CLeM Review

In ancient times the tales of people summoning or controlling inanimate objects to do their bidding are famous. And it was in Jewish folklore where the notion of the Golem first arrived; a giant man made out of clay, activated with the word of god written down and placed in the creature’s mouth. Nowadays robots have become the modern-day equivalent. 

In CLeM, there is a little voodoo doll, not so far away in looks from Playstation’s Sackboy, working as our hero and the one you play. This is a dark adventure full of magic, mystery, and heart. So, let’s do our master’s bidding. 

CLeM feels like a point-and-click puzzle adventure that feels very fresh and unique. You play a little voodoo doll who at the start of the game is found in a basement, slumped against the wall. The words come across in a whisper – “Wake Up” – and the doll comes to life. There is a book with drawings and paintings that you look at to work out what your master requires you to action, with things playing out over multiple chapters, each with a theme like Strength or Hope. It’s when you look them up in a book with which they lead to animals, like a spider, snail or firefly. These are the things you need to find but it’s no easy task…

The story is full of strange darkness; at least to begin with. It has a mad scientist feel to it, with the role being taken by a small child. The world that the doll explores is the house and its gardens and here there are secrets, hints of a life lived. But in that darkness is a story of loss and despair, and then of hope. I found it all very warming by the end of the game. 

Gameplay is done via the typical point-and-click style. You collect items in your inventory and explore all the different areas and rooms. Some areas are not open to you to start with, and might require you to come back in a different chapter, but there are a myriad of puzzles to find and try to solve. Some are fine and dandy, while others are very tricky indeed. No matter, they range from the usual ‘get this item and use it with another’, to highly complex Morse code in conjunction with the pulsing of a firefly. And in your inventory, you can combine and separate items, to make a variety of things. 

As you progress in CLeM you gain different skills to help you on your track. There is something called The Lens of Truth, which enables you to scan documents or paintings to find hidden layers within them. You also get the ability to teleport to different rooms, flying across the map instantly. This is very handy after the first few chapters, stopping the need to run too much backtracking. There is a hat that can reveal the past, but also the chance to use the ability of a snail, rolling up into a shell like ball so you can scoot into tiny holes which then has its own puzzle mini game.

CLeM comes with a lovely art style. The locations feel like they have been ripped straight out of a storybook, what with their inventiveness and colour scheme. But it’s the details that are the secret to the game. The journal that you pick up is a beautiful, mystical encyclopaedia full of drawings and great descriptions, whilst the menus are easily navigated. The small cutscenes are very effective too. 

In terms of audio, the music of CLeM is also lovely, with a terrific score underplaying at all the right moments, building tension and empathy. It has a small bit of voice-over from the little girl too; when used, it works perfectly and is quite creepy. 

CLeM is an adventure that you should love, pretty much from beginning to end. However, you should be warned that some of the puzzles can be quite hard to fathom out. It’s good then that the ingenuity that has gone into this world and the character that it inhabits is high, very impressive and extremely clever. There is some great storytelling as well, told with minimal language. 

You should try CLem. Like the voodoo doll you control, it won’t let you down.