It is often not too clear whether being told that you are “like day and night” is a compliment or not. Certainly in Meet me at Noon la complementarity, or better still being the same but opposite, between day and night becomes the focus of the gameplay. What came out a few days ago is in fact a puzzle game based on time loops, in which we take control of two sprites, very similar to the characters of Journey in aesthetics. These represent the day and the night, and we are about to reveal in this review what the title for Steam, developed and published by the Belgian indie team, presents us Pandaroo Interactive. After a beta phase on Itch.io, the game found its final form in the full version only from last June 21st. So let’s see together what it is and what are our opinions on the matter.
Meet me at Noon, the meeting of day and night
We are certainly not faced with a title with more unique than rare mechanics. We have already seen puzzle games with time loops, from Time of the Clones to Groundhog Day, to something similar in Deathloop. In the case of Meet me at Noon we also have two characters to control and coordinate, also offering us platforming mechanics, but without foreseeing the co-op mode. The goal of each level is to move the two characters, one at a time, to a specific point to be able to complete the level.
Each of these is therefore divided into two phases: day and night. During the day we control the relative character, while during the night we will control the second, but when we control a character small time loops are created. For this reason, the character’s actions rewind when we are guiding his partner, then the spirit of the day retraces his actions backwards, returning to the starting point. On the contrary, however, the spirit of the night will repeat his actions in the initial order.
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Succeeding in your business won’t be easy for another reason as well. In fact, each character has a limited number of shares, therefore to complete each level we must bring the two characters on the symbol of the sun and the moon respectively. While always taking into account the influence of the aforementioned loop.
In a time loop with no risk of game over
The mechanism is apparently much more difficult to explain than to learn, thanks also to thegradual advancement of levels. In the early stages of the game, we are introduced in a linear way to the various mechanics, which are not at all complex to understand. We also remember that our actions are not final, as we always have an eye on how many moves we have available thanks to a bar at the bottom of the screen that indicates the actions available for each character.
Il game over is not covered, in Meet me at Noon. You advance and retreat until you can complete the level, the main objective, flanked by the secondary quest of the collection of stars additional, obtained by performing the actions in the correct order. The levels are grouped into “constellations”, and to unlock the next one it is necessary to have an adequate and minimum number of stars.
Finally, we can see that this title is not a cooperative in itself, but this feature is still important. In fact, to complete the levels, it is necessary to combine the forces of the two spiritswhere one of the two helps the other to reach his “matchpoint” and vice versa.
A relaxed atmosphere and an enjoyable pace
What else to add on Meet me at Noon? One of its best features is the absence of moments of tension or anxiety, except for a few moments of frustration. A puzzle that manages to stimulate our gray matter and the result of each level is not too difficult to take home. As anticipated, the atmosphere is made more relaxed by the absence of game over or time limit to complete each level.
As anticipated, in this game the main focus is given by the time manipulation, an original and pleasant aspect as much as the relaxed rhythm and the graphic compartment that accompanies us allows you to experience the moments of puzzle solving in an even more soft and welcoming way. No less important is the performance of the technical sector, thanks to a game engine that performs really well and in a fluid way. This result is also dictated by the small download size required by the software. A sum of factors that make the title overall pleasant, unpretentious but still engaging.
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In summary, Meet me at Noon offers us a truly relaxing gaming experience and at the same time tantalizing. The puzzles sometimes put us in front of some difficulties, but not insurmountable. Overall, the puzzle game is pretty easy to complete, has a really short life span and easy to complete. One ease and one reduction to minimalism even in graphics, where the backgrounds themselves recall the colors of day and night. A highly recommended title, a very pleasant pastime for puzzle game lovers looking for a tasty solution with a touch of originality.