I played Celeste recently and kinda became a Lena Raine fan, so I checked her other works, and I listened to the Chicory soundtrack and I just had to play this game.

It took me a bit of time to really get into it. While the game never tells you to do so, I felt obligated to fully color every screen, and as an artist it felt more like work than playing a videogame. Tho it quickly became a joy to paint this world. Having a limited palette of colors specific to each area is a very good idea to force you to experiment; same with the art pieces you can makes or reproduce throughout the game.

What really got me is the story and characters. I played this game during a depressive episode I'm still not out of, and the game just put words and images on a lot of stuff and it feels good. I see myself a lot in both Chicory and Fruits (my character) and I kept thinking "woah they made a game about me !" (as must have thought every other artist playing this game haha) It all hits very close to home.
Same for the soundtrack actually. I think I noticed a lot of inspirations from games I know too. Even if these are not actual references, all of this made me feel closer to this game and the people who made it.

Overall I think Chicory helped me a lot, to improve as an artist, and just to feel better, and I have no doubt it will help me a lot in the future too.
Now I just wished I didn't listen to the soundtrack before playing the game. I would have cried like a baby if I got to listen to "The Mountain Top" for the first time during the credits.

I don't have too much to say about Chicory. It's a short and cute game about using your magical paintbrush to color the world back in and to help defeat the corruption plaguing the world. The relationships between the characters are very wholesome, and the game gives off a very positive vibe about overcoming one's impostor syndrome. The puzzles are pretty well constructed, but got a bit repetitive by the end. I played this game on PS5, which heavily utilizes the touchpad in a clever, yet carpal tunnel-inducing way. There are a lot of characters to talk to in the game, but by the second half I never felt inclined to really interact with anyone, nor did I feel the need to continue grabbing the many, many different costume options. It's an average game, and considering I got it for free I think it was worth my time, but it never really blew me away.

The thing that sometimes gets buried when people talk about this game is that as a pure 2D Zelda-esque puzzle game, it's really good. If you come to this game looking solely for that, I think you'll have a good time. That's not the most important thing about this game, but if you tunnel vision on the things that make this game unique I think it can make it sound like an unwelcome experience for anyone who doesn't particularly like colouring or drawing (like me!) or even someone who doesn't figure themselves any kind of creative. So I figure it'd be good to let people know that really isn't the case. Drawing and colouring is a big part of it (and even on a PlayStation controller it's not too bad, as long as you remember to use the touch pad instead of the sticks when you want more speed or precision), but the game has a lot to offer beyond that. This a fun world to explore and collect things and solve puzzles with new abilities that you collect. It's also a really easy world to navigate once you collect a few abilities, so exploring is a lot of fun.

But: when people focus on the game's embrace of creativity and the artistic mind, encouraging even those who don't feel they have any artistic talent (and may not even want to), they're not wrong to do so. You play the game as a player-named character - the default is Pizza, so I'll run with that here - who takes over the role of being the one who colours the world with a magic brush after the previous wielder of the brush, Chicory, finds herself unable to continue the role. Through the course of the game, we see two different forms of artists in Pizza and Chicory that each have their own self-doubts that the game suggests are equally valid. Pizza is a complete amateur, who was only a janitor before picking up the brush; Chicory is a perfectionist who trained her whole life to become this. Pizza is very self-conscious about their lack of trained skill and whether they really 'deserve' to be the one wielder, and because they came into the role at a time of major crisis, they find themselves unsure of their creative chops because they're so busy helping other people and making colours as to how others want. Chicory finds that willingness to help others admirable, because Chicory's vision of art was always very self-centered, to the point that Chicory spiraled into a depressive bout that left her unable to be the wielder that others needed. But as a player with limited tools, you can't help but feel weak next to what you're able to see of Chicory's fantastic art.

The world around you is also great, filled with ambient dialogue from unique, funny, and heartfelt characters. (They actually remind me a lot of the characters in Paper Mario.) There's one person who wants to remember his recently passed friend by decorating the area with plants, and is truly moved when you help him out. Other people who have anxieties or unease of their own are moved by how Pizza is able to push themselves to become more than they once were, even as many people doubted them when they first wielded the brush. One constant source of comfort for Pizza, though, is their family. Their sister is a trained artist who regards Pizza not with jealously but complete support, helping them sort out their feelings when it seems like the world is closing in on them. Their parents are also a constant line of support (quite literally, forming an extremely generous and specific hint system that I was grateful for on a few occasions), who worry about Pizza but also trust them to be able to do what's best for themselves and others.

