Are you a gamer that likes to speed run through the game to get the fastest time? Are you a completionist gamer that has to collect everything? Coatsink Games have created Shu, an all new platformer that offers something to players of both play-styles.
Shu puts players in the role of a bird named Shu, who has to flee his village after a great storm destroys it. Shu embarks on a desperate journey to survive and must rescue and work with other stranded villagers in order to figure out how to stop the storm. Each of the villagers gives Shu different capabilities and skills with which to progress further through the game. While Shu only has 15 levels, there are all sorts of collectibles to find and secrets to explore.
Each of the five “worlds” in Shu has three levels. In those three levels, there are six baby birds to be found, as well as butterflies to collect and a secret artifact piece hidden throughout the level. Each level is rendered as a side-scrolling level fully in 3 dimensions. Movement is only left to right, up and down, with no movement into the foreground or background. Despite this, the game also has a Paper Mario-esque aesthetic, with the main characters (Shu and the villagers he befriends along the way) being hand drawn with each of their animations rather than rendered in 3D like the levels.
Each world has variety, both in a visual sense and in terms of mechanics. The first world, for example, features a ground pound mechanic and the capability to control certain platforms. Each world is different, providing a double jump, taking advantage of updrafts, walking on water, and more. Each of these constantly makes you look at the skill-set you currently have in order to progress and find secret areas.
In some of the levels, there is a running segment where you need to outrun the storm that is chasing you. These areas are somewhat difficult and take precision platforming to a new level. Skilled players will likely have no trouble with those segments. They can be trying and difficult for players who aren’t great at platforming, though, and will almost always require a few deaths in order to figure out the most efficient path to the goal.
There is also a Time Trial Mode for the speed runners that want to find the fastest route through a level. With the built-in leaderboard, you can compete with friends or people around the world to achieve the fastest time.
Shu is gorgeous, and the gameplay is smooth. There are a few issues with Shu that should be noted, however. The gamepad support can be somewhat erratic at times, but more often than not they are smooth and easy to use. Additionally, there is a problem concerning the tutorial segments for each character, namely in the fact that they never give information on what buttons utilize the new skills you obtain. Because of this sometimes it takes trial and error to learn how to use your new abilities, which can be frustrating.
While Shu has no dialogue, the music is peaceful and provides an interesting atmosphere that works perfectly with the events of the game. All of the tutorial text is done in picture form, and even the bits of story detail are done in a hand-drawn aesthetic that is enticing and pleasing to the eye. It is strange, but as I played Shu, I knew that it had the same whimsical flair and substance that other classic platformers have had. There was something about the experience that felt fresh and addictive, and I truthfully hope other people see it the same way.
Other than that, Shu is a fun, addictive experience. It is interesting to see a story with no dialogue that still has meat and substance to it, though there are more questions left than answers. All in all, Shu feels like the beginning of what could be a franchise that could also become a classic. If Coatsink tighten up the controls a little and expand upon things a little more; I would greatly love to see a Shu 2 release sometime in the future.