In a world that’s oversaturated with single-player content, having the opportunity to sit down with a friend to play a game together is something to treasure. We’ve had wonderful titles such as Unravel that have showed us just how well crafted a co-op game can be, and how enthralling the experience is once you’re able to enjoy it with someone else. This brings us to Degrees of Separation, an indie 2D puzzle platformer that takes advantage of co-op gameplay to showcase how wondrous playing together can be. Anyone who’s looking to pick up a game that they can play with their significant other, and that also shares a compelling narrative with fantasy in mind, then continue to read on.

Degrees of Separation is a colorful Switch title that’s visually luscious in its overall design, and aims to provide players with a narrative that’s compelling and unique. Learning how to master both characters within the game will be imperative to your progress, as Rime’s control of the cold and Ember’s mastery of her heat will determine how puzzles are solved. The contrasting of colors is quite beautiful to see especially when it’s all in motion, and every puzzle is stimulating enough to keep you fully engaged. Use every unique ability in order to create powerful gusts of wind, icey rivers, and more in order to ensure the world you inhibit is safe.

Degrees of Separation is a very vivid-looking game that doesn’t shy away from trying new things. When both characters show off their abilities it really helps to bring the game to life, as you truly get to experience the myriad of colors that are dispersed across the screen. It really helps in a variety of ways because it keeps you immersed at all times, even though to be quite honest, the character designs could use a little more work. The animations do look a bit stiff, especially when the characters run around, but after awhile you tend to overlook that when you’re mesmerized by the lush backgrounds.

The music in this game is not amazing, but it definitely helps to set the tone for the overall experience. There’s a lot of emotion that’s felt throughout the game, especially when you start to see the relationship evolve between Rime and Ember. That emotion becomes even stronger when you do actually play with someone else because that experience can be shared. The music is strung together in a nice way to help create an environment that compliments the crafty puzzles, and clever narrative.

Degrees of Separation doesn’t necessarily require you to have someone play with you, as you’re able to control both characters solo. However, the game does feel a little more endearing when you can work with someone to solve puzzles, and develop communication to create a successful outcome. We had the chance to play it both ways, solo and with a friend, and while we certainly enjoyed it solo it felt way better when played together. In fact, playing solo did start to grow a little boring.

The puzzles aren’t too difficult either and so the challenge tends to wane as you go deeper into the game, which ultimately draws your attention away. They’re certainly entertaining and do keep you immersed but once you start to pick up on things, it’s quite straightforward and you can breeze through it very quickly.

If you’re hungry for a 2-player simultaneous experience that comes equipped with the added benefits of platforming and puzzle based gameplay, then give Degrees of Separation a shot. It’s by no means perfect but it will provide players with a nice story filled with a world of colors. The game truly wins in the visual department especially when you play the game on handheld mode. If we were to rank the game in order of its pros and cons, we’d say that visuals take the cake, the gameplay comes in second, while the sound and music could definitely use some fine tuning to better compliment the beautiful and emotional relationship between Ember and Rime.

We hope that more companies can start developing more 2-player co-op titles because they really are truly fun, and if more content can be properly implemented to create a seamless experience, it would be worthwhile. Be sure to follow us on social media and share, retweet and comment on your favorite reviews! Don’t hesitate to follow us on Twitch as well, where we tend to play a lot of our reviewed titles live for all of you, our fans! Until next time...

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