Skaramazuzu – Review

A cute little story… and that’s about it

Developed by indie studio Bleeding Moon and published by IPHIGAMES in early April, Skaramazuzu will take you on a journey through what appears to be Purgatory as Zuzu, a small, ink-black spirit searching for its lost memories. To achieve its goal, it will have to interact with the various inhabitants of this space between life and death. Each will ask for a series of objects in exchange for their help, so that Zuzu can eventually unlock the four doors, obtain the four keys and, hopefully, regain its memories.

The universe in which the action takes place is small and confined, it doesn't include any conflict or combat, and the main way you progress through this atmospheric game with hand-drawn graphics is a continuous journey from fetch quest to fetch quest, offering each character you meet what they ask for in exchange for their help. The further you progress on the path to regaining your memories, the more you'll recognise who the characters you meet are or what they represent.

The game is basically a story told primarily through text and dialogue, with a hand-drawn environment and characters, and black-and-white graphics. To be completely honest with you, the most memorable aspect of this game was the visuals. The interactions with the other characters didn't feel particularly significant, the not-very-difficult puzzles didn't feel worth the time invested, and the main character seems too happy and playful – I understand they wanted to convey a sense of hope with a cheerful and innocent character, but this had a negative impact on the story of loss and self-discovery they're trying to tell.

The atmospheric music is nice, but the decision to go with whispers in an invented language alongside the characters' lines doesn't seem inspired – it felt more annoying, and I even considered turning the volume down for the dialogue so I could focus better on the story and character interactions. What I did appreciate is that they included the option to instantly display and skip lines, instead of forcing us to endure the slow, typewriter-like speed they initially chose for displaying dialogue.

As much as I love indie developers, I wouldn't be able to sleep soundly at night if I recommended you pay $10 for this game for the less than three hours of gameplay it offers. Believe me, I've participated in game jams with small teams that lasted a weekend or even a month, I've interviewed solo indie developers, as well as people who were part of small indie studios (some even made up of two people); I am fully aware of the quality that a few passionate and determined people can deliver. And it pains me to say it, but Skaramazuzu hasn't delivered, considering that the first trailer revealing the game was made public about two years ago, and since then no visible improvements to the game have been seen. I understand what the Bleeding Moon folks tried to do by establishing an emotional connection with the character, but it just didn't work out for them. At best, I can call it a very polished game resulting from a game jam, and I would recommend them to ask for around $2 or even offer it for free, just like they did with their previous little games.

In the future, I would recommend they focus on what they do best, namely the graphics they can create, and also start working on their narrative skills to deliver a story that truly makes you connect with their characters.

Played on: PC
Release date: 03 April 2024
Developer: Bleeding Moon, IPHIGAMES
Publisher: IPHIGAMES

Review by Constantin Dumitru