Apple Arcade review #72: Projection: First Light

In Projection, you control a shadow puppet on a stick. Your puppet moves through a world of scenic silhouettes. It’s quite pretty and striking; the world is monochrome but not colourless. You control your character with a virtual gamepad, which, given the puppeteering theme, feels like a missed opportunity to do something more interesting — and more touch-friendly.

Aside from the art, Projection doesn’t really stand apart from other puzzle platformers. You use moving lights to create shadows, which your puppet can walk on. This helps her navigate past obstacles. It’s clever, but not hugely original, and sometimes frustrating. I repeatedly got my character stuck in tight spaces. Moving a light helped me get out again, but it can get tedious and fiddly.

Your avatar, a little girl, is a bit of a juvenile criminal: during the first few minutes of playtime she steals an apple, jumps on top of a police car, and causes said car to crash into a wall. Then she gets arrested and yelled at by her parents. I honestly didn’t have much sympathy for her: she deserved her punishment! I wasn’t sold on her motivations for constantly getting into trouble, and the narrative didn’t grab me.

The game is artful and thoughtfully designed, but I didn’t find it particularly fun.

Link: https://apps.apple.com/no/app/projection-first-light/id1454738916