SCHiM

Good ART project. Lots of passion and soul was put in it, and you can feel it.
But as game it is too long and repetitive.
Also story is not that deep, it could be 1-hour exciting experience instead.
You can beat it in 2-3 hours, but its kinda boring.
Anyway, i suggest to try it, and I hope developer will make more good games in near future.

Generally speaking, in my opinion, Schim is more of a good idea than a good game.
For the good points, I find 'jumping shadows' satisfying -- it's does not take long to learn to jump skillfully, and landing in the right place feels really good. Also, I really enjoyed interacting with all types of stuff. From animals to persons to fences, trees, etc., the developers so carefully and creatively designed the interactions.
But this game is with its defects. First, many times I feel that it will be better to freely explore the areas rather than follow the guidance. Second, the perspective needs optimizing. In one perspective two shadows seem close, but I can only reach halfway; after I press Q or E I find out that actually the distance is very long. Third, there are bugs within the models. When I'm in some certain shadows the vision vibrates violently. Also, many levels seem to repeat themselves and in the latter period it feels a bit boring.
But above all, it's an outstanding first game.
(Not an English speaker, sorry if my words are confusing to you)

I did enjoy playing SCHiM, but there were some things I loved as well as did not like about the game. I loved the story and following the main character from childhood into adulthood, and the ending was sweet. I also like the art style of SCHiM and the use of minimalism and color. Furthermore, the puzzle element of jumping between shadows is unique, and I liked figuring out how to get from the beginning of the level to the end. That said, the reset points were inconsistent in the levels. During some levels, if you made a wrong jump, you would reset at the jump before whereas with other levels, you would be halfway through the level when you make a wrong jump and it takes you to the start of the level. This was especially frustrating and added unnecessary stress to the game. Another issue I had was that it was not always clear how to complete a level and the goal button did not help, so I became stuck during several levels. That said, SCHiM is an interesting and unique game, and there is replayability with finding all the collectibles and completing the Steam achievement.

Before I say anything else about this game I want to acknowledge what I’m sure must have been a painstakingly difficult process the developers of this game went through in order to get this game out the door with the level of quality shown throughout. It is genuinely impressive to me how much they crammed into this while maintaining not only the vibes but also the art and music never getting old. There are some games that you play cover to cover and really have to wonder how there was such a consistently high level of artistic flair, games like Gris, games like Ape Out, and now, SCHiM.
It is wildly impressive to me how cohesive the art is throughout the game. This is not a game that looks great in the trailers and then kinda bad in the actual game. This is (assuming you don’t rush) at least a 3 hour game with like 60 different levels and new color schemes to each level.
They go so far as to retread old levels in the same town but with new twists to how you get around. I kept going “oh thats really clever” every couple of minutes because in general the game design on show here is just downright impressive. There was two or three spots that I got stuck because I didn’t make a weird logic leap (and for the record I had like 30 people watching that also didn’t get it, god bless those shitheads that post full walkthroughs with no commentary or I wouldn’t have known my game bugged once and couldn’t progress).
I will say, having a “hey I’m super stuck what do I do next” button would be a great idea beyond the current button that just kinda shows you your goal. The fact that the amount of times I got stuck in a game as long as this, which I 100% did not expect to go for as long as it did (in a good way) is a testament to how strong the game design really is. The few instances of me being stuck I think are probably going to be spots where other people get stuck too because they were just really odd leaps of logic (using the shadow of a toaster to launch yourself, driving in the shadow of a toy car, both things you haven’t had to do at all really) so unless people go around spamming the interact button on everything they leap to odds are there’ll be a couple spots like that.
Beyond those errors though… I mean holy shit shadow frogger is such a clever game. The jumping between shadows was something I was a bit worried would feel bad to do, like some of the shadows are really, really thin and it looked like a pain but the game cheats a bit in your favor to help you land those jumps and kinda splashes you into the shadow if you get close, not so much that it feels like you didn’t do the jump but enough that you don’t have to worry too much about whiffing all the time. The moving elements in each level kept things mostly fresh, and the only thing I was tired of by the end of the game was that damn Zoo level that bugged out on me. Some NPCs that were supposed to move between areas werent doing it and so I quite literally could not beat the level and beat my head against it for far too long looking to game the system because I thought I was just missing the real solution.
Thats it, though. Every new level had an “ooh, shiny” moment where I was impressed by the way they had you solve something or the way they incorporated shadows into the game. And it helps that the music is so f*cking good. When I say this reminds me of the Wii soundtrack I mean it in the best way because its banger after banger and none of it is frustrating to hear even if you sit in a level for quite awhile. All of the little sound effects, the plops when your shadow frog lands in a puddle, the sound design compliments this gorgeous game very well.
I’m writing this out as I ended stream after beating the game (a few days before release, thanks @ devs I appreciate ya’ll) and I’m really hoping that I don’t see a specific kind of review. When there are short, art driven games a lot of the time you see “this is too short for the price” and I think frankly anything 25$ and under is fair for this, but this game isn’t short, really. They put a hell of a lot of game into this game beyond the art, its not just pretty to look at, and I’m desperately hoping that no dipsh*ts leave the dreaded other side of the coin review of “this is too long”.
SCHiM is fantastic, its one of the more gorgeous games I’ve played in recent memory and I will absolutely be downloading the OST to use in youtube videos when its out. This is a really relaxed game with a story that I wont spoil for you, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I wasnt expecting the “pretty shadow jumping game” to have great music, gameplay and a heartfelt story, but here we are. I highly recommend SCHiM and will keep an eye out for what these devs have in store for future games down the road. Thanks for reading.

