Shady Part of Me (PC) (2020)

Overview: A puzzle platformer involving a little girl and her shadow trying to escape a strange, dream-like world together.

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20220924:
Thus far this is a fun game. I love the atmospheric setting. The art design mixed with puzzle element is excellent. With that being said, the strength of the game thus far is leaning towards the art design and story, because the puzzling has been very light. Of course, I'm only about a third or fourth of the way done - based on the hidden origami I've collected thus far. Checking the achievements, I've fully completed Act 1, and there are four acts, but I feel like I'm probably close to finishing Act 2.

Setup: Steam Deck.

Steam Game Time: 81 minutes (total game time)

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20221001:
Today I finished Act 2.

Steam Game Time: 3.8 hours (total game time) / 2.4 hours (session game time)

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20221003:
Today I completed the main story. The next goal would be to finish collecting all the hidden origami. Thus far, across the prologue and four acts I've collected 9 of 9, 21 of 25, 32 of 40, 14 of 16, and 5 of 8. I'm not sure when I'll go back to get the missing hidden origami.

Getting back to the story, the ending definitely changes the perception of everything that occurs throughout the story: there's a twist near the end where it is revealed that technically the shadow is the real voice and not the little girl.

Steam Game Time: 4.4 hours (total game time) / 0.6 hours (session game time)

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20221005:
Today I decided to go back to collect missing hidden origami, and the game makes it a little easier by indicating the number of origami achieved by subsection.

Act 1 Fantasy 8 of 10. Found: 1 of the 2 is screenshoted. Found: The box that gets the shadow girl there has to be moved out of the way. Act 1 The Eacape 4 of 6. Found: The first is somehow in an obvious position but I guess nonobvious solution for the first playthrough. Found: The second was in a vent first tipped off by the shadow of the exit sign being opposite direction from the object and that it can be stood on. Act 2 Introspection 8 of 9. Found: At the end when she's trapped in the crane the bird is very small and easy to miss. Requires the shadow girl to jump.
I decided to take a break after Act 2 Introspection.

Steam Game Time: 5.5 hours (total game time) / 1.1 hours (session game time)

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20221005 Part 1:
Today I finished Act 2. About four of the missing hidden origami were found near the end by letting the bridge that spirals up go back down. In hunting for the hidden origami, this was an obvious hiding spot to check.

The two I needed for Act 3 were in Act 3 Ascension and in fact located at the very end during the cog turn. At a certain point in the rotation an origami appears for the shadow and during the same point the non shadow should move to get another origami.

Steam Game Time: 6.4 hours (total game time) / 0.9 hours (session game time)

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20221005 Part 2:
I found the final missing hidden origami in Act 4. The first time I played through Act 4 I was left with one hidden origami still missing, so as I started going through the act again, I tried to focus on the border of the stage. Eventually the strategy paid off as I found the last hidden origami on the border of the stage.

Steam Game Time: 7.3 hours (total game time) / 0.9 hours (session game time)

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Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Great music
+ Great story
+ Solid puzzle and gameplay mechanics
+ Possibly on par with the quality of puzzle platformer Braid (or perhaps a notch beneath with respect to puzzling)
+ Ability to reverse action (redo feature)

Neutral:
~ Sometimes there are moments in the game that require switching to the other character just to walk a small distance and that feels more tedious than fun

Rating: 5.2/5

[20221003]

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Summary:
My intuition was to compare this game to Braid. While individually the art and gameplay elements are strong, the entire package lacks the flow of Braid, because in Shady Part of Me the player has to frequently switch between two player characters - the young girl and her shadow. Of course, something I forgot is that this game has voicework and I personally enjoyed it. Overall, I would highly recommend this game.

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20231225:
Ensuring backup of game's save files from Steam Deck to PC.

Steam Game Time: 7.3 hours (cumulative game time) / 0.0 hours (session game time)

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Shady Part of Me (PC) (2020)

Relevant Links:
Shady Part of Me (Wikipedia.org)
Shady Part of Me (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Shady Part of Me (steamdb.info)
Shady Part of Me (Steam Store Page)