Hue

Hue is a puzzle game played as a side-scrolling platformer. The player controls the male character Hue who needs to find back his missing mother. She developed a ring called Annular Spectrum which allows perception and alteration of impossible colours, beyond the human spectrum. She was deceived by the traitorous professor Dr. Grey she fell in love with and has now become invisible, as a shade of such as impossible colour. It is up to Hue to restore the ring and bring her back by collecting the many scattered coloured shards.

The game consists of a large, 2D side-scrolling world where different environments are linked together through doors. The game uses a silhouetted art style which is initially monochromatic. Soon Hue discovers his first colour, which is added to a ring-like circle that can be summoned at any moment, as one of many bright colours. Eventually eight colours can be collected: aqua, blue, lime, orange, pink, purple, red and yellow. These are used for the main gameplay mechanic as the player can switch between them on the fly, even in the middle of actions as time is slowed down extensively during the selection. Changing a colour brings it into the environment, colouring almost anything. This mechanic is for instance used to discover hidden doors. Obstacles, barriers and other elements often have a specific colour and when Hue switches colours to match it, it disappears into the environment as if it was never there. The simple mechanic quickly becomes more complex due to moving elements, the ability to push and pull objects, platform-based puzzles, fast sequences and so on. While Hue can jump and there are some general elements such as ladders or deadly spikes, almost every area needs to be approached as a puzzle that can be solved without time pressure.