Getting straight to the point, BUY THIS GAME NOW ITS ONE OF THE BEST PUZZLE GAMES I'VE EVER PLAYED.
*AHEM* now that that's over, let's get to the actual review.
Going on how I discovered this game, I usually browse the Steam Discovery Queue every few seasonal sales to get trading card stuff, but during 2023's winter sale I stumbled across Vividlope, and when I actually started playing i got hooked immediately.
The game's presentation nails the Y2K/Dreamcast/Gamecube aesthetic perfectly, even down to the gameplay and characters. You color tiles in by walking on them, smack and avoid a lot (and I MEAN a LOT) of enemies with power ups like hammers, dashes, paint balls, among other things, rinse, repeat and add a lot of gimmicks for a while.
I would say the game if you're going for a casual standpoint, is around 5-6 hours if you're going for one playthrough, depends on your skill level really. But the real meat of the game is perfecting each level with an S+ (on easy/normal) or V rank. (on hard.) Doing this, especially on the later levels, is incredibly difficult sometimes, but MAN it is worth it once you finally get it down. The character designs are also very cute and surprisingly memorable. (looking at you, Miss Noir.)
The game also has a built in level editor and workshop support, meaning you can make your own levels! It's very confusing at first, but the main dev, Jaklub, posted a guide on how it works if you are confused about anything. Definitely check it out if you're craving a custom level kick.
The music is easily some of the best I've ever heard in any game. i'm not even kidding. From calming tracks like Vividvastness, to very intense ones like Vividviolence, this game has a wide variety of really, REALLY good tracks. LISTEN TO THE SOUNDTRACK TOO. PLEASE.
Every great game has a few drawbacks tho. For one, enemy spam gets somewhat rampant in the later levels. Some gimmicks are just really annoying, especially the lightbulbs and spinners, and some of the levels are kinda unfair at times, especially those in Levels 7, 8 and 9.
Please, for the love of all in the Atrium, give this game and Jaklub and the team behind it your time and money. They all deserve it. Again, it's easily one of the best puzzle games I've ever played and sits up there with some of my other favorite games ever. I never expected an indie title like this to be a GOTY 2024 contender for me, but here we are. Wow. Thank you for making a really dang good game.