I am torn on this game. I played it twice. It was glorious on the first run, but its flaws became more apparent on the second. It is a visual treat – a highly imaginative and creative game – and I really appreciate that about it. However, the story and platforming don’t really deliver. I’ll break it down below.Strengths: Visuals, Sound, Movement
Bound, a PS4 exclusive indie, is a visually beautiful and stunning game. It is strange, different, and trippy. I found it very immersive. The music adds a layer to the relaxed-weird atmosphere. On my first run, I spent a lot of time just staring at the geometry – watching it undulate, break apart, re-form, contort. It’s hard to convey the visual aspect of Bound. You can’t see in screenshots, because they lack motion. Suffice to say that Bound is beautiful, striking, and original.
Playing as a dancer adds to Bound's sense of grace and originality. The pleasure of watching your dancer move is one of the appeals of the game. She has number of different dance moves, some of which function as shields from the various “enemies” (e.g., beads, paper airplanes). You can chain these together and create your own little performance.
Weaknesses: Story and Platforming
Unfortunately, the story doesn’t have much emotional impact. I won’t spoil it, but there isn’t much to spoil. It consists of 4 or 5 tableaus, interspersed with scenes of a woman walking on a beach (rather awkwardly rendered, I thought, for a game with this much visual panache). The characters don’t speak a word, aside from a couple of comments in their abstracted forms.
The main problem is that while the abstract art works wonderfully on a visual level, it does not carry the story well. They use abstract symbols (e.g., beads) as visual representations of fears that you are supposedly working through (with dance, I guess?). These symbols are references to the tableaus I mentioned above, which do not have much emotional impact in the first place. It’s all just too abstract and removed. Adding to the problem, the tale being conveyed by all this abstract symbolism is not a complex or imaginative one, but actually ordinary. I was disappointed that the game, which is so imaginative otherwise, settled for such a pedestrian story. In any event, the story, or what there is of it, does not have any weight to it.
The other negative is the platforming, which can be imprecise at times. It is also quite easy, though, so even if you miss a jump, there is no penalty, no frustration. As a result, I found the deficits in platforming easy to forgive. However, people looking for a well-tuned platformer offering interesting platforming challenges will be disappointed. There are alternate routes to take, if you want to seek them out, but I doubt most people will want to bother. It's just not a focus of the game. For me, and I suspect for most people, the game is primarily about the odd visual world, combined with the music and movement.
Replay Value
The game is about 4 hours long. After you complete it, you will have the option to use Photo Mode in combination with the Permanent Picture option, which will enable you to replay the game with all kinds of different visual presentations – different color schemes, film grains, etc. There is a Speedrun mode, too, if you are so inclined. The game is also coming to PSVR.
Summing Up
I loved Bound’s visuals, music, and movement. It is a mesmerizing, original, and beautiful game. Those aspects of the game really stood out to me, they are foreground, and so I really enjoyed my time with Bound. On the other hand, the story is lackluster and pedestrian, without any emotional impact. Also, people looking for a strong platformer should look elsewhere.
It is a difficult game to score, because its strengths are so prominent, and its weaknesses are so noticeable. Let’s call it an 8.5. Bound is an original, beautiful, and creative game, but not without some significant flaws. I enjoyed it a lot, and I look forward to Plastic's next project.
