Quick Picks: Kolumno
The perfect game to calm you at awkward family gatherings
Kolumno is a delightful puzzle game launching on the Nintendo Switch on December 24th from Devilish Games & Flynn’s Arcade. The launch date coupled with a $1.99 price tag, making this the perfect game to hop on your Switch when your Great Aunt asks you for the 5th time when you’ll find a nice person to marry. Soon, Aunt Sheila. Soon.
There are 75 levels with 4 different power-ups that afford you the opportunities to smash through rings, hold your ball in mid-air, shrink to a microscopic size, or speed through ring breaks. What I love about this game is that you quickly learn how to use the power-ups with little instruction, but implementing them is a different story. Truly the game’s focus is about getting your timing right with dropping the ball, but the mastery of using the power-ups at the right time is a daunting but rewarding task. Playing this last night, I played a level no fewer than 15 times before I finally got it. That feeling was amazing. What this game does well is it only gives you the power-ups that you need to beat the level. Gone are the options of trying to figure out if you need to smash a ring or just hold the ball. The power-ups switch automatically with the level, so you don’t have to decide which to bring into the level.
The real beauty of Kolumno comes from the art and music. Kolumno uses a muted and pastel color palette, which feels great in contrast to neons and bright colors. Nothing is flashy about this game, just simple cool-grey rings turning around a pastel column. As an art minded person, Kolumno uses its single light source beautifully, like a modern painting. The ball has a spotted white highlight and the ring’s shadows mirror that highlight beautifully. The music is immensely soothing, with any frustration finding yourself stuck a level disappears with every note of the music. Even the timbre of the little metallic clink of the ball hitting the ring provides a satisfying accompanying percussion to the zen-like score. Additionally, small affirmations when you beat a level – Nice! Superb! Good One! – are an added bonus to getting it right!
Overall, Kolumno is definitely a must play for anyone who needs a peaceful distraction from life and pass the time and with a $1.99 price tag you can’t go wrong.
Written by Kelsey Lynn Towndrow