PixlBit

Color your world not to bring it to life but to bring it to existence.

The Unfinished Swan is an incredibly innovative and creative title that aims to use your sense rather than your reflexes. This "first person painting game" strives to push the boundaries set by titles like Braid and Journey. The premise is simple: you are in a completely white world and must use balls of black paint to "feel" around the levels.

Nothing around you is visible when you start. Everything is completely white with no means of distinguishing objects and paths around you. Once you throw a paintball using the shoulder button, whatever the paint splatters on becomes visible to you and you must use contrast as hints to figure out how the world is laid out.

Uncovering the game will have you discover spiral staircases, park benches, frogs, lakes, and other items and architecture. Various colorful objects will also pop in as a means to throw you off and hidden paths abound. That is what Unfinished Swan aims to focus on: exploration. With nothing being easily identifiable, your curiosity won't be satiated by the quality of what you'll find but by whether you find anything at all. Furthermore, the game changes every 15 minutes or so by changing the environment around you. The game is also beautiful in design as the purely white world splattered with various degrees of black paint brings to mind the work of M.C. Escher.

Creative Director Ian Dallas originally started the title off as a grad student at USC. He drew from various inspirations, from Alice in Wonderland to Shell Silverstein. In an interview, Dallas stressed his vision for the game. Unfinished Swan is designed for you to explore, rather than to challenge you. For this reason, there is no tutorial in the game and the button inputs aren't explained to you either.

The game does have a story. It follows a little boy named Monroe whose mother has passed away. She leaves him an unfinished painting of a swan as a keepsake for his room. The swan then jumps out of the painting and runs away. Monroe follows the swan to an unknown kingdom devoid of color and it's your goal to find the swan and return him to the painting.

This makes the title come across as an artsy kind of game, but the premise is also reminiscent of a nursery rhyme as well. The plot and gameplay combined give a sense of childish wonder. Everything is seemingly new and unknown, and depending on how you see it, this will result in you becoming curious or being afraid the way a child would. In a separate interview, Dallas mentioned that many thought the game was a horror title at first glance.

This sentiment will be likely be heightened by a "malevolent force" which will be chasing you in the final game. Although that's not shown in the trailer or described in hands-on pieces, what is known is that the monster in question will have you rely on audio cues and what you know at about your surroundings. If you don't pay attention or make a mistake, you'll be eaten.

Look for the PSN exclusive when it's released this fall.