Hue’s jet-black environments and main character design might remind you of Limbo, but that is where the comparisons end. While you may find yourself making the occasional fatal error, you won’t be punished with an unnerving, grisly depiction of your youthful avatar’s final moments alive. It remains mostly harmless and cartoony enough. Furthermore (and as its name not-so-subtly suggests), Hue is a colorful game. Rightly so; its premise demands it. It really shows how even the most basic representations of perceivable pigment can alter the way we see things; switching the background from the deepest blue to the borderline garish fuchsia is a jarring effect, from both a physical and mental standpoint. My only complaint is that the pink and purple colors seem a bit too close to each other. Granted, that may be a personal problem; the colorblind mode helps mitigate your losses from that standpoint.
It’d be easy to write off Hue’s sound design as superfluous or even unnecessary. That’s how heavily this game relies on its visuals. But what’s here is quite lovely. At this point, it’s almost a tradition that puzzle platformers have some sort of ambience permeating the experience, regardless of the overall tone of the piece. But Hue’s remains consistent with its story, its pacing, and its themes. Piano music is an excellent accompaniment for the human thought process, and the letters left behind by Hue’s mother are perfectly voiced: she sounds both wistful and hopeful.
