Where Shadows Slumber

Where Shadows Slumber mixes light and darkness in some intelligent and incredibly engaging ways.

If some people will not appreciate the madness that emerges from the game, the chaotic spirit and the dark morality of the character and the various protagonists, it is clear that this game is an excellent puzzle-game filled with intelligent challenges, difficult, varied and innovative.

The puzzles are clever, but not as varied or mind-melting as the Go series. The game's central mechanic is cool, but it isn't quite clever or adaptable enough to push it to instant-classic status like Monument Valley. That said, it would be hard to reach the heights of those games, and as it is, Where Shadows Slumber is an atmospheric and imaginative puzzle game.

Where Shadows Slumber is a good puzzle game that mixes light and shadow not only in its puzzles but also in the quite strange story that unfolds between the levels.

There are many clever, elegantly-designed puzzles, which escalate in complexity to include multiple light sources. But there are also some nasty bugs in later levels, several of which require you to quit and restart the game.

The pace is pretty good, the game looks and sounds great, and on an individual level some of the puzzles are fun to untangle. The games shines with potential, and that does take it a good distance. As such, I’d probably still recommend the game, even if I can’t do so as enthusiastically as I would have liked to. It’s buggy, the design feels inconsistent, and the story keels over at the last minute, but you may want to put up with all of that if only to get at the bits that work.

This puzzle game has its fair share of issues, but it’s worth seeing through to the end.