Successfully funded through Kickstarter last July and then subsequently Greenlit back in September, Monochroma from Turkish indie developer Nowhere Studios is finally ready for a PC/Mac/Linux Steam launch this April. Versions for PS3 and Wii U are supposedly in development as well, but there is no word on when they are expected to release.
For those who are just now learning of the game’s existence, Monochroma is a cinematic puzzle platformer that takes place in an oppressive dystopian state during the 1950s and draws inspiration from recent geopolitical incidents–namely the Gezi Protests last year in Turkey–to tell a tale about a boy and his younger brother revolting against a tyrannical robot manufacturing corporation with a dark secret.
Monochroma shows strong influences from games like Limbo, Ico, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, both thematically and in its realistic physics-based puzzle solving mechanics. The story will unfold without cutscenes, text or spoken dialogue, relying instead on the interactions between the brothers and the stark black-and-white-with-splashes-of-red aesthetic to create an emotional bond between the game and the player. Sounds like my kind of game!
A large part of the game will also consist of taking care of the younger brother as the playable older brother. Events early on in the story will leave the younger bro with a bum leg, and from there you, as the older bro, will have to take on the sibling responsibility of aiding your little brother, carrying him piggyback through the environments and leaving him in brightly lit areas (he’s afraid of the dark) when it’s time to stop and solve a puzzle.
Check out the original Kickstarter/Greenlight campaign video below for a closer look at what to expect from Monochroma when it arrives on Steam next month.