‘The Majesty of Colors’: Unlike the Water, This Game Isn’t Deep

So often, we need games to be hectic. Flashy visuals, a soaring soundtrack, frantic gameplay, and a story that refuses to let go of you. The Majesty of Colors proves you don’t need all that to keep you onboard until the ride is finished.

The Majesty of Colors started as a pet project for designer Gregory Avery-Weir, who first released the original game in 2008. After winning awards on Newgrounds and enjoying a sponsorship from Kongegrate, the game fell into obscurity. Recently, Avery-Weir sought to rekindle the game and remastered it, building it all over from the ground up.

You play a three-eyed, one tentacled monster who lives under the sea in a dark and colorless world. That is until you grab a floating balloon and bring it down to your red, submerged eyes. At this point, the limited world opens up and you are free to interact with each “scene” as it comes before you. Do you let the seadoo go, or drag the rider to the depths? Each action has a consequence, and playing through the game and toying around with each scene is the only way to discover them all.

The game operates on a simple premise: interact. As the three-eyed, one tentacled monster, your goal is to learn about the world above the water. Clicking and holding on an object will grab it and releasing the object will let it go, physics and all. Beyond that, there’s not a lot to it. The consequences of your actions unfold rather quickly and depending on how you’re playing the game, you’ll need to adapt quickly to the new relationship you’ve created.

Majesty of Colors has a very fun pixelated look: from the sprites themselves, right down to the font, everything is built from pixels. However, there is heart and attention built into the pixel art and nothing is ever confusing as to what it is supposed to be. The text at the top of the screen does help a lot in this regard, however, as it gives you a bit of a narrative about the next scene.

But even within the quieter segments, the advancement of the scene relies heavily on the player, as there is peace to enjoy at your own pace. It’s nice to watch the waves crash over each other on top of the water as the balloons plod slowly across the sky. There’s also a certain magic to watch a pixelated character fly across the screen as you fling them into the abyss.

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot in the way of sound. Apart from the sounds of motors, a few explosions, and the waves on the title screen, there’s nothing else, not even background music. The argument could be made that the minimalist feel leaves you feeling isolated, much as the creature does. But as a player, it feels empty. There’s nothing to fill in the spaces.

Pros

• Interesting presentation of themes
• Unique concept

Cons

• No background music
• Very short playthroughs