Blanc

Blanc's adventure about a fawn and wolf cub duo has a heartfelt start with moments of fun puzzle antics, but a weak second half really lets this gorgeous co-op game down.

Blanc is a pleasant, easy-going co-op experience that will provide a couple of hours' worth of enjoyment along with a few frustrations. The camera can be a bit messy at times due to the two-player setup, and the game could definitely do with a hint system in some areas, as we imagine children in particular would struggle with the overall lack of direction. That said, it's a lovely-looking game and an entirely inoffensive experience that anyone can pick up and enjoy with little fuss. If you're looking for a new, emotionally driven co-op game, then Blanc is an easy recommendation.

Blanc is certainly cozy, cute, and charming, and it deserves high marks for its aesthetics and ideas, but I can’t deny how frustrated I felt while playing it. There were some high moments where cub and fawn flew through the frozen fields, delicately criss-crossing darkened paths in an otherwise blinding white spendor, but they were often followed by whiplashed lows of missing actionable cues and odd technical difficulties. If Blanc speaks to you, I think you’ll enjoy it, but if you’re on the fence, give the dev team some time to address the issues. Until then, Blanc remains the perfect example of a snow day — enjoyable in theory as long as you don’t have to travel.

Controlling one character per Joy-Con is an annoying experience I wouldn't suggest. The real stand out here is the soundtrack. I would put this soundtrack in the same tier as games like Hollow Knight and Ori and the Blind Forest. My biggest takeaway is that the Blanc soundtrack should be on everyone's playlists, even if the game itself shouldn't.

From the game's logo alone we can understand its intention to approach the theme of duality with the dark wolf perched on the lap of the white deer creating a variation of the yin-yang symbol. This color symbolism is also carried over to the game with most of the objects that the wolf interacts with being black, while the corresponding ones that the deer interacts with are white.

Blanc is a charming and extremely short adventure game that features challenging puzzles and a beautiful, minimalist art style that should occupy you and a friend for an hour or two.

Blanc is a game with heart, and it'll definitely bring you and a player two together. I can't recommend it over some other recent co-op outings, but it's still an experience worth having if you can ignore a couple of issues.

If I had to sum up White quickly, I would use the following words: easy, short, scenery and calm. Is that positive? That's up to you. Because an easy game is not necessarily a bad thing, and neither is a short game. Personally, White is one of those games that are quickly forgotten for the reasons I mentioned earlier. But if you have a young audience at home, I consider the game a good starting option. It gives you a good introduction to many aspects of the video game world. But that's probably the only good reason to get White.

Simply put, I absolutely love Blanc's aesthetics and gentle soundtrack but everything else about it is tedious and occasionally irritating.

With every new landscape and puzzle, you can feel the love that went into the development of this game. Available for both local and online play, you can enjoy this with your loved ones in the same room or from far away. Blanc is here for you to take this journey together.