We're sure some of you had an imaginary friend when you were younger - an invisible partner in crime that would share in the good times, and that could be confided in when things got tough. In the beautiful, noire-themed Contrast, young Didi, the hopelessly lonely daughter of a cabaret singer has an imaginary friend, too - except Dawn isn't really the sort for taking part in tea parties or dress up games. With a heavy story that looks at some pretty tricky topics through the innocent eyes of a child, Didi instead spends her time leaping between reality and a shadow dimension, as she traverses a surreal 1920s world, trying to bring Didi's broken family back together.
Didi and her imaginary friend Dawn sneak out one night to see her mother sing.
The game itself is essentially a puzzley platformer that revolves around an incredibly clever use of light and shadow. Not in a sneaky sneaky don't-get-spotted kind of way, mind you, but rather by actually making platforms, ledges, and lifts by creating shadows on the walls. Being imaginary as she is, Dawn can bend the laws of reality to her own whim, and comes with an incredibly handy (but initially a tad disorienting) ability to jump from being a fully 3D character in the "real world", to a 2D silhouette, snapped to a wall, where she can run across the paths and walkways formed by the shadows in order to reach new heights, creating some brain-bending puzzles along the way.
Contrast places a big emphasis on the way lights interact with objects to create shadows, with carousel horses forming moving platforms, rotating bicycle pedals working like a makeshift lift and the wonky silhouette of a lamp post creating a sort of ramp up the the roof of an adjacent building. As long as there's a light source casting shadows on a surface you're good to go - and many of the lights can be manipulated and moved to morph the darkness into something more useful. For example, our demo took place inside the theatre where Didi's mother was about to perform - but before the show could begin, we needed to turn on a number of spotlights and focus them on to the stage. Flicking a switch on the wall turns on the three spotlights, but unfortunately none of them were pointing in the right directions, so it was up to Dawn and Didi to aim them at the band and get the show started. With the first lamp only a few feet away, one quick swivel was all it took to cast a light on the first band member, a saxophonist, who burst into tune and started swaying - but, more importantly, cast a giant shadow on the wall.
Shining light on objects creates platforms for Dawn to climb on.
Running round to the other side of the auditorium we came across the second spotlight, which, when twisted, revealed a drummer's silhouette, who also started to play along with the music. Two down, one to go - but reaching the final spotlight presented something of a tougher challenge. High up on the balcony above, there initially didn't seem to be an easy way to get there - at least, not in the real world - but using your shadow powers makes things a lot easier. Standing next to the saxophonist's shadow, we switched into the 'shadow mode' and leapt up unto the end of his saxophone, running up to the top of it, before leaping off the guy's head onto the silhouetted drums, before landing on the balcony behind him, and popping back into the real world. Unfortunately, it turns out the third light has actually been broken - but with the help of a handy collectible, it's an easy enough fix. Scattered throughout the world are little collectable glimmers of light known as luminaries, and at the touch of a button, you can insert it into the light, bringing it back to life.
Once you've directed this one at the pianist, though, the show can begin proper. With the band all ready and tuned up, a sultry, shadowy figure - Didi's mom - sways on to the stage, signing a jazzy number as she sprawls across the piano, and grabs the pianist by his tie - while always remaining as a shadow. You see, throughout the entire world of contrast, only Didi and Dawn exist as people - everything else plays out on the walls around them.
As we mentioned earlier, Contrast is a game that's attempting to tell a touching, and somewhat moving story in a rather unusual way. It's the tale of a broken marriage, and the effect it can have on a child who watches her family fall apart, not really understanding why anything's the way it is. The show comes to a somewhat abrupt end as Didi's mother ends up being called off stage mid-way through her act. It seems Didi's father, a struggling circus carnival owner who she hasn't seen for years, desperately wants to be back in their life, despite her mother's animosity. Didi and Dawn end up eavesdropping on the resulting argument, and learn that, despite what her mother had her believe, Didi's dad didn't leave voluntarily - he was chucked out, seemingly during an argument over money. While it may not always be all that obvious, most of the game revolves around Didi and Dawn spying on the pair around as they go about their night-time lives, trying to get them back together in the process.
The second part of our demo showed a section somewhere in the middle of the game, where we find things aren't looking too good for Didi's father Johnny - not only is his circus in financial trouble, but his rides are breaking down too. Noticing his hot air balloon is snagged high up on a building, the ever helpful Didi sends Dawn off to get it down. But how on earth are you going to reach it? The answer, as always, seems to lie in the shadows. All you have to do is will the old, run-down carousel in the middle of the square to life, and the entire area will quickly fill with light and shadows, as the horses begin to dance up and down on the walls - giving Didi the perfect leg up. Leaping from horse to horse in shadow form, before popping back out into the real world to land on the awning of the surrounding buildings, it's only a small leap to the carousel's roof, and the next part of your challenge. On the higher level, you soon see there are shooting star and rocket patterns being projected from the carousel, too, with a quick ride on the back of a shooting star being all it takes to reach a billboard just below the entangled balloon. Close, but not quite there yet. Jumping to a rooftop across the way, we run across the shadows the bunting leaves on the walls to finally reach the chimney stack the balloon has got caught around - in no time at all Didi sends the balloon drifting down to the ground, safe and sound.
With some innovative gameplay, and a touching story that'll have you willing Didi's parents back together almost as much as she does, Contrast will be available to download for the Playstation 3, Playstation 4 and Xbox 360 on the 15th November this year. The current price is expected to be around about $15 in the US - which means we'd expect it to work out at about £10 in proper money, although there's been no official UK price announced yet.
