Hue

93%
Game Brain Score Based on 674 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • music
Hue Game Cover
Fiddlesticks' Hue is a beautiful puzzle-platformer that questions reality and perception. While often a little too easy, it's still a clever and rewarding trip.
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"Hue" is a single-player platformer game with a unique color-matching mechanic, where you change the world's background color to reveal obstacles and solve puzzles. The game features a compelling story about love, loss, and existence, with lively characters, stark silhouetted art, and over 30 original music tracks. With full colorblind support and LED device integration, "Hue" offers a vibrant and atmospheric experience for players.

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Reviews

93%
Audience ScoreBased on 674 reviews
story108 positive mentions
grinding15 negative mentions
  • The color-changing mechanic is innovative and creatively integrated into the puzzles, making gameplay engaging and satisfying.
  • The visuals are stunning, with a beautiful art style that enhances the overall experience, complemented by a calming soundtrack.
  • The game offers a good balance of challenge, with puzzles that gradually increase in difficulty, providing a rewarding sense of accomplishment.
  • The story feels underdeveloped and somewhat disconnected from the gameplay, lacking depth and leaving players wanting more.
  • Some puzzles can become tedious, especially when they require backtracking to collect hidden items that are inaccessible until later in the game.
  • The controls can be imprecise at times, leading to frustration during platforming sections where timing is crucial.
  • story257 mentions

    The story in "Hue" is generally described as simple and charming, serving primarily as a backdrop to the engaging puzzle mechanics. While some players found it touching and well-integrated with the gameplay, others criticized it for being vague, disjointed, or overly simplistic, often feeling like a distraction from the puzzles. Overall, the narrative is appreciated for its themes of love and exploration, but many agree that it doesn't significantly enhance the gaming experience.

    • “Hue is a great puzzle-solving game where you use the perspective of color to gain an advantage in the surrounding world as you untwist the complex story of your mother and her experiments.”
    • “The story of 'Hue' is beautifully crafted, unfolding in a way that's both compelling and emotionally resonant.”
    • “The storytelling, voice acting, game mechanics, and the music are all incredible.”
    • “I am beyond disappointed with the infuriating story ending; it makes zero sense and shatters all the bond with the main characters.”
    • “You can't play this game for the story because there really isn't anything there.”
    • “Honestly, my one complaint is that during the voice-over story bits, instead of leaving you idle or doing them over actual puzzles, you traverse through a long maze of ladders, stairs, or jumps with no point except to keep you busy and to listen to the story.”
  • gameplay209 mentions

    The gameplay in "Hue" is centered around a unique color-changing mechanic that allows players to manipulate the environment by making objects of specific colors disappear, creating engaging and often challenging puzzles. While many players appreciate the intuitive controls and beautiful visuals, some find the gameplay can become repetitive and lacks depth as it progresses. Overall, the game strikes a balance between simplicity and creativity, making it accessible yet enjoyable for puzzle enthusiasts.

    • “The gameplay is excellent, centered around dynamic color-changing mechanics to solve puzzles in each level.”
    • “All of the puzzle mechanics are intuitive and interesting, and the puzzles themselves are great fun to figure out.”
    • “The color manipulation mechanic is highly original and clever in its own right, but it's elevated by great level design, skillful storytelling, and visual design that all serve to amplify the mechanic.”
    • “Very interesting concept with nice graphic style and gameplay, but it's boring; the story is plain, the music is monotonous, and pacing is too slow.”
    • “The art direction and gameplay concept are both certainly charm points for this game; however, I feel like as a puzzle game it starts out very boring, and the aforementioned charm points wear off by the time the puzzles start to become challenging and engaging.”
    • “Nope... combine a terrible story (that you're forced to listen to with these seemingly endless 'go nowhere' paths designed to disguise that it's just a delay to force you to listen to the narration) and puzzle mechanics that get very frustrating very quickly, with save points at terrible spots, and you'll find yourself doing the same easy section 50 times to get to the hard section.”
  • music196 mentions

    The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and ability to enhance the overall atmosphere, with many reviewers highlighting its calming and emotional piano compositions. While some players noted that the soundtrack can become repetitive, the majority found it to be a perfect complement to the game's visuals and narrative, contributing to a relaxing and immersive experience. Overall, the soundtrack is considered one of the standout features, with many recommending it as a key reason to play the game.

    • “The soundtrack is a masterful blend of melodies that perfectly complements the game's aesthetic.”
    • “The music is beautiful and adds a lot of atmosphere.”
    • “An absolutely delightful game with great music, intriguing puzzles, and a beautiful visual dynamic between the monochromatic world and colorful objects you can directly interact with and control with your color wheel.”
    • “Very interesting concept with nice graphic style and gameplay but it's boring, the story is plain, the music is monotonous and pacing is too slow.”
    • “The music is barely a presence until the last puzzle; I think there might be only one other song, and it's all piano, but it's pleasant enough and does well to set a melancholy mood.”
    • “I don't understand why the developers would limit themselves to puzzles that remain the worst aspect of other puzzle games such as Professor Layton, but without any ounce of charm, endearment, be it through visuals or music.”
  • graphics113 mentions

    The graphics of the game are widely praised for their stunning visuals, charming art style, and innovative use of color, creating an aesthetically pleasing experience that enhances gameplay. Reviewers highlight the minimalist yet captivating design, smooth animations, and a soothing soundtrack that collectively contribute to an engaging atmosphere. Overall, the visuals are described as beautiful and integral to the game's appeal, making it a standout in the puzzle-platformer genre.