Approximate amount of time to 100%: Many hours, hard to say how many because of the "Risky" achievement
Estimated achievement difficulty: 9/10
Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 3 or more
Is there a good guide available: Tasselfoot and I wrote this collectible guide.
Multiplayer achievements: No
Missable achievements: No, there is level select
Grinding Achievements: No
DLC-Only achievements: No
Speedrun achievements: No
Time-gated achievements: No
RNG-achievements: No
Does difficulty affect achievements: Yes, after completing the story at least once some extra difficulty settings unlocked
Unobtainable/glitched achievements: No
I'm so torn apart by writing this review. The game concept is awesome, making a platformer out of jumping through shadows is such a cool idea! And it was so nice to see the Dutch lifestyle and environment in a video game, which felt so familiar as a Dutchy. However, the game is long with 65 levels... too long in my opinion. What doesn't help with this feeling is that you lose your human very early on and you'll trying to catch up with him the rest of the game, which gets a bit depressing, as his mood is quite depressing. Around level 30 I was so ready to get reunited with my human, but I had to wait another 35 levels before that happened.
Normally more content is a good thing, but there is a limit before something grows stale. don't get me wrong, none of the content felt like filler content to me, it tells a story, and later on, going back to familiar settings was nice. However, I think it should have been quite a few levels shorter, especially with the challenging modes that unlock after completion. I felt no desire to go through all the levels again after taking my time to find every collectible.
So what did I like about SCHiM, the concept is so strong, and in the beginning, the game is so happy and funny. (This makes me wonder how much influence the mood of the human had on my feelings toward the game.) It is so clear to me that there went so much love into this game with how many details there are and how you can interact with so many items. Some just make a noise and have a visual effect, others even let you play around with them. Also, all the little details as the color scheme and the size of the shadows during which time of day the level was and how that changed were so nice to see and notice.
SCHiM has a wide range of achievements. A lot of them are for doing different things in levels, for example using the hoose on everybody in a garden in one of the earlier levels. There are also achievements for interacting with every type of object, interacting 50 times with animals, visiting 1k shadows, traveling 500 meters with vehicles, and using a car honk 250 times. Gladly most of those don't have to be different items, you could just jump into the shadow of a car and honk it 250 times in a row to unlock that achievement. What was very nice to see is that most of those achievements have a progress bar on Steam so you can see how many times you did that already and how many times is left.
SCHiM also has a bunch of quite challenging to even very difficult achievements. As stated above, after finishing the game you unlock some new game modes. One of them is the one jump mode, and there is an achievement to complete all the levels with this mode on. There is also a mode where you don't have checkpoints, so you have to complete the level in one go. The hardest one is "risky mode' which gives you a maximum of 20 respawns to get through 65 levels. Getting all the achievements in this game will test your patience and skill level.
I give SCHiM 3 out of 5 stars.
Please see my curator page for more games that are well worth your time

