through collectibles. Some much appreciated functions were built into the game to ensure you can always look the way you want, which are worth noting! I really can’t stress enough how much this game grabbed me, I went in expecting to like it well enough, but left ready to pitch it to all my friends. Unless you are completely turned off by the cutesy art style I really think anyone remotely interested in adventure games, stories about mental health or some good old fashioned coloring will find a lot to love here. I played this game on PS5 as part of my PlayStation Plus Extra subscription.