Constance Review – Review – Nintendo World Report
Can you believe what an amazing streak of 2D action platformers we’ve been on for the past five years? Well, I hate to break it to your backlog, but it is time to add another one to the list. Constance sees you playing as the titular character, making her way through a gorgeous handpainted world. How you’ve exactly arrived is unclear, but in order to return back home you’ll need to find four tears scattered across the world. While the game plays with familiar themes and styles, its beautiful visual style and inventive platforming makes it a standout action-platformer.
If games like Celeste, Hollow Knight and the Ori games tickle your fancy, Constance should be right up your alley. I’d be hesitant to call it a Metroidvania, given that the game doesn’t necessarily deploy backtracking and gathering upgrades behind progression. Constance at first only arms you with your brush that can deal attacks or use paint to deploy specific abilities. This can be a dash, placing an explosive copy of yourself or stabbing enemies directly with your paintbrush. Whenever your paint is spent, you go into a vulnerable state where using paint causes damage to yourself instead. Thankfully your paint recharges slowly. But the mechanic is a neat twist to traditional combat in 2D action games where spamming your abilities doesn’t just come at the risk of running empty, but making it something you need to time very carefully.
The highlight here is the world and story. Each biome is a gorgeous and distinct setting. From a run down carnival set against a beautiful orange sunset to a library haunted by ghosts. Each frame is indeed a painting, given that most of the game uses a hand-drawn animation style. The story was surprisingly poignant albeit a bit simplistic. I love its themes on the struggle with burnout in particular in relation to the arts. Something that often gets dismissed because “you are working on something you love to do”. That gets reinforced through the gameplay. Not just because the game can be very challenging, but also because of the ‘puppet curse’ mechanic. Whenever you get a game over, you can choose to ‘persevere’. Returning you to the beginning of the room you were in, but increasing the damage done by enemies until you return to a resting spot. During challenging platforming segments it’s a great balancing mechanic that doesn’t punish you for pushing you too far.
The boss battles are also very well done. Each fight feels creative and uses different mechanics to defeat the main enemy. I was in particular fond of the bosses at the aforementioned carnival, but even some of the smaller enemies have great designs that push Constance and her abilities to her limit. I will say that some of these bosses were a tad too challenging for my taste. Thankfully the accessibility options can help to modify the damage taken by both enemies and spikes. For those craving some challenge after Silksong, Constance should be a really great palette cleanser while still pushing you at times.
Overall Constance is a consistent and solid action platformer. With a gorgeous visual style and satisfying combat, I’ve had a lot of fun across the board. While the boss battles can be a major spike in difficulty, it was the perseverance-mechanic and world design that kept me coming back. It doesn’t do too many things that set it apart from the other games in the 2D action platformer genre, but that’s okay. At the end of the day this is a beautiful title that uses both its themes and mechanics to tell an important story. I do not need all my games to reinvent the wheel. Constance is another standout within this particular genre.
