Welcome to our review of Klaus, a simplistic platformer that really shines when you give it a chance!
Klaus is lost and alone. Who? Where? Why? He doesn’t know anything. Only you can help him find the truth. Join Klaus and K1 – a friendly brute – as you explore this puzzle platform game.
Klaus is a 2D puzzle platformer with a self-aware narrative. Its design takes inspiration from classics games combined with a tense and emotionally engaging story.
Klaus discovers his identity while trying to escape from a mysterious basement. It‘s a self-discovery journey in which Klaus will remember his past through interactive memories. Each memory is playable in a unique way with different mechanics than other sections of the game. Just like in real life, the dreamy worlds of the memories don’t follow the same rules of the rest of the game.
During your journey, a “friendly” guy called K1 joins the team. K1 is a brawler, at least in part, and with his destructive prowess, he’s able to smash obstacles and does Shoryukens without breaking a sweat. Klaus and K1 can be controlled separately or cooperatively to solve puzzles, although sometimes they’ll be split apart. Each character, of course, has his own motives.
Klaus is a simplistic game at first, a basic platformer but it will evolve into an amazing piece of software and before you know it, Klaus has you by the collar, leading you down the hole like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.
This game excels by abusing all the possible ways to make a platformer and makes it just about as wacky as can be. After a few short levels, I was pretty much amazed by the special level I was given.
I could only go left. The entire screen, I could only go left and I had to somehow end up on the right part of the screen. That puzzle was so darn good! It was not the only one either, I have had levels where I had to maneuver the levers to get a key down to my side.
Add in double jumps, swift-running, moving objects that you can manipulate, …. Klaus has it all and it is a marvelous game. Its mechanics work perfectly for the desired platforming greatness and the level of puzzles is right there.
And there is a story being told in this game, but I will really leave this one to you to discover. I will divulge though that the story is being told so slowly yet strong. I loved it and am even considering a second playthrough in the summer already…
In conclusion, Klaus did so many things right, it was hard not to fall head over heels in love with it, It had been a while since I played such a great game.