And of course, Lena Raine's music is a delight! I admit that she was a good chunk of why I came to this game, and on that front I was not disappointed. Since Celeste it seems like she's really upped her arrangement skills, with beautiful interplay of instruments that's often anchored by unique percussion patterns. The music often contains a lush, cute beauty to it, but there's also a sense of unease in this world where the colour has been drained from it, often maintained by the odd percussive patterns. In the main town's theme, for instance, the snare hit gets held off for so long that you're just waiting for it to drop, to the point where the tension becomes the main aspect of the rhythm - but that doesn't stop that eventual thwack from being immensely satisfying. And there are moments, too, when she leans all the way into the darkness of the story, with some tracks being outright dark ambient scariness or drum and bass chaos. Amidst those it often feels like she's calling back to Celeste's music, and honestly I don't think it's simply a matter of Raine having a composing style that she's comfortable with.

I have a hard time believing those musical connections are accidental, because this game has some very distinct similarities to Celeste. This overarching narrative of this game, is very similar: Pizza and Chicory have to discover their confidence and overcome their anxieties much like Madeleine did in Celeste. Along the way, they meet dark doppelgangers that reflect their deepest and darkest troubles, and it's only by learning to accept those as part of their inner being that they can prosper and love themselves. (There's even a snowy mountain that have to climb!) But Chicory carves out its own space, applying those general personal concepts to concrete ends of being a creative person. I might not be a visual artist, but I do like writing, and I found a lot to connect with in both Pizza and Chicory that I didn't personally get as much from Celeste, which left a lot to subtext. That subtext worked tremendously for a lot of people, but I personally appreciated Greg Lobanov's specificity in writing this game: not just platitudes or copying someone else, but a clearly felt point of view. I was really, truly impressed.

Chicory é um jogo adorável, cheio de carisma e que por trás do visual fofinho tem uma profundidade e uma sensibilidade pra abordar assuntos complexos que me surpreendeu.

A mecânica diferente de usar um pincel, desenhos, cores e tinta pra resolver a maior parte dos desafios de puzzle e de travessia são o diferencial do jogo. E apesar disso, em nenhum momento você será julgado pela sua (falta de) habilidade artística, ou o jogo vai exigir algo obrigatório. Nas partes criativas você pode desenhar uma linha só e é isso, ta feito. Isso dito, comecei frustrada por nunca conseguir fazer nada minimamente legal, depois abri mão e no final do jogo estava me dedicando novamente e percebi que, olha só, assim como a personagem do jogo eu melhorei e me tornei mais familiar com as ferramentas e fiz algo que não ficou bom, mas que legitimamente gostei.

Mas o destaque mesmo do jogo e o que me segurou até o fim foram os temas e os diálogos bem escritos (e bem traduzidos). Os assuntos vão de saúde mental em geral, inseguranças, burnout, a sociedade, o que é arte, cobrança, achar seu lugar no mundo, destino e muito mais. Eu poderia tentar escrever o QUANTO esse jogo bateu no meu emocional, mas primeiro que eu nem seria capaz e segundo que não vou me expor aqui que ninguém merece ler.

Chicory entrou naquele espaço especial do coração que contém minhas obras favoritas e que mexeram demais comigo.

Ah! Tudo ter nome relacionado a comidas é a coisa mais fofa do mundo. Gororoba é a melhor tradução e o melhor nome de cidade. Joguem em português.

I credit rolled Chicory today. I picked in up on ps+ after reading a click bait headline about the last chance to play it before it is removed from ps+. I had no expectations or knowledge of the game other than it had a neat art style.

I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. Good exploration of mental health, without being too heavy. Some neat puzzle mechanics. Some of the boss battles were pretty cool, with the dual control (and some other tricks thrown in).

I feel like the paint the world aspect of the game didn't hit with me. I certainly didn't paint just for fun. And I didn't feel compelled to side quest and collect everything. Although, some of the side quests were cute and funny. Overall, pretty good. Would recommend.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a cute Metroidvania with nice music. It doesn't do anything noteworthy for the genre but being able to paint anywhere on the screen is pretty novel. I can see some people liking the artstyle but I found the white and extreme colours a bit hard on the eyes. The abilities you unlock throughout the game are not the most exciting but I did enjoy swimming in the paint. The puzzles are fairly simple but still satisfying. The story is a fairly standard "rid of the world of corruption" plot but I did like the charming characters. It's a decent game.

I have nothing bad, even nothing mediocre to say about this game. It may not hit quite the same with everyone, but, at least for me, this was genuinely a perfect videogame experience. The characters are charming and lovable, the story strikes a chord strongly, the world is a joy to explore, and the central mechanic of painting everything was a really fun way to interact with the environment.

This may be the single most influential game in my life, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone, but especially anyone who considers themself an artistic type, or just enjoys the act of creating something.

Play this game, please. I need more people to play Chicory.

-O jogo esbanja carisma;

-Possui puzzles e design de fases muito bons e que utilizam bem a mecânica do pincel;

-A missões principais e secundárias não estão em um menu, nem marcados no mapa, mas o jogo te guia muito bem para onde ir, o que deixa mais imersivo;

-Gostei deles terem feito os personagens mudarem de local no mapa, deixando o mundo mais vivo;

-De negativo seriam as lutas de chefes, que não são muito interessantes, e a falta de recompensas mais interessantes do que só estilos de pinturas.