Newt One is a brand new indie game developed by DevNari and published by Whitethorn Digital. It is a colorful platformer which emphasizes on it being a non-violent video game where your only goal is to spread happiness by making everything colorful and bright. We got a chance to experience this brilliant little game and we are going to tell you everything that makes this game a great title for you to experience. For our review, we played Newt One on an Xbox One.
To start with, Newt One is essentially a platformer where your ultimate goal is to reach the final goal in each level by overcoming different and unique challenges the level throws at you. On top of that, it also tasks you with waking up the entire world of the game. The game is set in Groovy Hue which comprises of different realms including the Forest Realm, Islands Realm, Clouds Realm and more. Each realm has fallen prey to the Great Slumber and it is now your task to wake it up.
There is a little bit of story and cute humor thrown in the game as well however its nothing that really matters in the game, however, the game does not want you to focus on the story. The main aspect of Newt One is being a platformer and it is a pretty neat and decent one. You start on any level in the game which is entirely colorless. Everywhere you step or touch wakes up and colors return to it. The main theme of the game is simply to color the entire level while collecting different collectibles and overcoming challenges along the way.
If you think that this is boring, it is actually not. Along your path, you will find and use different useful items that will help you overcome different challenges. Such as you will get to find and use Wings that will allow you to jump higher and reach far off locations which are otherwise inaccessible in normal mode. Then there are the drums which help you freeze liquid-based platforms in the game which could be icy water, normal water or lava.
You will require these items to reach the end of the level as they are key items for level completion. Another thing that you will find and use in Newt One is each Realm’s specific wand. This is the most useful item in Newt One because, with the wand, you do not have to step on and touch everything in the game to color them. With the wand equipped, you simply go near the colorless things and they are instantly colored and it greatly adds to the convenience.
However, since you need to find the wand in every realm of the game, some of the initial levels will become pretty tedious once you are used to using the wand for coloring the world around you. You will need to go back to stepping on and touching things to color them until you find that specific realm’s wand. However, once you find the wand in the later levels, you can always go back and play the starting levels again as the wand will now be available in all levels.
Apart from your main task of coloring the levels, you will also get some collectibles and some challenges for each level to complete. These include finding the parrot trapped in each level. These are normally hidden away from the main path and you will need to go off the beaten path to locate them. Even if you locate them in plain sight, chances are that you will be required to jump from somewhere else or color up some owls to make jumping platforms before you can finally reach and unlock the parrot. Free the parrot and you will have a cute, colorful partner for you to complete the remaining level it.
Apart from the hidden parrot, the levels are littered with musical notes here and there. Collecting 50 notes will unlock a special costume for you to wear in that realm. You will find them easily as you explore all the levels and unlocking the costumes is not a tedious task and it adds a wonderful change to the outlook of Newt. Each Realm will give you a special outfit and then you can collect musical notes to unlock more color variations for it.
Other two challenges or three you might say, include completing the level without falling down even once, waking up 100% of the level which means coloring each and every last bit of the game. Another challenge is the ultimate challenge which requires a perfect run meaning that you don’t fall down and you collect all the musical notes, color the entire level and find the hidden parrot as well. These are not a requirement and you can complete them at your own will. These are just added challenges for perfectionists who want to really master the game.
At the end of each level, you will be notified of all the badges that you unlock which are based on your performance in the level and you can later determine whether you want to play the level again to obtain the remaining badges or not. This certainly adds to the replay factor of the game as once you’ve cleared a level, you can play it for as long as you want. The levels are not too big as well which means that each level will take about 8 or 9 minutes to complete making it a god game for small gaming sessions.
Overall, Newt One is a decent game and for $10, it is a bargain. There are different beautiful realms for you to explore and since there is no combat or bosses, each realm offers a minimalistic challenge as the platforming is also pretty basic. You will not get stuck or not part of the game will really frustrate you by forcing you to retry something again and again. The respawning mechanic is also pretty neat as it spawns you up quickly at the nearest stable platform if you fall down.
With all this said, Newt One sadly is not perfect as well. I found the controls a little clunky where Newt will sometimes simply refuse to jump or you will overshoot the jump where the last time you would have landed it perfectly. There are no visual glitches that I could find in the game that would mess with the controls in these situations. A little bit of control tuning will make Newt One a pretty solid platformer.
Final Verdict:
Newt One is an amazing game for short gaming sessions and also offers high replayability value due to its numerous challenges and collectibles. Its world is soft, colorful and pretty and no way will the game ever give you the feeling of pushing you to the edge. It is the ultimate soothing game as you go about coloring the world, waking up cute little owls and eventually the Realm Elders from their deep slumber. I will highly recommend that if you love indie games, Newt One will not disappoint you so give it a shot.
Final Score: 8.5/10
