Welcome to a world colorful and mysterious, a world in which live the innocent creatures known only as Inops. Small, round, black balls with eyes that have a unique talent, the ability to combine into a whole and also being able to break down into a group of smaller black balls again. Your job is to collect these little guys and make it safely to the end of the stage but a variety of hurdles and traps along with your enemies known as the Ignus await your journey.
Developed by ZRZ studios, Inops is another take on the 2-D sidescrolling, blacked-out adventures, much in the same style as Limbo, but adds twists and puzzles which you must overcome to continue. You start off in the mining themed section; a backdrop of cogs and turning gears whirring behind you, neon colors help to highlight your almost invisible self against an almost black silhouette maze. The mazes themselves will have larger or smaller holes and caves to traverse so sometimes you will need to choose the quickest and safest way to tackle a trap. Smaller holes mean you need to break yourself down into smaller balls to fit, but this is the most dangerous way also, because if any of your balls get hit you will lose that Inop. Larger holes are much easier when you can combine as a whole to make it past.
As you progress you encounter even zanier contraptions which you learn to traverse along the way, like turning cogs manually and switching platforms, bouncing pads and levers all serve a purpose and become more challenging in the later levels. Later levels include different themes and can take you to the twisted jungle boat ride or the even more entrancing futuristic electric stages with flying neon fish.
For a 2-D scrolling adventure puzzler, Inops presents itself beautifully. Vibrant colors fill the screen as you guide your Inops to safety. Glittery pop-ups appear on screen to further help and guide you. Words like ‘look out’ and ‘hurry’ can give you timing cues whereas the word ‘run’ can be pretty obvious – roll the hell out of there now!
Conclusion
Inops is a charming, yet dark, 2D platformer. It’s paced just right, a relaxingly chilled experience that offers up a spectacular visual journey.
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