Murasaki Baby

Not again. On one hand you got loads of interesting puzzles and a bizarre atmosphere, on the other a sometimes totally useless touch or gesture control.

Murasaki Baby is one of those games that you’ll either end up loving, or you’ll think it’s just another one of those weird for the sake of being weird games.

Murasaki Baby is a game unlike any other and anyone wanting a different non-traditional gaming experience should diffidently give it a go. Some games are all about the grind, yet others are all about telling a deep story.

Conspicuous in style, literal in primary objective, and contentious in an exclusive platform, Murasaki Baby commands attention across myriad of dimensions. It executes its heartfelt intentions with a confident nonchalance, wondering why other games need to scream when a careful whisper will do.

Still, it is gorgeous - there's no denying that. Gorgeous, stylistically interesting (if derivative of Edward Gorey) and with some wonderfully creative ideas behind it, Murasaki Baby is a game to welcome with open arms. It's just not a great game to welcome with open arms.

What we have here is a darkly beautiful and emotionally-challenging experience, rather than a game, and completely and utterly essential from a transcendent games as art point of view.

Above all, Murasaki Baby encourages experimentation and in doing so manages to recall some of the daunting wonder of early childhood. However, unlike those hazy childhood years, it remains fixed in your mind long after it's done.

If you’re looking for an original,stylish adventure with an amazing soundtrack, this could be the perfect game for you, but keep in mind that after a couple of hours it has nothing more to offer.

Murasaki Baby seems more like a lost opportunity than a success due to an uninspired control scheme and gameplay mechanics that are too simple.

The adventure is quite short and there are some minor issues with the control scheme. Still, Murasaki Baby is visually charming, and in the end a great example of game design.

The sliding backgrounds and other elements are initially clever, but they ultimately don’t gel or grow in any interesting ways. You only have a handful of different backgrounds to choose from at any given time, so finding a way past the next obstacle is only a matter of trial and error – if the obviousness of a solution doesn’t hit you immediately. Finding that balance is tricky, and Murasaki Baby’s superficiality is further dragged down by the annoying controls.

Still, Murasaki Baby does a great job of introducing a steady climb towards multitasking where inputs on both rear and front touch panels require delicate planning.

Murasaki Baby is born of a weird yet inspired artistic approach, subtly expressed through the gameplay's metaphorical dimension. Despite a rough execution that stresses some design and ergonomic issues, Ovosonico therefore managed to create a fulfilling emotional experience.

Even though it's a technical masterpiece Murasaki Baby fails to create a strong bond with the player due to a short and -gameplay wise- uninteresting story.

Helping the little girl through her nightmarish tableaus is engaging if you are able to get invested in the absurdist universe. I was definitely able to do that during Murasaki Baby's couple of hours.

While undeniably quirky, rather rote. [Dec 2014, p.81]

It's a shame that the game is occasionally let down by its control scheme because it is anything but derivative and its visuals, excellent sound design, and mechanics can coalesce to create moments of real impact. [Issue#154, p.126]

Despite my distaste for all the hand-holding, Murasaki Baby's mesmerizing art style and strong emotional backbone left me too invested to let go.

Murasaki Baby is a beautiful, dark, and emotionally powerful experience that makes wonderful use of the Vita’s strengths.

None of the stress matters in the end, though. All that you care about is getting Baby back to mummy, and the excited grinning and hopping she does after you navigate a tricky segment together is worth every moment of frustration along the journey.

It may not be perfect, but at the very least, its strange, twisted heart is definitely in the right place.

Ovosonico have attempted to create an original, thoughtful title that takes you on a journey of discovery through the eyes of a child. It feels a shame to blame Murasaki Baby for the poor controls of the Vita, but it wouldn’t work on any other platform – it’s been tailor made for Sony’s handheld. While it would have lost the connection with Baby that the front touch screen gives, having the sticks control her and the balloon would have improved things no end.

Every Vita owner needs to experience Murasaki Baby. By creating a personal and engaging story, all while wrapping it in a hypnotically original art design, Ovosonico have gone where most other developers fear to tread.

