If you’re looking for something a bit strange, but a bit exciting, then Headup Games‘ latest looks set to see you right. Created in collaboration with Mixtvision – known for games like Far: Lone Sails – and Monokel is White Shadows, this is part Animal Farm, part INSIDE, part Little Nightmares. And it’s coming to next-gen consoles and PC in 2021.
An extraordinary puzzle platformer, White Shadows is a modern fable; one that provides a distorted mirror of our own world – funny, messed up and a little meaningful.
Some time ago, the great war led to a plague which wiped almost all living things from the face of the earth. Or so they say. Nobody is safe outside the White City, and the birds are to blame for the plague. Or so they say. Only a shining coat of fresh white colour will protect you from the plague, and you must earn your ration of color by staying obedient. Or so they say. But Ravengirl stopped listening.
It is her escape that pushes you deeper and deeper into ever more surreal parts of the city in White Shadows – slums constructed out of the remains of a circus, giant workers’ quarters which travel through the endless night, a perverted amusement park where white color flows endlessly, a forgotten place where the other outlaws gather around a tree made of tin.
On your journey into the darkness you will become the main attraction of the half-human, half-animal inhabitants of the city. You will catch up with your own past and become a victim, a perpetrator, a prophet. You will find the resistance hidden deep in the belly of the city and learn about the horrible truth of the white color and the world outside the city. Or will you?
It’s obvious that there are immediate similarities to George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and these are totally intentional and cannot be dismissed. Without giving away too much though this dark world full of enslaved animal creatures deals with deeply ingrained civic issues such as social injustice, racism, and a ruling class that tries to maintain its power through false reports, lies and violence after a worldwide catastrophe.
In White Shadows you will be found taking charge of a small, lost Ravengirl through a dark, giant world of steel machines, production lines and propaganda. This is a world whose inhabitants were convinced that a layer of white paint would protect them from a rampant epidemic. A world in which everything has its assigned place and disobedience is bitterly punished. What you’ll be left with are escape sequences that alternate between puzzles and classic platformer elements, as the 2D gameplay and 3D worlds merge, offering up breathtaking scenes, a variety of weird characters and devices vehicles that you’re able to steer through this bizarre world.
White Shadows is due to drop on Xbox Series X, PS5 and PC in the first half of 2021. For now, you can take in the announcement trailer. But from there on out you’ll need to hold tight for further details as they drop. We’ll be sure to bring you them.
