Chicory: A Colorful Tale

About Chicory: A Colorful Tale

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a quirky indie adventure game from Wishes Ultd. and publisher Finji. Released June 2021, it’s a storybook-style RPG where you play as a dog who inherits a magic paintbrush to restore color to a grayscale world. Set in a whimsical land of talking animals and floating islands, the game blends exploration, puzzle-solving, and co-op play. With a Metacritic score of 89, it’s praised for its creative mechanics and charm. Available on PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC, and Mac, it supports single-player and co-op. The elevator pitch? You’re a dog with a paintbrush, fixing a broken world by painting solutions. It’s part puzzle-platformer, part narrative-driven quest with a dash of RPG elements.

Gameplay

The core loop revolves around using the paintbrush to interact with the environment. You’ll paint bridges, doors, and even characters to solve puzzles, often requiring precise strokes or color-matching. Combat is minimal, replaced by creative challenges like re-coloring a forest to lure a creature out. The game alternates between open-ended exploration and structured puzzle rooms. Controls are simple, painting with a mouse or controller feels responsive, though precision can be tricky. Multiplayer lets two players co-op, with one painting and the other navigating. Sessions mix platforming, environmental storytelling, and occasional RPG dialogue choices. The world is small but densely packed with secrets, and the brush’s versatility is the main hook.

What Players Think

PlayPile community ratings are 92/100, with 83% completing the main story (average playtime: 12 hours). Metacritic’s 89 reflects critical acclaim, but players note mixed difficulty spikes, 62% rate puzzles as “challenging,” while 40% found the final act too slow. Community moods are overwhelmingly positive (89% happy), with common tags like “creative,” “zen,” and “lovable.” A top review snippet: “Colorful but tricky puzzles; co-op makes it shine.” Achievements (50 total) have a 65% completion rate, with the hardest being a pixel-perfect painting challenge. Despite praise for art and music, 22% of players criticize repetitive side quests.

PlayPile's Take

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a must-play for fans of inventive puzzles and cozy narratives. Priced around $20-25, it offers strong value with 10+ hours of core content and replayable co-op. The brush mechanics are its standout feature, though some may find the difficulty uneven. If you enjoy art-based problem-solving and don’t mind a slower pace, this game’s charm and creativity justify the investment. Avoid if you prefer fast-paced action, this is a dog’s-eye view of a world that thrives on patience and imagination.

Storyline

The Brush is a one-of-a-kind artifact that can color the world. Naturally, it needs a wielder, a master artist responsible for all colors and for passing the brush down. The current wielder, Chicory, is immensely talented and beloved by all... until all the color in the land vanishes, and her with it! I guess that leaves it up to you, her number one fan, to take up the brush and fill in for her. Hmm... good luck! Something terrible happened. Chicory, superstar artist and wielder of the Brush, is missing, and all the color in the land vanished with her. It’s up to you, Chicory’s number one fan, to pick up the Brush and fill in for her. It’s a big job… but you’re ready for it! Probably!