Claire a la Mode review

With its anime-style opening, snappy controls, and dessert-themed premise, Claire a la Mode is a delectable delicacy that shouldn’t be missed by platforming fans. Built on the foundations of 2022’s Curse Crackers: For Whom the Belle Toils, the title revisits Colorgrave’s appreciation of arcade sensibilities and portable hardware palettes. But this time out, a la Mode has been whipped into a recipe that’s tighter, faster, and infatuated with fluid movement.

Pleasingly, Claire a la Mode’s play mechanics are grounded in responsiveness. Acceleration is quick, there’s plenty of control while in the air, and attacks are quick enough to not break the game’s rhythm. Even falling into a chasm doesn’t feel overly punitive, with the camera whipping back to the start of the level with breakneck speed. Additionally, there’s a generous distribution of 1UPs scattered across the game’s stages.

Crème de la Crème Controls

Here, platforming favors momentum over pixel-perfect precision, challenging you to string together jumps, object tosses, and enemy interactions into the game’s flowing routes. Most stages are built so that they’re easily read and can be tackled at your own pace. As such, you’re not likely to be caught off guard by unexpected enemies and hazards. This approach makes the game feel welcoming to newcomers while still scaling to accommodate speedrunners and perfectionists who’ll need to grab every collectable and pop that last score-boosting balloon.

Character-specific abilities and pickups sit are built on these solid foundations and this is where Claire a la Mode truly differentiates itself from its predecessor. A roster of eight+ playables comes with unique strengths and signature skills, and these differences change how you make your way through levels or access well-hidden secrets. From the baked goods and occasionally bomb summoned as throwables by the game’s eponymous lead, Resolve’s piercing vertical jump, and Maddison’s multi-use bubbles, familiar stages can feel like refreshed puzzles when you shift leads.

A Sample Plate of Playables

Finishing a run as one character and immediately retrying with another emphasizes just how shrewdly the game is tuned around its move sets. Unlike Curse Crackers’ more singular focus on Belle’s whip-and-bell toolset, Claire a la Mode distributes variety across its ensemble, ensuring that characters don’t feel like a lazy reskins. And while there are unlockable playable palettes, this feels more like frosting on a delectable cake rather than any attempt to cut corners.

Best of all, the core physics and responsiveness remain consistent. Instead, differences in navigation are based on each character’s unique abilities, encouraging you to revisit stages to grab those elusive collectables. Pleasingly, a la Mode highlights key gatherables that haven’t been nabbed yet.

Chip Tune Confectionaries Meets Sweet Spritework

Enjoyably, the game’s aesthetics draw from both animation as well as retro gaming charm. Claire a la Mode’s intro refences an anime opening, kicking things off with a cheerful melody and energetic character montage. Concisely, the game maintains this upbeat vibe with a soundtrack that never stops pushing you forward with its chip-synth riffs. Visually, the world of Ledamra, from rival bakers with their own mini-games to its colossal, mid-level cakes is full of vibrant pixel-art, while details like menu transitions and cutscene snippets add to the energetic feel.

But a la Mode isn’t free of the occasional instance of sourness. The game’s low-fi, GBA-style fidelity doesn’t lend itself for text, so you’ll have to navigate the game’s main hub through trial, error, and some ambiguous iconography. While the controls are usually adept, sporadically I’d accidentally enter or exit sub-stages while trying to collect coins or confront enemies.

Make This Your Main Course

Claire a la Mode represents Colorgrave distilling its strengths into a concentrated, sugar-sweet platformer. With its taut mechanics and approachable platforming, the developers understand why people replay levels dozens of times. For anyone who has hopped off from punishing platformers but still craves speed, style, and replayability, Claire is the kind of sweat treat that’s well worth savoring.

Claire a la Mode was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.