It’s perhaps surprising how there’s so many Flash games that deal with the idea of melancholy and loneliness.  Given the number of highly-saturated tower-defence and match-threes around, they’re just not really the things that spring to mind.  But exist they do, and here’s one that I enjoyed recently, Colour My Dreams.

CMD is a the third hand-drawn explore-’em-up in a series from SilverStitch, continuing from Colour My Heart and Colour My World, and their theme of love bringing about colour into a drab, monochrome world.  The artwork has opened out from the earlier games, settling into a detailed, hand-drawn style slightly reminiscent of Mateusz Skutnik’s Daymare Town series. Playing at least Colour My World first is recommended, as there is a general lack of instruction which I found made gameplay initially unfathomable.  (This is despite having played CMW many moons ago, which did give the player a better idea of what was required.)

The emphasis seems to be on taking in the small world, although there are a couple of puzzles which drive the narrative forward.  I didn’t feel these were as well signposted as they could have been, but they represent a change from the earlier games’ more linear progression.  The story is less subtle this time around, though, and the puzzle payoffs consequently are satisfying enough.   Overall, the game is quite short and I wouldn’t expect you to require a second cup of tea – an ideal play for an autumn evening.

This isn’t actually my favourite in the Colour My… series – but more about that nearer Christmas.

Colour My Dreams on Armor Games.