You know you are onto a good game when your brain screams at you: one more cog. It has passed your bedtime, but you can get one more objective done before then surely. This was my experience with Promenade. Even when playing through the campaign for this review, I’d realised I’d also done a lot more than needed, which helped for getting to the top of the elevator near the end of the story.
Promenade won’t be considered among the pantheon of greats when it comes to retro platformers/collect-a-thons. It is however, an addictive game with plenty of variety and a really good and, most of the time, chill experience.
Promenade was created by Holy Cap Studio, with help from CNC. It was published by Red Art Games in February 2024 for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch and Steam.
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Story: The Cog Maestro
Promenade begins with our young companion Nemo falling from a great height into a pool of water. In distress, a nearby Octopus called Poulp saves you from drowning. You are now in this world. After recuperating, you get to see the outside world…..and a giant golden elevator. Stepping onto this elevator causes an evil octopus-like entity to appear – and break apart all of the cogs which run the elevator! Oh no!
Nemo will have to scour the level he is on, solve puzzles, play games with the locals to collect cog pieces to restore power to the elevator to reach the top and take on the nasty, evil octopus. Completing certain challenge rooms also free captured Octopi friends.
The actual story was only really divulged within the last hour of gameplay and it isn’t really the point of this adventure anyway. It is more show than tell, and I appreciated what they decided to show.
The game is about collecting all the cog pieces. So how do we go about doing that?
Nemo meets his nemesis early on and it wants to ruin your day
Gameplay: Addictive, Relaxing, Bit Directionless
I clocked in finishing the main campaign at 17hrs. This was because I became addicted trying to find all the activities to do. I’d say you could finish the campaign in around 10hrs max.
Promenade has a unique mix of feeling like a chilled out experience you can do at your own pace, while there are also hardcore elements thrown in for the experts out there. So it does appeal to both audiences.
Climbing higher up the Great Elevator required more cogs. Therefore, we need to find the levels on each floor to complete objectives to collect cogs. There are ten main levels, not including The Great Elevator. And each level has objectives to complete: these range from completing platforming trials, races with a penguin, completing Da Pinchi’s paintings for him. There is also the occasional mini boss or big puzzle section.
Nemo completes objectives across the stages to collect cog pieces
Nemo was great to control. Like with the game Klonoa, you need to capture an enemy to double jump. Then there were upgrades which were rewards to completing a certain trial. Eventually you collected a zip line, using Poulp to climb higher. These upgrades were essential when tackling later challenges as well as trial levels. The trial levels also included a time trial when completed and these were also very addictive. Even when you die, there are hammocks you save progress automatically & you respawn immediately.
With so many objectives to complete, there is a book which you can find to collect and keep an eye on things. However, I did find that the openness of each level made it a relaxing affair – while also finding it easy to miss certain objectives. A map would have been a nice addition.
Overall, it’s a great game for such a small team.
Graphics: Bright & Colourful
Promenade’s visual style was to be like a cartoon. Definitely inspired by the 1990s. Nemo looks like a nice, simple kid wearing dungarees and a hoodie. His animation for rolling is a homage to old Sonic. The denizens of this world were larger than life looking, animal in nature. Enemy designs were very good: giant enemy crabs with cannons, big armadillos bouncing around the arenas with no frame rate issues.
Promenade had no UI, but touching the controller pad showed Nemo’s health bar and how many cogs he had. The games backgrounds were beautiful to look at and the detail of rooms and animations were spot on. Lots of detail was included. Very well done.
Promenade looked great.
The background artwork looked amazing.
Music & Audio: Jaunty, Whimsy, Exciting
Promenade’s music was excellent. Plenty of the themes could be like watching a play. Cartoonish, normally upbeat. Lots of different instruments used, songs themselves were simple structures but could be earworms, especially the exciting boss encounter songs. Each biome’s own music was catchy and a joy to listen to. The music was created by Yponeko and the soundtrack is on Spotify.
Sounds in general were great. Animation sounds were good and impact sounds were well done.
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- Again, another beautiful background. Lovely colours.
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- There were loads of bosses which were fun to play.
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- The art direction for Promenade was great
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- “Gees a cog would ye?”
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- Completing trials will help you free your friends.
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- Many of the levels had random objectives.
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- The time trials were good fun and addictive to get it right
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- This was the hardest puzzle in the game
Promenade was played and reviewed on PlayStation 5.
