Constance Review
It’s hard not to compare Constance to Hollow Knight and Silksong, but that’s OK.
Constance. Credit: Blue Backpack Games / Parco Games
Blue Backpack Games and Parco Games’ Constance is a 2D hand-drawn metroidvania that follows a paintbrush-wielding artist trapped in her own decaying inner world, transforming burnout and anxiety into platforming and combat challenges. Constance's psyche manifests as six non-linear interconnected biomes filled with symbolic enemies and characters representing internal and external struggles. The sparse but compelling narrative carries genuine emotional weight that’s rare in metroidvanias.
Constance. Credit: Blue Backpack Games / Parco Games
Combat and traversal revolve entirely around paint mechanics and feel great. Attack with your brush, transform into paint to slide up walls or under obstacles, dash through enemies, and more. You find abilities and buffs, known as Inspirations, through the game; not all can be equipped at once, providing a bit of a character-build system you can tailor to your playstyle. Using abilities consumes paint from your limited meter, and depletion causes you to become corrupted and leads to your abilities consuming health instead. This risk-reward system reflects the game’s themes: push yourself too hard, and you'll burn out.
I found the game more challenging than most metroidvanias I’ve played, though your mileage may vary. When you die, you’re given the choice to either return to your last save point or resume from the same room at the cost of facing more formidable enemies. It’s an interesting system that I don’t think I’ve seen before. Taking the latter option makes this pretty hard, but there are ways to mitigate it eventually.
Constance. Credit: Blue Backpack Games / Parco Games
The hand-drawn visuals shine throughout. Character animations flow beautifully, and designs are striking. Everything about this game’s look is highly polished, though I found one element frustrating. The map interface, while pretty, lacks detail and makes backtracking more confusing than it needs to be.
Constance succeeds through emotional ambition, a killer presentation, and mechanical polish, offering a meaningful, challenging journey through one artist's struggles that genre fans will enjoy. It’s difficult to avoid a comparison to Hollow Knight or Silksong, but with the level of polish on display, that’s not an issue for me.
Constance is available now on Steam. It will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch/Switch 2 at a later date.
Overall Score: 7/10
Played on: Steam Deck
