Music, colour, and puzzles

I have a special puzzle platformer for you, chums, because Colorbound is full of heart and clever scenarios that'll give your brain a workout.

Just like in nearly all our reviews, you can watch A.J. play Colorbound below so you can judge accordingly. ▶️

Yes; let's get to it, chum! Colourful puzzles

Colorbound is played by running and jumping around 2D stages as you try and reach the flag. Once you do, you complete that stage and move on to the next. Simple! Well, things are actually more complicated than that because you collect drops of colour then paint things to navigate the stage. For instance, if a foreground object matches the background then it'll no longer be in your way. Similarly, if a platform doesn't match the background then you can jump on it. The resulting gameplay is mind-bending and will definitely require a lot of trial and error as you work out how to reach every goal. Perhaps you painted the right things but stood in a spot that made progress impossible but, hey, working out the solutions is constantly rewarding stuff that makes every inch of progress a satisfying challenge so keep at it, chums! 🎨 v1d30chumz zbcyzbqyzwyztq

I'm grateful there's an undo button Charming game world

On top of the incredibly clever gameplay, Colorbound presents one phenomenal game world that's filled with adorable character sprites (especially the llamas), lovely environments, soft colour palettes, and unambiguous visuals that help streamline gameplay. There's just such a wonderful sense of charm whenever you complete a level and see your character celebrate with pure joy and assembling the band members always results in delightful heartfelt scenes as you try your best to make your late granddad proud. To complement this lighthearted and vibrant game world is a top-notch soundtrack that features authentic South American instruments and it really makes everything shine with positivity, heart, and a gently upbeat atmosphere. It's one masterfully-presented game that you need to experience for yourself. 🎵

I love llama, too, and these ones sure are cuties! Plenty of variety

As you progress through Colorbound's campaign, you'll encounter plenty of new gameplay elements and scenarios that do an excellent job of freshening up the gameplay. Now, I sincerely don't want to spoil anything so I'll just describe 2 mechanics that really mix things up. For one, you get a dark blue colour that can make platforms fall when you paint them with it which adds a whole new dimension to gameplay. Next, there are stages where you have to colour blocks to match a character's pixel art design and those really make the gameplay puzzle-focused in a super-clever way. I must admit that even with these awesome gameplay wrinkles, there will be times throughout the campaign when certain stages start feeling a bit too samey so I recommend playing Colorbound in short bursts to make it feel fresh every time you play. 🌈

Colorbound's gameplay really goes all-out, doesn't it? Collectible llamas

Although the campaign in Colorbound is generally linear, there are collectibles and bonus stages to master. For starters, you'll sometimes travel outside the scope of a stage to discover a llama and once you pet it, you can challenge a tricky level where you have to guide the llama to its owner and once you reunite them, you get a collectible for your scrapbook and whenever you return a certain threshold of llamas, you'll unlock a group of special bonus stages that really amplify the challenge. If you're ever stuck, you can use hints in the menu and even skip stages if you want which is excellent. However, once you master everything, there really isn't much replay value in Colorbound so I wish there was more content to extend its playtime beyond collecting and completing everything which admittedly will take quite a while. 😸

Music with friends really makes our colours shine

Colorbound is a delightful puzzler with such clever gameplay that you'll happily master everything then think fondly back on it for years.

Watch A.J. play Colorbound 9:53

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Filed under: Reviews › PlayStation 5.