Bedtime Digital Games really do seem to have carved out a strangely specific niche for themselves on Steam. Their debut title – Back To Bed – was an isometric action-puzzle game about guiding a sleepwalking figure back to a cozy place to rest their head. Similar in perspective and style, their newly-released Figment, launched on Steam just yesterday, takes us deeper into the world of dreams, this time playing a more proactive role.
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As you can see from the trailer above, Figment is a gorgeous-looking game, if nothing else. Full of hand-drawn 2D art and well-shaded 3D elements that gel well with their flatter counterparts, Bedtime Digital have clearly not rested on their laurels since their last release. While Back To Bed was more of a pure puzzle game, Figment seems to have more in common with Bastion, although with a decent amount of puzzling things out in-between combat. As with Bastion, audio plays a strong part in Figment, although this time leaning towards a dynamic musical score rather than constant narration.
Playing as Dusty, a living voice of courage, you’re tasked with exploring The Mind. Whoever this headspace belongs to, they’ve experienced some sort of trauma that is causing nightmares and other such unwanted thoughts, and your quest is to set things right and help stabilise this person’s dream-world. It’s an interesting hook, although while the visuals are cartoonish and whimsical, dealing with the subjects of trauma and mental health are difficult at the best of times.
Critical response has been broadly positive so far, and though only a couple reviews from mainstream sites have popped up for the game they’ve been glowingly positive in the 80-90% bracket, praising it both mechanically and thematically, and while there aren’t too many Steam user reviews, they seem to back this up. The launch doesn’t seem to have made much of a splash, but the critical response suggests that it might be worth paying this one a little more attention.
Figment is out now on PC (including Mac & Linux) and costs £15 on Steam, down to £12.74 for the launch week. PS4, Switch & Xbox One versions are due later.