Tamashii: Disturbingly dark puzzle fun! (Switch)

I do like a good slice of grim, dark entertainment now and then.

There's something I find really appealing about hauntingly bleak settings and stories for some reason.

Imagine my intrigue when such an offer came up in a horror/puzzle platformer of all things, and it was in a recent Nintendo Switch sale too!

Tamashii, created by Vikintor, set me back less than £5 if I recall, but I don't think it's too expensive when it's full price either.

First things first, the most striking thing about this title is the art style. It's disturbing in a lot of areas to say the least.

The game's description states it is "inspired by obscure Japanese games from the 90s and late 80s."

I'm not familiar with the particular obscure games it draws inspiration from, but I did feel the influence of HP Lovecraft and HR Giger in some areas.

At a glance the story seems simple enough. You play as an "unnamed soul" and you have been summoned by an ancient being to seek out a source of evil within his temple.

To progress you have to clear several chambers full of rooms which test your platforming and puzzle-solving skills.

Each puzzle essentially requires you to keep a set of buttons pressed down to open the exit door.

You do this by spawning up to three clones at a time, each of which expire and disappear within a set amount of time.

Often the order and timings of the clone placements are vital to your success, which adds a nice and tricky layer of strategy to some of the later rooms.

Add to this a variety of hazards, traps, conveyor belts, colored blocks triggered by corresponding switches and more - the result is wide variety of challenges to get stuck into.

Rounding off each chamber's set of puzzle rooms is a boss.

These mainly require the use the skills you've been perfecting in the previous rooms and I have to say I really liked some of the bosses. One or two of them were frankly disturbing, in a good way.

For the most part Tamashii's soundtrack succeeds in creating unease as you explore the temple. In fact in some areas it was damn unsettling, which I expect was the aim.

The game lasted a few hours from start to finish and while I did stumble upon what seemed to be a few secrets and snippets of a deeper lore, I didn't fully understand their meaning.

I feel there's more to be discovered here so I will definitely be replaying it in the future.

Overall, Tamashii is a dark and disturbingly good time and is definitely worth a play.

Have you played Tamashii? Let me know your thoughts below!