When it comes to puzzle games, there is a fine line between strange and incomprehensible. If puzzles are too abstract, solving them will feel like blind luck, and that is rarely enjoyable. Older point-and-click adventure games had some abstract solutions, and they also had their fair share of pixel hunting. Discolored 2 is a first-person puzzler that has a bit of both. It is a sequel to a short indie game from 2019, and, unlike the original, it features active threats that block progress. While some of the puzzles in Discolored 2 are too far out there, it mostly flows well enough to make it worth playing.
Like the original, there is not much story in this sequel. The game begins by explaining that color has been removed from the world by a sinister organization and you must restore it. Soon you encounter the primary antagonist: a gray man in a bowler hat who throws fireballs. A lady in red seems to be acting against him and you eventually meet her in the quest for color, although she has little to say. The world itself is a bizarre amalgamation of rooms, hallways, laboratories, and atriums. Players travel between unconnected areas by using a viewfinder at set points. The game leans into the surreal, somewhat like the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. And although the original game was under an hour long, the sequel offers a more solid 4-5 hours of puzzles.
Some core mechanics persist throughout the sequel, similar to the first game. Colored prisms expose that particular color in the world, when placed into a matching receptacle. Doing this might make a red door visible or allow a green switch to function. The player also gets a camera that can absorb a color, and using this camera will delete a specific item. While these base mechanics are straightforward, the game is not predictable. Many distinct and unrelated puzzles appear throughout.
Most self-contained puzzles are usually self-explanatory. These might crop up when you open an access panel or are presented with a machine. Examples include needing to rotate pipes so a substance can flow from left to right. You will also need to place laser beam splitters so all visible globes switch on. Many independent puzzles are quite good and varied, with few repeats. And the game finds a nice flow state in the back half, when quirks are more recognizable and tiny hints (e.g. notes) do heavy lifting. The relatively quick completion of the self-contained puzzles helps to provide forward progress.
But there are some active threats that cause interruptions. This is not a stealth game or an action game, but the threats may force you to retry a sequence. Basic mechanical threats, like an approaching spinning fan, are often countered by quickly pulling a nearby lever. Others, like a wasp that loops around a room, can be stunned with the camera. One area is home to a blind vampire that teleports between preset locations. Although this blood-sucker can be avoided by moving carefully, you can also break free from its grasp by button mashing. These threats raise the stakes and provide some urgency. It also helps to make the world feel more alive, and there is never much to replay if you do get caught.
The biggest reason players may struggle to progress is because of the abstract puzzling and interactive point hunting. Some puzzles are just too weird. One video tape must be played so a key can materialize, but if it is paused at the wrong place, the evil gray man will spawn out of thin air. A few items even have to be retrieved from the main menu, which feels like breaking a hidden rule of gaming. Several interactive points are not easy to spot either, including tiny doors cut into balustrade posts. The observant types might not have trouble, but locating arbitrarily placed interactions, in a world that is often grayscale, can cause frustration.
If you are finding things a little too difficult then the game does come with a built-in hint system. These typically help pinpoint areas that need investigation and what steps need to be taken next. Also, if you find the idea of active threats too much to handle, these can be disabled. Discolored 2 knows that some of its mechanics will cause headaches, so it is good that it has options to counter them.
Visually the game is clean and simple. It is often presented with just one color (red, green, or blue). While the environments do not have much detail, this minimizes distraction. The few characters look basic but are recognizable, although some animations are clunky. Music is subdued and creates a creepy distant atmosphere, which suits the surreal element. One technical glitch that did crop up is the tendency for interactive points to not allow the player to back out. This required quitting and reloading. Fortunately no puzzles broke, even though it did appear that way because of their abstract style.
All up Discolored 2 is a fairly enjoyable puzzler thanks to core mechanics and several decent self-contained puzzles. When the game presents challenges with straightforward mechanics, it can flow well, mainly in the later half. When it trends towards the abstract, and requires players to hunt for obscure interactive points, it loses its way. The active threats in the world are rarely hard to avoid, but they differentiate the experience and bring it to life. While not all puzzles in Discolored 2 will bring joy, there are enough green flags here to make it worth trying.
