Chicory: A Colorful Tale in the test: Great indie RPG with colorful painting fun and Zelda flair

Chicory

Chicory: A Colorful Tale, an adventure game in a coloring book fantasy world, is certainly one of the most unusual and creative indie titles of the year. The development team, led by Greg Lobanov, who already caused a sensation in the indie scene with his traveling song, combines the popular gameplay of old Zelda offshoots with the fascination of coloring books. We plunged into the provincial picnic, which was very barren at the beginning, and brought back the joy of color and peace with the help of a magical brush.

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Table of contents

1 Story: The new color child of the picnic province 2 Meaning: Serious topics despite childlike presentation, packed sensitively and empathetically 3 Gameplay: A playable coloring book with a lot of originality 4 Activities: Lost people Kittens, delivering mail & everyday artist life 5 Audiovisual: Fantastic music meets unique staging 6 Platforms & release: Where can I play Chicory? 7 Meinund & Wertung

Story: The new color child of the picnic province

In some games you spend what feels like an eternity carefully cobbling together your very own character - not with Chicory: A Colorful Tale. The only important question to answer: "What is your favorite food?" - simple and effective if you ask us! In our case, shortly afterwards we slip into the role of the cleaner "Salat", who works in the big paint tower in the city of Mittagsmahl for the current color child, a kind of living legend and world-famous artist in picnic.

First barren, then motley: At the beginning, the Province of Picnic is still very colorless, but over time we put our own stamp on the charming game world. Source: tPC Games One day, surprisingly, all colors disappear from the world. At first we still think we may have taken the cleaning thing a little too seriously. However, it later emerges that something seems to be wrong with the color kid chicory. First and foremost, there is no trace of the rabbit lady, and her magic brush lies dispossessed in the corridor of the tower. As the biggest fan of chicory, we of course take the magical painting tool and make it our task to follow in their footsteps and bring back its motley appearance to the picnic province - at least until the gifted artist shows up again.

From now on, the adventure game takes us into varied game worlds with over 100 animal characters, all of whom convince with loving personalities and funny sayings - always with food allusions, of course. In the café we trust, for example, the muscular Cola works, in the town hall of the city dinner we can rely on the somewhat strict official Pfeffer and ex-color child Blackberry tells us more about the difficult past of her student chicory and the importance of the brush.

Meaning: Serious topics despite childlike presentation, packed sensitively and empathetically

Chicory raises many questions at the beginning: Why have all the colors disappeared? Where exactly is chicory located? And what about the many flaws in the game world? The blemishes appear in the form of black roots that continue to spread across the country. The story of Chicory seems quite simple at first glance and focuses on a relaxed adventure trip in a charming robe full of humor, cheerfulness and ingenuity. Despite all this, there are many serious and difficult topics hidden behind it. For example, the "impostor syndrome", also known as impostor syndrome, is heavily treated, in which those affected have to struggle with enormous self-doubt about their abilities and performance.

Funny, profound & charming: Chicory is not afraid before addressing difficult topics, but always remains respectful, amiable and humorous - impressive! Source: PC Games In addition, the five-person development team does not shy away from tackling complex issues such as sexuality, identity, "workaholism" (job addiction) and depression. Fortunately, despite the childlike presentation, none of these topics are unnecessarily glossed over or even tackled in a kitschy way. Chicory: A Colorful Tale gives insights into the depths of the human being, and that with a lot of charm, understanding and skill - implemented with respect and skill. Equally praiseworthy is the great mix of gameplay, which unfolds with every hour of play and invites you to explore and try out.

Gameplay: A playable coloring book with a lot of originality

As already mentioned, there is Chicory made up of two large game elements: adventure gameplay in the style of old Zelda titles and the fascination of an interactive coloring book. We'd like to get down to the obvious Zelda adventure side of the indie title first. From a bird's eye view, we steer our character through a large and harmonious game world, which is connected to one another by many individual screens. Typical of the game principle, which is particularly popular in the indie sector, our skills develop further as the game progresses and so we succeed in gradually exploring and reaching more and more of the game world.