Aesthetically beautiful and clever in design, Schim impressed throughout, but there is room for improvement, especially in the complexity of some of the puzzles.
I really enjoyed my time with Schim, a funny looking blob that represents the inner essence of our protagonist that is ripped out of him during a particularly stressful period of his life. It is up to us to get back to him and rejoin as one. As we follow him around, watching his day to day occurrences, like going to work, travelling around the city, and attending social events, we skip from shadow to shadow in pursuit of him. I really enjoyed this interaction with the character. It added a nice story element to the game which I wasn't expecting, and even though stories without words can often be problematic to understand sometimes, this story made perfect sense and was quite emotional.
The different locales he finds himself in make for some really imaginative and original puzzle playgrounds, jumping from shadow to shadow in zoos, playgrounds, factories, on the street, and many other interesting places. The world of Schim is quite entertaining and feels alive with people going about their business, and finding visual treats off the beaten track like a fireman rescuing a cat can feel rewarding and encourages exploration. Everything just looks amazing with an innovative aesthetic that is so cool. Even though it looks basic in a way, there is so much detail everywhere that places just look real.
Game play is as simple as jumping from one shadow to the next in pursuit of your other half. Things start off quite simple, and I was worried that the game was going to be too easy, but the difficulty does ramp up when you have to interact with objects to create shadows, and manipulate objects to get things moving so that you can jump on their shadow. There's puzzles like changing traffic lights to get pedestrians moving, so you can hop into their shadow, or hitch a ride on a moving vehicle. There are also unobtrusive objects like parasols and washing lines that can propel you over greater distances. The majority of the game does involve just finding a path to your next destination, but I never got bored jumping from shadows as there are some original mechanics and interesting objects to interactive with. I think there could have been more manipulation of objects to make the puzzles a little more difficult. I did get stuck a couple of times in the game, but that ended up being because I wandered too far away from the path I was meant to take and couldn't get back. There is a restart button but it does take you back to the start of the level, but because levels are broken up into tiny sections, it's not too much of a pain if this happens.
There are other Shims in the game, and you will see them as you travel around places. Sometimes, they appear when you find hidden objects, usually in out of way places, and other times finding these objects creates shadows you need to progress. The other Schims really confused me and I wasn't sure what I was meant to do with them. There is an achievement to reunite them all, but reunite them with who and how? There is an interact button but it didn't seem to do anything so I really don't know what that was all about and I feel like I have missed out on a facet of the game because it wasn't explained in the short tutorial at the start.
There are also achievements for finishing the game with only one jump allowed, which makes it much harder, and a risky mode where my understanding is that you have only twenty lives to complete the whole game! It is a shame that you cannot play chosen levels after you complete the game for mopping up achievements. As far as I can tell you need to play through the whole game again which I find frustrating and needless.
🍳Conclusion🍳
Schim is a highly original game, and that is not often said in a cluttered market where the same ideas are churned out over and over again. You can tell a lot of work has gone into designing these areas and some of the puzzles are very clever, if not a little easy in most areas.
Just as a puzzle game it stands out from the pack, but then you have the added bonus of a beautiful aesthetic, that is forever making you smile and nod with appreciation, and then a half decent story to boot. I have played many puzzle games with silent stories and they mostly never make sense, so to achieve an emotional story as well should be praised.
The game takes just over six hours to complete but there are harder modes if you want to repeat the journey afterwards which will add an extra dimension of challenge for sure.
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SCHiM is a cozy puzzler if there ever was one. It's a really interesting genre. We're just going to call it "reverse platforming" because instead of jumping to platforms, you're jumping to the absence of platforms. Kind of a multi-dimensional Frogger, almost. The game does a really good job of having a narrative without any actual spoken words and the art-style is very relaxing. It kind of resembles the art-style of Untitled Goose Game and Unwording.
All in all, this game is really fun. Definitely two wings up!