Pleasantly hellish in places, unpleasantly hellish in others. [Issue#254, p.70]

Filled with interesting ideas, Murasaki Baby's dazzling animation and unique approach to platforming are enticing.

A short but fascinating experience, with a strong personality and a nice artistic direction. But it feels like its nice ideas are underused and in the end something's lacking.

We made it one of our favorite games on PS Vita since we saw it during the gamescom 2013. More than its Burton-style, Murasaki Baby seemed to offer an interesting gameplay, perfectly suited for PS Vita. But the game is too short to be remembered. Only 2 hours will be enough to complete the four chapters of the journey, without any possibility of a new game plus. At least, it won't be bad for your wallet.

The game works as a limited experience, something novel and adorable and emotional, and it knows not to be anything more. For what it is, it's perfect(ly morbid).

Not being able to connect with Baby, to think of her as more burden than child, soured me on Murasaki Baby. With poor touch controls, the designers have turned a small, cute game into a bit of a mess.

Murasaki Baby is a game that offers adventure, platforming and puzzles so a girl can reunite again with her dear mother. If you like games that give you 'something else' and you dream about Tim Burton's next movie, this could be your game. A nice beginning for Ovosonico's people.

Truly unique in the Vita catalogue, Murasaki Baby is again proof of how a game can really be a piece of art on its own. We can argue about why the developers haven't given us the chance of using a button scheme instead the touch controls, but that will detract us from the short but deep experience that is guide the little Baby and her balloon through a world of dreams and macabre.

Murasaki Baby shows a twisted and fascinating style and several intriguing ideas. However, beyond its shortness and tangled controls, it fails in establishing a strong and emotional connection between the player and Baby.

The visual style of the game is striking, but the touch-based controls make it clumsy and can cause large amounts of rage. Murasaki Baby makes a great airport game: if you have the patience and an awkward portion of time on your hands, it’ll definitely keep your mind preoccupied.

It's a bit short and the controls are at times quite clumsy, but that doesn't keep this visually unique and overall intriguing platforming experience from being highly recommendable.

Most of the success of Murasaki Baby relies wholeheartedly on its art style, and thankfully it does pull the game pretty far. But, the puzzles are more about execution than thought, and even though the story felt like it went much deeper than I had expected for a portable title, it still falls short from being memorable.

This baby could have done with more time in the dev womb. [Nov 2014, p.90]

Murasaki Baby is a wondrous artistic and emotional creation that is ultimately let down by the game’s stubborn dedication to touch controls.

Murasaki Baby plays on parental instincts and our natural desire to protect the weak. A skin-crawlingly tense tour of a twisted imagination.

It’s easy to love its bunny-shaped boogeymen and characters spouting gibberish on a surface level, but this stylistically stunning, inventive little game never quite grows up.

This might not be something that I go back to often, but it’s left me satisfied in a way that not many games do.

Murasaki Baby is a textbook example of style over substance. The game’s twisted fantasy world certainly looks the part, but its touch-based puzzles are the real nightmare at times. There are some clever moments here, but they’re undone by atrocious controls.

It’s yet another example of the kind of game that could only come from a small studio willing to take risks, and it’s to the game’s credit that it leaves you wanting for more rather than overstaying its welcome – but the missed potential of what could have been will dominate your thoughts once you’re done.

Murasaki Baby is a short-yet-sweet adventure into what can only be described as a child's nightmares. Although scares and frights are ahead for Baby, a fantastic escape into a bizarre world that will stay on your mind long after it ends awaits for you.

Overall Murasaki Baby is a bit of originality sprinkled with easy to medium puzzles, a short story you have to put together and enough content for a few hours of play.

Though it's extremely brief and perhaps a bit undercooked, Murasaki Baby is a thoughtful adventure with some clever mechanics. It's primarily buoyed by its superb art and sound direction, which expertly toe the line between creepy and cute. While some deeper puzzles would have been nice, Murasaki Baby is ultimately a nice addition to the Vita's library.

It may have been "better" with a button-based control scheme, but then it would not have been as unique as it is.