Review: Shio (Sony PlayStation 4)

Review by Harvard L.

Shio is perhaps the most fatalistic entry in the well-populated subgenre of punishingly difficult platformers. It’s a game which isn’t interested in celebrating the player’s achievement or relishing in the player’s chagrin. Instead, it propagates a quiet melancholy aesthetic in its design – dwelling upon the slow despair of not being able to meet expectations, and meandering through the idea that nothing really changes despite the effort we may put in. If anything, the game’s challenges serve as a metaphor for the busywork that we cloud our lives with in order to try and forget the sad, immutable truths of our existence. Or it could be completely different; Shio is also one of the few games that has made me doubt my own read of it, perhaps because it’s so weird, but also because it asks so much of the player that it’s hard to offer a clear judgment. of what it offers

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