Naught is a black, white, and grey 2D platformer with some hints of extra colors, in which gravity is your ally. Learn more in our Naught review!

 

Wild Sphere previously gave us Tymothy vs. the Aliens on PlayStation 4, and the studio is now back with Naught. In this game you will take control of a cat that is brought to life after its owner lays it down to rest underground, below a peculiar tree. The cat ends up falling through the ground below the tree, and is brought into a world of light and shadows, in which the tree’s spirit will accompany him, helping along the way. The main gameplay mechanic will be gravity, which you’ll be able to change to help titular character Naught to overcome the challenges in its path.

 

Naught will run and move automatically through each stage depending on how gravity affects him. You’ll have to use the X button to jump, and can make the whole level turn by 180 degrees with the Triangle button. You can also rotate the world around Naught by using the left analog stick, or by pressing the L1 and the R1 buttons to rotate the world left or right. The first stage in the game will allow you to put all of this into practice, but once you reach the second stage, the difficulty will start to ramp up.

You will need to avoid deadly spikes, plants that will snap at you, flying parasites with sharp teeth, the acid inside of a giant creature’s belly, or blocks that crumble under your weight, all while using moving platforms, and find hidden rooms that will usually contain a diamond for you to add to your collection. You’ll need to make good use of the checkpoints that you’ll find in each stage, since they will allow you to instantly respawn after dying… as long as you have enough seeds! Seeds are the glowing things you’ll collect in each level, and since you use up five seeds every time you die, you should definitely collect as many as possible!

 

If you’re the type of gamer who likes to 100% games, there’s definitely plenty to do in Naught. You will have 120 diamonds to recover, as well as 40 Time Trials to complete – one for each level in the game -, not to mention the full trophy list you can work on to unlock a new Platinum trophy for your collection. There are nine trophies related to progressing through the games levels, seven trophies tied to finding the many diamonds you can collect, and then trophies for completing all of the Time Trials. You can also unlock new story pages as you progress through the game.

 

Naught is a fun 2D platformer with a solid difficulty curve… for most of the time. The one complaint I’d have is that the levels that feature walls full of spikes in which you have to be extremely precise about how you twist around the level drive the difficulty up to 11, while the stage immediately following each of these stages goes back to the steady difficulty climb experienced before. Other than that, it’s an entertaining experience that will challenge your senses and coordination.

Disclaimer
This Naught review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Wild Sphere.