Chicory: A Colorful Tale

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is an incredibly enjoyable and wholesome experience. Its characters are so charming and endearing; its graphical style and world design encourages creativity and wants you to color the world back in. The soundtrack is stellar and completes the package on display here. It's a game that can be enjoyed for all ages and if you decide to pursue all the sidequests, complete the decorating minigames, and find all of the collectibles, you can certainly spend a lot of time in the world of Chicory. My only gripe is a personal one—that I didn’t play this game last year—because without a doubt it makes for a wonderful late addition to the best of what 2021 had to offer. I cannot wait to see what Greg, Lena, Em, Alexis and Madeline will make next, because Chicory can’t be described as anything other than a piece of modern art.

The gameplay mechanics, which benefit immensely from touch controls on the Nintendo Switch screen, will grab the players right away and those with creative skills will feel even more stimulated by how the game advances. A real gem of a game that contributes to enrich the Nintendo Switch catalogue beautifully.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale, while not perfect on Switch, is still a great game you need to play. The new controls schemes have their issues, but they also have their moments to shine.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is an engrossing adventure that you won’t put down. The main story is enough to pull you in, but it’s the world that you’ll crave more of in the moments you’re unable to play, which is why it’s a good thing this game is finally on Switch.

As an adventure game, Chicory is quite sincerely up there with the very best of the genre. There’s plenty to see and do and a full completion run will probably take you 25-30 hours. The characters and their travails are rich and likeable, the game’s sense of humour is generally inspired, and it’s all very sweet without being sugary-twee and talking down to the player. It’s also an affecting little tearjerker that will definitely strike a chord if you make art, and almost certainly will even if you don’t – so long as you’re capable of pretty basic empathy. Chicory is simple to play but impressively long and complex, with perfect controls, performance and visuals. Throw yourself into painting the world and you’ll be left with a game that’s very much your own and speaks to you directly – a beautiful marriage of mechanics, themes and visuals.

A beautiful realisation of the joy of playing, Chicory is an astounding use of the medium of video games that also leans heavily into the emotional weight of expectations and doubt. An incredibly real and human story is told with fantastic gameplay, and bringing the world of Picnic back to life is a journey I won’t forget.