Chicory starts off with playing as a cute little dog named Pizza who is the janitor in a tower and a big fan of Chicory who is the wielder of a magic paint brush used to color in the world. It's quite clear how much Pizza loves Chicory and her art the way they talk about her and is a nice introduction into the world of Picnic Province and the story itself.
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| Gushing about Chicory. |
However, Chicory has gone missing and the world's color is disappearing. Pizza happens to find Chicory's brush and decides they'll help by filling the world in with lots of colors. This is a nice lead into learning the mechanics for how the brush works and how to paint everything. There's lots of nice accessibility features in the user menu to adjust the brush's movement as well, tweaking the game controls, and being able to adjust the difficulty so you can enjoy the story or have a challenge. I also appreciated that there was a setting to give trigger warnings before certain story points in the game.
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| Pizza learns how to paint with the brush. |
There's not really combat in the game as the world is basically a giant coloring book. Pizza starts learning more about Chicory and how her disappearance isn't just affecting the world, it's affecting people connected to her. As you go through the story, you learn more brush styles and you unlock more colors that you can use to paint everything. Sometimes you need the brush to solve a puzzle, coloring in certain areas to open a door or coloring a plant so it will grow and give you a bridge across a cliff. Sometimes different characters will ask you to paint or decorate things for them which is also fun. I really liked designing a new donut sign for the owner of a donut shop. I'm terrible at drawing and painting, but the game never made me feel bad about that. Each character always reacted with joy or admiration with whatever I made for them. That polka dot donut sign was awesome!
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| Pizza paints the world. |
Chicory is eventually found and there is a very important conversation between her and Pizza about mental health. Chicory explaining how much pressure she felt to be perfect and to not disappoint anyone, to not show any weakness really resonated with me. It's beautifully done with a gentleness and mindfulness that shows we can talk about these issues with others and that we're not alone in these feelings and thoughts. Pizza telling Chicory they want to help her and they want to be there for her is such a lovely scene and had me very emotional.
From there, Pizza and Chicory are working together through the story and I really enjoyed it. Sometimes the puzzles were a bit frustrating as I tried to figure it out because a couple felt like math puzzles. I have Dyscalculia so math is incredibly difficult for me, so for a few puzzles I did have to look up how to do them. Other than a few frustrating puzzles, the rest of the puzzles weren't so bad. I did have a giggle at the phone booths because I haven't seen a phone booth in years. The phone booths are a cool thing though, because Pizza can call home and ask for a hint if they get stuck on where to go next or what to do with a puzzle. There's also side quests and collectibles to find which add another charming layer to the game.
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| Chicory asks Pizza for help. |
Chicory isn't a long game. I feel it's just the right length depending on how much you explore and do extra things. I finished it in about twenty hours and for me that was perfect. Chicory isn't just about art, it's about so much more. There are many conversations with different characters that hit close to home whether it's talking about imposter syndrome or coming to the realization that while we stress about the pressure others put on us, there's nothing like the intense pressure we put on ourselves. Chicory is suited to all of it because of how much care was put into the story and the gameplay to reflect all of those soul searching moments with a kindness that allows us to soak it all in and process those thoughts and emotions.
The music in Chicory is beautiful too and each area and main story scene always seems to have the right tone and music evoking the right nuance of feeling for each one down to the tiniest detail. Throughout the story there are always gentle reminders that it's okay if we're struggling and that it's important to do our best to take care of ourselves, to be kinder to ourselves. I loved the story in Chicory, I loved all of it because it told such a meaningful story in a way that hit close to home and while it appears simple, it's actually rich in storytelling, art, and expression. I'm grateful that games like Chicory are made because we need more of that color in our world.
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| Sometimes we just need a hug. |
*Chicory is available to play on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
*Come join our community on Twitch where we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer
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