Game: Meet me at NooN
Genre: Platformer, Indie, Strategy, Puzzle
System: Steam (Windows, Linux, macOS)
Developer | Publisher: Pandaroo Interactive
Age Rating: US E | EU 3+
Price: USD $8.99 | UK £6.47 | € 8,99
Release Date: June 20th, 2022
Review code used, with many thanks to Pandaroo Interactive.
To imagine life without timekeeping is almost impossible. We are constantly worried about time, counting the minutes and days, working towards a deadline or missing those past years we enjoyed. Time is there, day and night, but in Meet me at NooN, a puzzle platformer game published and developed by Pandaroo Interactive, time is different.
“The Grand Hourglass is broken and split into two spirits. Control the two spirits that create time loops each day.
It’s up to you to learn their different behaviours, how they can interact with each other and how these interactions are interfering with the time loops to solve brain-scratching puzzles.”
Newborns – The Hourglass Spirits, Day and Night
In Meet me at NooN, you play two characters: The Day spirit and the Night spirit, both of which came from the Grand Hourglass. Your goal is to get them to stand in their respective places at the same time. It sounds quite simple, but time can be more complex than we might expect, especially when we try to manipulate it.
You have a bar on the bottom of the screen that represents the timeline, which determines when day and night is. Each Hourglass spirit can move a certain amount of steps during their own time. That’s not all though. Each spirit has also a behaviour that reflects its moves in two different ways. Understanding how you create time loops with these spirits is not hard, since the game explains it in a very clear way and it has a fast learning curve. Let’s get to both spirits to get a more detailed sense of their behaviours.
The Day Spirit
The Day spirit moves only during the day, which is when the timeline shows the sun. Afterwards, when the Night spirit moves, the Day spirit rewinds its moves, going backwards each step is made. The Day spirit surprised me constantly with its unexpected rewinding moves. Going against general gravitational logic, you will manipulate time in ways that are not as simple as it seems. It confused me, in a funny way most of the time.
The Night Spirit
Even though the Night spirit also moves regularly like the Day spirit, on its own time, its rewinding behaviour changes the whole picture. After the Night spirit made its moves, its rewinding makes the spirit repeat its moves from its initial place. Not only that, but the Night spirit also can push the Day spirit when next to it. This action changes the rewinding route the Day spirit does, giving many possible ways to solve the puzzles.
Reach for the Stars!
When I began playing this game, I realized it was not just another puzzle game to keep me mindlessly entertained. Its time manipulation mechanics made me think out of the box in ways I did not always understand. Still, it made me want to figure out why the spirits moved as they did. Some levels I passed with the spirits moving and rewinding in ways I didn’t expect them to, which sometimes were happy accidents. These situations left me with my mouth open, amazed and perplexed about how it happened.
As I advanced to higher levels and the difficulty was increasing, I was finding a more meaningful challenges. Each level also contains an optional gold star to pick up when you move the spirits. During the first levels, these stars are easy to get, but not very late in the game, they become the real challenge.
Eventually, you need a certain amount of stars to unlock more chapters, so you might go back for them on previous levels. That replayability was actually engaging, as it gave me a reason to go back and feel more satisfied with more complete levels.
Time Waits for No One…Unless You Rewind
The last aspect to understand about this genius design is a very significant one. In Meet me at NooN, you will have a pressure-free experience without a game over. Whenever you fail to create the correct time loop to pass the level, you need only to rewind the timeline to whichever step you desire and try again. Giving you all the time you need to solve its puzzles, Meet me at NooN will only restart your level in very specific scenarios. Still, with no penalty or consequence.
The Art of Time – A Peaceful and Relaxing Atmosphere
When I play games like Journey from Thatgamecompany or similar titles, I spend most of my playthrough in admiration and a constant state of awe. I enjoy games that understand how relevant the visuals are. Meet me at NooN hits right in the spot with its aesthetics and sounds.
This game creates a relaxing and enjoyable experience, yet challenging. Its characters, the background, serene sounds and cozy colors make Meet me at NooN a puzzler that will not frustrate you easily. Usually, these types of games would discourage me when getting stuck, but in this case, scratching your brain for solutions comes together with satisfaction.
Conclusion
Meet me at NooN has everything I would expect for a puzzle platformer game and even more. It was a pleasant experience, even when I did not have a single clue on how to progress. Its mechanics gives an amazing flow to the game, with time manipulation as a main focus.
Its art and sound set a relaxing tone that invites you to feel comfortable. Not to forget that the challenges you deal with here will make you try many different approaches. To every player that enjoys puzzle games, time manipulation mechanics and beautifully made aesthetics, I recommend this game.
Final Verdict: Two thumbs up 