Safety has been quite the topic since… well, since mankind figured out how to communicate, really. We didn’t live in caves because of the scenery after all, and quite frankly, it’s still an issue today. Oh, and then there are events we’d like to forget, only our minds won’t let us. Such is also the case for To the Core Again‘s protagonist, and he/she chooses to deal by way of a mirrored dimension.
Personally, I’d love to be able to leap between dimensions to escape the world, if only momentarily, every so often. But as this game reminded me of whenever I’d do that while playing, that kind of thing rarely works as intended. Heck, in To the Core Again, it’s really bad, the aforementioned mirrored dimension being home to its protagonist’s repressed memories, fears, and other nasty mental imagery. Only here, they’re very real, taking physical form.
Needless to say, it’s in the player’s best interest to avoid making contact with these, which usually involves some slightly wonky platforming and, of course, dimension-hopping. See, the two – mirrored and normal – are ever so slightly different, areas inaccessible in one easily leapt to in the other – and other fun things. Switching between them is immediate, however, and with less visual impact than I expected (aside from the change of scenery).
Wonky platforming and oddly ‘clean’ dimension shifting aside, it’s an undeniably interesting platformer, featuring more than a few little twists and puzzling imagery (read: memories). I didn’t play long enough to figure out what most of it meant or… actually… what any of it meant, come to think of it. But my time spent with To the Core Again certainly left an impression and a positive one at that. Such a peculiar experience.
To the Core Again is available for free from itch.io.