An interactive coloring book in a class of its own: Chicory uses the color theme masterfully not only in terms of gameplay, but also in the area of ​​the story a lot is extracted from the concept. Source: PC Games Whether in combat or jumping and exploring, our weapon, the paintbrush, is essential and the only tool that matters. In typical adventure style, there are also plenty of puzzles that hit the mark with a balanced approach - not too demanding but still tricky enough to motivate. At the end of each chapter there are various hectic and exciting boss fights in which we have to prove our skills. All of this would have turned out quite well, but not particularly if it weren't for the second gameplay page from Chicory: A Colorful Tale: The coloring To shape our taste and thus to put our very own stamp on the Provincial Picnic. First and foremost, this has an enormous stress-relieving effect, and our painting tools also play a key role in everyday adventurers: picnics have a very strong effect on our painting power. For example, special white plants grow by coloring, while others have to be erased. Over the course of the season, new challenges are added that cleverly expand the basic mechanics and skillfully counteract boredom, such as the Chicory: A Colorful Tale in the test: Great indie RPG with colorful painting fun and Zelda flair (5) Source: PC Games swim in colors.

During the entire game time, which takes around ten to twelve hours, we did not experience any unnecessary lengths, annoying quests or even disappointing game sections in our test. From start to finish, Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a festival for video game fans who can also have fun with smaller pearls. Aside from the main story, there are also plenty of activities that add more food to the game world and put their many great characters in the limelight.

Activities: Stray kittens, delivering mail & everyday life as an artist

Having a picnic Not only to offer lots of great characters and little stories, there are also great activities that not only aim to maximize playing time, but also offer real added value. All over the world there are kittens that make themselves heard loudly in trees. We also make it our business to collect rubbish early on. This is not only praiseworthy, but also really lucrative! After a few hours of play, we are able to swap the rubbish in various shops for pretty plants, furniture and the like, with which the world can be adorned even more charmingly.

One of the greatest indie titles of the year? Chicory has a lot to offer and is already one of the big game highlights for us in 2021. Source: PC Games There are of course countless items of clothing. Everywhere in the game world there are varied hats and outfits with which we can put our character in the limelight in a fashion-conscious way. In the lively city of Dinner, we are also forced to work by the post office. That sounds pretty mean at first, but turns out to be a loving side activity with which we learn more about the many personalities, relationships and backgrounds of Picnic.

As a painter icon of the province, it is no wonder that often our A feeling for creativity and the creation of original art is used. Café owner Cola, for example, wants us to design a hip T-shirt for his customer base. All that remains to say about the Chicory game world is: We can warmly recommend a trip to the Picnic Province.

Audiovisual: Fantastic music meets unique staging

Chicory: A Colorful Tale in the test: Great Indie RPG with colorful painting fun and Zelda flair (1) Source: Finji One of the great highlights in Chicory is the fantastic background music by Lena Raine, who has already made a name for herself with her soundtrack to the indie hit Celeste. Whether in the fights, while exploring or relaxing, the sonorous and multi-layered compositions capture the fairytale mood and help the already original experience to unfold in a refreshing way.

The special thing about Chicory is that we not only are visiting a ready-made game world, we are part of the universe and significantly involved in influencing its appearance. The many areas are kept in simple black and white on our first visit. But as soon as we have distributed the first shades of color over the barren areas and let our creativity run free, a colorful and happy environment emerges - by us, for us.

Platforms & Release: Where can I play Chicory ?

Chicory: A Colorful Tale has been available for Playstation 5, Playstation 4, PC and Mac since June 10, 2021. The adventure runs smoothly on all platforms, but thanks to the coloring principle, Chicory plays a lot better on the PC - i.e. with a mouse and keyboard. Chicory also offers the opportunity to indulge in the fun of painting in co-op mode. The creative indie game costs around 20 euros, it is a bit cheaper for the PC. The only thing left to say is: don't miss it!

Opinion & valuation

Chicory: A Colorful Tale (PC) 9/10

Graphics - Sound - Multiplayer - Pros & Cons Fantastic story that is not afraid of difficult topics and yet convinces with a lot of wit and charm Over 100 animal characters, all of whom come up with funny sayings and loving personalities Creative gameplay with lots of originality Interesting game world with secrets and lots of variety Many side activities that make sense in The world was knitted Beautiful soundtrack by Celeste composer Lena Raine No technical problems, perfectly playable Slightly limited control on consoles due to the coloring component More freedom when painting would have been nice More pros & cons ... Conclusion Chicory: A Colorful Tale already counts for us to the best games of> 2021 - don't miss out!