This full title of this game is Bound: Shattered Kingdom and it is one of the titles that I think most people would probably skip past if they were perusing the catalogue of "extra" games because there are just so many of them.
This one was a surprise to me because I didn't expect to like it nearly as much as I did. I normally allot only 1-hour of time to each game before I form my opinion but I ended up electing to play this one for around 2 hours, which was also how long it took to finish the entire game.
Bound is VR optional, but to this day I have never met anyone that actually has that peripheral for their PS4. It functions perfectly well just using a standard controller.
If you watch the trailer - and I did not - it would probably surprise most potential players that the game actually starts out in the real world, with a pregnant woman being dropped off at the beach and you have to wander to certain parts of it where the woman will sit down and open her book. When she does so she is transported to a magical world that puts you in control of a character whose every move is a dance move of sorts.
I do not know the names of these ballerina moves but the way in which they were captured for the sake of the game is absolutely stunning. If nothing else comes from this game I hope that these attributes can be incorporated into other games because it just really works well. I will include a trailer because still images do not do it justice.
Between this lovely movement and the incredibly touching soundtrack that plays throughout the game is already good enough to end up being recommended by me but this game goes even further by having a story behind it that is truly emotional and unfortunately will probably resonate with entirely too many people. The story is revealed to you in pieces so you don't really have a full understanding of what the entire picture is until the end of the game and I absolutely love it when games can manage to pull this off.
You can't lose in this game either. You can fall off of a platform or get stuck in a place but there is no limit to how many times you can try again. Also, none of this game is particularly difficult so I believe that most people will likely be able to finish this game in a few hours, the same way that I did. It is a masterpiece of story-telling and this is coming from a buy that doesn't particularly care for games that overly rely on story. Perhaps this is because the story isn't thrown at you with tons of dialogue but rather with images that should be fairly evident what they mean.
There is a "boss" that pursues you in the game but you don't have to fight it per se. I'm not going to spoil who this boss is but I'm sure you will be able to figure it out in the very limited 2 hours of gameplay that is required to complete the game in its entirety.
The level design is unique in that there are no enemies to fight but there are certain dance moves that you must do in order to get through certain parts of it. Trust me, none of these are difficult to figure out and I only went to one or two areas, which were optional that I ever felt were in any way difficult.
A perfect casual game that is presented in an unusual and touchingly artistic sense, I think that Bound: Shattered Kingdom will surprise a lot of gamers out there in how something so simple as far as controls are concerned can end up being a game that will make you think and talk to others about it for a while afterwards.
This game is definitely worth playing and I would go so far as to say that it is even worth buying if you have to. The short run-time might seem like a downside but in all actuality this game is exactly as long as it needed to be. Any longer and I think I would have gotten sick of it.
I highly recommend this one and it is one of only 2 games I have played to completion while enjoying the entire ride, in the past several months.
