Happymagenta’s Into the Dim is instantly reminiscent of classic Game Boy title The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, but actually has more in common with traditional turn-based role-playing games.
In Into The Dim, players are given three moves per turn and can wait at any point to plot their next step. In contrast, enemies have multiple moves during their turns, so even if a foe is a few squares away, the player needs to always remain on their toes, thinking one step ahead. That skeleton across the map can make its way over to you more quickly than you realize.
Where Into the Dim may fall apart for some people is its extreme difficulty level. Success requires practice, planning, upgrades to health, limiting ammo use, and most importantly, a significant amount of repetition. If you go in guns blazing, the results likely won’t be positive. Into the Dim only works if you take your time and carefully plan out attacks.
This is also where the game’s free-to-play aspects come into effect. Coins can be gathered in each of Into the Dim’s stages, but once you reach a certain point in the game, or die a number of times in a row, coins become a scarce commodity.
While I haven’t opted to purchase additional coins during my time with the game, instead choosing to rely on timed coin drops to replenish my supply (which happen every 20 minutes), some players likely won’t have the same level of patience. On the plus side, coin packs are relatively affordable: 100 cost $1.19, 250 is priced at $2.29, and $400 costs $3.49. Character upgrades like additional ammo and health slots will put you back between 25 and 90 coins.
Despite the lack of colour present in Into the Dim’s graphics, it’s hard not to be impressed with the game’s monochrome visuals, especially if you grew up in the Game Boy video game era.
Happymagenta’s game takes the simple aesthetic that worked within the Game Boy’s technical limitations during the late 80s to mid 90s, and turns the graphics up a notch. These are retro visuals at their best and Happymegenta has done a great job of combining old and new with Into the Dim.
Into the Dim is available on the iOS App Store for free (it is probably best played on iPad Mini or iPhone 6s Plus).
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