Every puzzle-platformer worth remembering has a hook. In Semblance (2018), you can deform the platforms. In Öoo (2025), you jump and dash by exploding parts of your body. In Monowave, forthcoming this September, what you’re capable of doing depends on your emotional state. Happiness makes you jump higher. Anger allows you to perform wall jumps. Sorrow affords the ability to squeeze through crevasses. And anxiety makes you immune from damage from environmental hazards.
What gives this premise variety and longevity is that you can also transfer emotions to creatures in the environment. This will change their behaviour, which in turn can transform the environment. Transferring anxiety to a crocodile will make it boost you into the air. Angry crocodiles (and other creatures) will attack you. But angry creatures can also break barriers that block your path. There are no “bad” emotions; each serves a purpose.
You play as Mono, a newborn guardian spirit tasked with reuniting the four emotions and restoring harmony to the universe. From the two hours I played, that’s about as deep as the story and the theme of emotions go. Aside from a brief opening cutscene, there is no text. While I was writing this preview, I had to look up the developers’ description of the “plot” and even which emotion was associated with each colour. In my mind, the abilities were yellow, red, purple, and green, not happiness, anger, sorrow, and anxiety. In other words, Monowave isn’t a 2-dimensional Rainbow Billy (2021).
Some combat-free games struggle to find ways of providing boss-like culminating experiences. Monowave does have bosses, and they did put my knowledge of the emotions and their effects on Mono and other creatures to the test. And the two I played were mechanically distinct, the second presenting much more challenge than the first.
Monowave’s Steam description reads, “Interact with the eccentric inhabitants of this world. Your powers will resonate with them and affect their behaviors. Will they be friend or foe? It all depends on your approach.” This makes it seem like there are multiple ways of solving platforming challenges. At least in the two worlds I played, Monowave is a game of progression rather than emergence. Aside from slight detours for optional collectables, there was generally one way to proceed through each level.
I mostly play games with my family, and it’s way more exciting when we can play together. So, I was initially delighted to discover that Monowave supports couch co-op. When you start, the game asks you whether you want to play “alone” or “together.” You can add an additional player at any point in a playthrough, but you won’t receive an explanation of what player 2 can do unless you play through the first level. Unfortunately, the coop experience is rather lopsided. Player 2 plays as Prism, and since Prism can fly, player 2 doesn’t actually do any platforming. Player 2 can help Mono by spreading emotions, but Mono can also do this, so player 2’s contributions are never really required. Coop is played on a single screen so Prism will return to Mono’s side if it flies too far away. It will also return to Mono if it collides with environmental hazards. Playing as Prism might be appealing for a child who wants to feel like they’re playing alongside their caregiver or older sibling, but coop offered too imbalanced an experience for my husband and I.
When I contemplated reviewing Monowave, my first question was, how difficult is this going to be? I have a history of beginning and abandoning platformers because they offered too gruelling or repetitive an experience for me to enjoy at my stage in life. I needn’t have worried. Monowave’s array of accessibility features mean that most players interested in completing Mono’s journey will be able to do so. There are two difficulty settings: hard and normal (obviously, I chose normal). There’s also a no-damage mode (somewhat confusingly labelled “support”) and a colourblind mode. If the puzzles have you stumped, there is a robust hint system. Requesting a hint will make a crystal fly to where Mono should go next. If needed, this crystal will walk Mono through the entire level. I love to see an in-game hint system. Many players will want to arrive at the solution on their own, and that’s fine. As someone who sometimes needs assistance, I’m grateful to receive it in-game rather than to look for it on YouTube.
The game also contains a comprehensive glossary containing information about how each type of creature responds to each emotion. Players who might be returning to this game after some time away will greatly appreciate this feature. I only wish Monowave boasted a better tutorial. To cut down on localization expenses, I expect tutorization occurs through infographics. I found some of these difficult to decipher. The first time I needed to transfer an emotion to a creature, I was stumped for a bit and only hit on what I needed to do by pressing random buttons. A few words at this key moment would have been appreciated.
I heartily recommend players interested in a casual puzzle-platformer with a unique premise to check out the demo available on Steam and mark their calendars for the full release on 16 September on Steam, Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Monowave’s traversal-based puzzles are novel but not overly taxing. I found what I played of Monowave more mechanically interesting than Semblance but not as brilliant as Öoo. Tutorialization could have been improved, but this lack is somewhat compensated by the glossary and hint system. The controls could be finer-tuned, but Monowave is not Celeste (2018), and there are multiple difficulty settings. Monowave also has a unique look. It reminds me of those black sheets my kids bring home in birthday party goody bags that reveal rainbow colours when you scrape off some of the coating. Will the full game offer a deeper exploration of its themes? I look forward to finding out when the game releases in a few weeks.
Many thanks to Studio BBB for a code to an extended demo. If you would like to try Monowave for yourself, then a free demo is available on Steam.
