The appeal of mystery games is being dropped into a scenario and having to play detective to figure things out. Many adventure games, even the best ones, struggle to make the experience more than trial and error. Many gamers will find themselves exhausting all possible item combinations or sometimes give up and look up a guide.
CLeM is likely not going to change anyone’s mind about adventure game conventions and is guilty of many of the same issues in the genre. Despite this, it’s a solid mystery with compelling puzzles and imaginative sequences. What is it that makes CLeM so engrossing? What is it even about and what is up with that weird book? Find out in our CLeM review!
CLeM
Developer: Mango Protocol
Publisher: Mango Protocol
Platforms: Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (reviewed)
Release Date: February 6, 2024 / July 17, 2024 (PSN)
Price: $15.99
The story begins with a doll awakening to a little girl’s voice demanding that it brings her “beauty”, and the only lead to go off of is a mysterious book titled “CLeM”. What is beauty? How can I get it and what is it for? The CLeM book reveals a catalog of insects and arachnids that are associated with abstract concepts and “beauty”, which happens to be the butterfly.
CLeM follows a chapter-based structure where every episode, the animated-doll protagonist has to acquire a new bug for the creepy little girl in the study. Getting your mitts on a stag beetle in the middle of a suburb in the afternoon is a little more complex than grabbing your bug net and swinging it around. CLeM makes you work to get your bugs and it is a lot more complicated than you’d think.
The protagonist is a short and slow-moving doll brought to life through the power of alchemy. He can’t do much at first and through some surprising metroidvania-like elements he will be able to use magical items to expand his reach and perception in the mansion. He even gets a morphball-like ability where gamers will explore mazes and solve some physics-based puzzles.
Every piece of information discovered that seems like it would be unbearably obtuse is recorded in the CLeM book. The protagonist copies the important bits of information and includes his commentary as notes, which hints to the player.
It is possible to acquire important key items or clues that won’t be necessary until later chapters. This can be confusing since you will be stuck with some items that may mislead players before they are important.
There are several types of puzzles. There is a magical key minigame where you adjust the grooves of the key. Sometimes there are classic survival horror inventory item-dismantling and combining. Other times players will have to play specific keys on a piano or arrange books to form a symbol or fix some plumbing.
No matter what the puzzle is, all the clues to the answers will be in the CLeM book. Its importance to the gameplay and story is expertly synergized and the notes left by the doll give a peek into his personality since he can’t express much any other way. Though the house is big for a one-child family, it’s still a small game world but the main character does move slowly since he is a short and awkward doll.
In the options menu, it is possible to increase the movement speed for the little guy, but even at max speed, he still moves pretty slowly. It isn’t the worst issue with the game since fast traveling to the different floor signs throughout the house does help mitigate some tiresome backtracking.
Given how some of the puzzles are very cryptic, expect to wander around a bit before you realize what needs to be done. This also inevitably pads out the playtime of what is already a very short game that clocks in approximately two hours with aimless wandering and befuddlement factors.
One puzzle in particular that was especially challenging involved a firefly and a switchboard with lightbulbs. The idea is players not only must assemble the switchboard, but also figure out the sequence of flashing for the lightbulb. There are about a dozen switches and the sequence is specifically tied to the flashing of the fluttering firefly in the room.
Even when reading the CLeM tome, figuring out that the switchboard and firefly must synchronize is very obtuse. Getting the synchronization perfect also demands players to go in and back out of the puzzle screen constantly to get the timing right, making this puzzle not only overly cryptic but also tedious.
There are esoteric symbols that have meaning and the game requires players to recognize them and understand their significance. CLeM’s world may be small but it is packed with detail and areas that seemed like they were dead ends become opened passages in later chapters. After a while, the intimate setting stops feeling creepy and becomes almost comforting.
The art style is sharp and clean, almost resembling a mixture of Y2K-era flash animation and mall goth chic. It’s the kind of aesthetic you might encounter in a Hot Topic in the mid-2000s when Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Lenore were all the rage. The animation for the doll-guy is fluid and is drawn from many angles which helps give him the illusion of volume.
The music is sparse and relies on an ambient looping track that has an admittedly haunting melody that changes as the chapters progress. There is only one voice actor and it of the little girl who gives the commands to the doll guy. She is a real little girl and delivers a convincing performance which is rare for child actors.
CLeM doesn’t have much replay value since the story is very simple and short, but it does at least have two endings. The “good” ending is pretty sad and heartfelt, but the “bad” ending is more entertaining and more satisfying. Either of the endings can be acquired until the last puzzle, so it is easy to see both.
Some plot developments are introduced and are not paid off or fully explained. Toward the end, the story introduces the concept of multiple doll guys and you even see one of them briefly and then never again. It is a significant development that goes nowhere and its purpose is questionable.
CLeM is an enjoyable mystery adventure game that incorporates some metroidvania elements with great success. It would have benefitted if the game was a bit longer to flesh out some of the late story components and maybe a redesign of that tiresome firefly puzzle. At the very least, it has the easiest platinum trophy I acquired and I never actively seek any trophies/achievements.
CLeM was reviewed on a PlayStation 5 using a code provided by Mango Protocol. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. CLeM is now available for PC (via Steam), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.
