Contrast: how Sony helped bring light to the PS4 launch line-up

While it’s clear that indies are now a big part of PlayStation’s future, it’s interesting to actually sit down with these studios and learn all about that special relationship between the creator and format-holder. Warframe eventually launched alongside PS4, as well as fellow Canadian project Contrast. Developed in Montreal at Compulsion Games, it’s a stylistic platform-puzzler wrapped around a clever light and shadow mechanic.

If you’ve seen Link’s new wall-hugging ability in recent 3DS romp The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, then you’ll have a fair idea of how this system works. You control Dawn, a woman capable of flattening against light sources and interacting with shadows as physical objects. She’s also the imaginary friend of a young girl called Didi. Together they have to track down Didi’s estranged father, and unravel the mystery behind his disappearance.

It’s a neat premise based in a cabaret world where swing music blares over the hum of neon marquee lights, cast against a backdrop reminiscent of 1940s Paris. The art style is as whimsical and the gameplay is brimming with clever ideas. Early on, you’ll encounter a toppled bicycle lying in front of a lamp. You can then merge into the light and climb up the bike’s shadow, using its rotating pedals as spinning platforms to reach higher ground. The puzzle aspect is really quite genius.