Figment: the Official DoG Review

Figment is an isometric style action-adventure game from Bedtime Digital Games.

This is the official review of Figment, which differs from our first impression.

Theme

The story begins in a rather dramatic and depressing fashion (I will not spoil it here as I believe it is an important story/tonal element). Expect this game to explore “mature” themes about depression, anxiety, disease, and courage. Figment joins games like HellBlade: Senua’s Sacrifice in opening the conversation about mental health.

Game Design

If you are familiar with the genre, then you will immediately recognize the familiar gameplay components. You can expect a variety of puzzles in each environment and the occasional instance of combat. Combat in Figment requires a simple button press. Combat is simply a mechanism to break up the monotony of constant puzzling.

Nearly every element of the game is designed to contrast a whimsical sense of fun and adventure with somber maladies of the mind. The art design contrasts a variety of bright and muted colors to this effect. The written and performed character dialogue are incredibly over the top. At times it borders on annoying but it does serve a purpose to help distract from the subject matter.

Soundtrack

Music is arguably the most important way in which the game signals its intent to the player. Each environment has a unique set of tones and sounds associated with it. Bosses have their own song they sing during battle. These boss battles are the perfect merriment of fun, music, puzzles, gameplay, and design. This is where Figment is at its best.

In Conclusion

The full version of Figment piqued our interest more than expected based on our experience with the demo. The game loves to use whimsical sarcasm and humor to balance moments when it could get too dark or dull. It is refreshing to see a game explore mental health in this way. With a game like HellBlade: Senua’s Sacrifice released to much acclaim, I hope this once taboo subject is evolving into a topic developers feel more comfortable exploring.