Save for that blissful half-hour of Silksong that I played back in E3 2019, Constance is, so far, the best Hollow Knight-like game I’ve ever played. It’s not exactly the same–Constance takes a page out of Splatoon’s book and features a main character that can wield dangerous purple paint and submerge into puddles in order to slink past enemies or obstacles or ascend up walls–but I couldn’t help but be reminded of my time spend in Hallownest. My time with the game was unfortunately quite short–I played a 20-minute Gamescom demo–but I adored what I saw of its quirky world and enjoyed how much the various designs of the robotic enemies and assortment of paint-based abilities shook up each combat encounter. Just as Hollow Knight’s gameplay emulates the acrobatic dance and frenzied movements of insects, combat in Constance feels like the frenetic flourishes and flicks of a paintbrush as an artist enters the flow state.
Constance’s story seems quite interesting but I’m reserving judgment until I see more of it–20 minutes just isn’t enough time to get a grasp of the action-adventure game’s narrative. In the game, you play as the titular heroine and explore a non-linear interconnected world that’s been overtaken with danger. The Constance you’re playing as is the figurative representation of the Constance in the real world, an artist. This game represents Constance’s mental health journey with each of the six biomes emulating the different aspects of her psyche and personal history.
Celeste remains one of my favorite games of all time, and Constance’s story feels like it gives off big Celeste energy. This is most clearly seen in Constance’s mechanics, with both platforming segments and combat gauntlets standing in for figurative struggles. Using brush techniques–like sinking into the ground and becoming paint to slide under enemies, or shooting out paint to attack a far-away foe or bounce off a spike, for example–corrupts Constance. If you cool off, the corruption stops but if you use too many of the techniques in a row, Constance becomes corrupted and takes on a negative side effect until she has a chance to meditate at a checkpoint. Obviously, the pressures of burnout and the process of addressing it are more complex than that, but the mechanics capture the gist of the sensation.
