Nico Saves The State slid into my inbox this week, and it initially made me suck air between my teeth. I’ll be one of the first to admit that puzzle games, platformers and me usually don’t mix. I can rarely handle anything more complicated than Tomb Raider, and the number of times I’ve been left stumped on the simplest of concepts is, frankly, embarrassing.
Nico Saves The State should then, by that logic, be an enigma to me. However, I found myself immersed in its world and puzzles, enough to the point where actually putting it down to write this review was difficult!
We begin by being introduced to Nico, lab assistant to Doctor Expo Zicion. They’re working together on the good Doctor’s latest invention when a news alert tells them that followers of the imprisoned, evil Doctor Voo Doom have demanded the release of their master, as well as all of the city’s Power Crystals. With their usual Hero out on vacation (and Nico unwilling to disturb him), Doctor Zicion gives us the Statephone: a device that gives us the ability to SAVE and LOAD different abilities.
So, off Nico goes to conquer each level, using his new found powers to grab each level’s Power Crystal. To do this, he has four powers. The ability to SAVE his place in the level, then teleport to it later; he can SAVE his momentum when he bounces on a spring, essentially giving him a double jump; he can SAVE any items in his inventory, such as keys or shields, then LOAD them once used, duplicating his items; and finally, he can shoot a small pellet at enemies which can switch Nico’s location with theirs, helping him to reach places otherwise inaccessible to him.
These four powers combine brilliantly to give us a good spread of skills. Each level would start and I’d be able to clearly see where I needed to go, and could use each power in a state of trial and error until I got to the end. You can press your back button to get a hint from the Doctor but, even with my aversion to puzzles, there were very few times I found myself needing that hint. Each puzzle felt just complex enough that I felt smart enough to solve them, but I didn’t feel stupid or stressed if I was struggling a little beforehand. Each level had that moment of “Oh, I get it now!”, and that feels fantastic.
All of the hand drawn cut scenes, beautiful pixel art and great soundtrack inspired by the 90’s came together to form a truly amazing experience. I have only one real nitpick, and that’s that we don’t get a *true* tutorial. All of Nico’s powers are explained in a How to Play section on the main menu. I think at least having the first few levels teaching us our powers, as well as having the How to Play section, would benefit younger players massively. But, this is just a small nitpick.
Nico Saves the State has truly captivated me. Any game that you struggle to put down surely has to be worthy of recommendation. Cross Game Studio, I’m eager to see your next game. I’ll be waiting!
Nico Saves the State is now available on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and Steam.
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