    • “The visuals are stunning, with perfect collisions and interesting details in every room.”
    • “The colour aspect is really innovative and the artwork is great!”
    • “I really enjoyed it, the graphics look stunning, the puzzles are moderately mind-boggling which is exactly what puzzle games should be like, and the game controls well.”
    • “From a graphical standpoint, the game relies too much on minimalism to hide the lack of thought and effort that went into the game.”
    • “I don't understand why the developers would limit themselves to puzzles that remain the worst aspect of other puzzle games such as Professor Layton, but without any ounce of charm or endearment, be it through visuals or music.”
    • “Normally, I'm not too hard on art style choice or graphics, but when the gameplay is irritating and dull, it makes me wish I was playing a Professor Layton game instead.”
  • emotional22 mentions

    The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its touching narrative centered around a boy searching for his lost mother, complemented by beautiful visuals and a compelling soundtrack that enhances the overall atmosphere. While many players found the story heartwarming and impactful, some criticized it for being overly sentimental or pretentious at times. Overall, the game successfully evokes a range of emotions, from heartbreak to warmth, making it a memorable experience for those who connect with its themes.

    • “The story of 'hue' is beautifully crafted, unfolding in a way that's both compelling and emotionally resonant.”
    • “This game also accomplished something that most games couldn't: it genuinely made me cry at the end.”
    • “Everything about it is perfect: the visuals, the soundtrack, the challenging (but not too hard) puzzles and even the touching background story.”
  • atmosphere17 mentions

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its calming and beautiful soundtrack, which enhances the emotional depth of the story and complements the stunning visuals. Players appreciate the tranquil and mysterious ambiance created by the music and art style, making the puzzle-platforming experience immersive and rewarding. Overall, the combination of artistic elements and engaging puzzles contributes to a captivating atmosphere that draws players in.

    • “The soundtrack made the game more atmospheric and made the ending and story overall more touching to the heart.”
    • “The colors are gorgeous and the music was calming and beautiful and really fit the atmosphere of the game.”
    • “Although the puzzles are not that hard to solve, doing so always felt very rewarding as the game is very well executed: great visuals, good atmospheric music and a very responsive avatar.”
    • “It's atmosphere just sucks you in and has really fun and creative puzzles.”
    • “It's very artistic with a really mysterious atmosphere.”
    • “While being a puzzle game, that at times can be, well, puzzling, it has very calming music, and a tranquil atmosphere.”
  • grinding16 mentions

    Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, with many expressing frustration over the need to backtrack for collectibles and redo puzzles. While some puzzles are clever, the majority are criticized for requiring tedious setups rather than engaging thought, leading to a monotonous experience. The linear paths and repetitive dialogue further contribute to the feeling of drudgery, making the second playthrough particularly unenjoyable for many.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “Grinding in this game is incredibly rewarding and keeps you engaged.”
    • “The grind is challenging but satisfying, making every achievement feel earned.”
    • “I f**ing hated it; for some of these puzzles, it feels like they wanted to make them as tedious as possible.”
    • “The only real problem for me is the collectibles: many of them were really fun and satisfying to figure out on the first go around, but it's extremely tedious to redo entire sections, puzzles you've already done, and long stretches of nothing but walking, just to go back for the ones you missed.”
    • “However, I don't think I've ever played a game that so undermined its own concept to the point where the puzzles are both tedious and mind-numbingly easy.”
  • replayability3 mentions

    Overall, the game offers limited replayability, primarily tied to its story and puzzles, which can feel repetitive after the initial playthrough. Players noted that while the puzzles are challenging, the gameplay lasts only about six hours, and the need to revisit sections for new colors feels like a forced attempt to extend replay value.

    • “Replay value only for the story and the same puzzles.”
    • “Pretty challenging puzzles, but only roughly 6 hours worth of gameplay with zero replayability.”
    • “I'm not sure; I didn't invest the time because you need to replay entire sections of the map after you've unlocked a new color to collect some items in a poor attempt at adding replayability.”
  • optimization2 mentions

    Overall, users report that once the game successfully launches, it performs well without significant issues, particularly on systems equipped with a GTX 970, i7 4790k, 16GB of RAM, and an SSD.

    • “[Graphics/Performance: (with a 970, 4790k, 16GB of RAM, SSD)]”
    • “Once it finally started, there weren't really any other issues performance-wise.”
    • “[Graphics/Performance: (with a GTX 970, i7 4790k, 16GB of RAM, SSD)]”
  • humor2 mentions

    The humor in the game is characterized by its British wit, with players finding early puzzles amusingly simplistic and reminiscent of typical switch-based platform challenges. Overall, the comedic elements contribute to a lighthearted gaming experience.

    • “The early puzzles, when you don't have many colors, are often hilariously trivial and play like the same switch-based platform puzzles you see in any platformer.”
    • “Funny British humor adds a delightful twist to the gameplay!”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

80% average critic score

Buy Hue

Play time

6hMedian play time
7hAverage play time
5hMain story
7hCompletionist
5-9hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 10 analyzed playthroughs

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