The Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus by developer LookAtMyGame is a complicated, but unique action-adventure RPG that combines beautiful pixel art, Castlevania-like gameplay, and perplexingly difficult puzzles into a single, cohesive gameplay experience. As the game’s female protagonist, the player — along with a teddy bear that contains the spirit of a beloved king named Tarant — must free the world of Exidus from the clutches of Anguis the Magician to regain his stolen crown.
On the surface, the Chronicles of Teddy seems like an average action platformer with little else to offer. This all changes, though, the moment the player enters the world of Exidus and discovers the Village Nutai; an Ewok-like tree village that is home to ball-shaped creatures that speak in a musical language. Before the player can communicate with the inhabitants of Exidus and begin their quest, they must recover a musical instrument called the ‘Musicom’. This magical instrument requires ‘runes’, which can be found throughout the game world (more on this later).
The Chronicles of Teddy’s worlds are profoundly large, interconnected by ‘library’ books and music. These ‘books’ must be returned to a library inside a castle that looks eerily similar to Dracula’s fortress from the Castlevania series. After the player finds the first book, and returns it to its rightful place inside the library, the player is transported to Ufara Forest where the real adventure begins.
As mentioned earlier, the gameplay is very reminiscent of Castlevania, as the player traverses a variety of worlds that contain platforms comprised of rocks and cinder blocks. Depending on the level, the player will encounter gorgeous underground caverns laden with waterfalls and hidden passageways, and dark, green forests teaming with chibi-style enemies, to name just a few.
Some levels even have treasure chests that contain runes for the Musicom. These can be opened by pressing up on the Analog Stick/Directional Pad. In some cases, the player will find currency that can be used to purchase items such as armor and weapons to improve the main character’s performance.
The game also has a plethora of hidden rooms that contain a variety of special items. In fact, there is a hidden room at the very beginning of the game, right before entering the large door that leads to the giant, floating boss creature before entering the castle (the epicenter of the adventure).
Combat is of the standard action-adventure variety, as the player jumps from one platform to the next, rapidly pressing Square button to kill any creatures that stand in the way. Like most platformers, The Chronicles of Teddy’s monsters follow a pre-determined movement pattern that is fairly easy to learn. The purple worms with bulbous, yellow heads usually stay confined to the platforms they occupy, moving from left to right in a simple pattern. The stronger humanoid creatures will break their walking patterns if the player happens to get too close. Incidentally, the player can ‘block’ certain attacks by just standing still, but this tactic isn’t always effective. Sometimes it’s better just to run away or take a different path than to confront an enemy.
The Musicom happens to play an important role throughout the entire game. Not only is it used to communicate with NPCs, but it can also help solve many of the perplexing puzzles that follow. However, the game provides no instructions on how to master the Musicom or its provided Lexicom dictionary, which updates every time a new word is leaned. Each word is associated with a Rune (which are found inside treasure chests, etc.), but it’s up to the player to figure out how to use these runes effectively. This can cause a lot of frustration early on during the game, especially when the player is trying to communicate something as simple as ‘open the door’ to an NPC. And since the game doesn’t provide a tutorial, the player is left to figure everything out on their own.
With the game’s steep learning curve aside, The Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus is a diverse platformer that provides hours of exploration and puzzle solving. The Musicom is a challenge in and of itself, but it becomes easier the longer the game is played. Developer LookAtMyGame deserves praise for encapsulating the formula the genre is known for, while also maintaining the hairsplitting difficulty of the games it represents.
Mike Pittaro
Platform: Playstation 4
Developer: LookAtMyGame
Publisher: Aksys Games
ESRB: E (Everyone)
Price: $14.99
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |   |
| Beautiful 16-bit style graphics comprise the world of Exidus. | |
| Sound | |
| Odd creature sounds and a moody sound track compliment the challenging gameplay | |
| Gameplay | |
| Without a tutorial, the gameplay can be very challenging. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| The Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus is one of those games that you will either love or loath. | |
