The first thing you notice about Murasaki Baby is the art style of the game. It looks like a drawing has come to life, putting a child in a world of nightmares and puzzles. Then you notice the main character, Baby, with a purple bow in her hair and a purple balloon she holds onto for comfort, but it’s not long before you realise that her face is upside down, with her mouth and eyes in the opposite positions to where they should be. It’s a character design that is minimal and striking at the same time.

She’s a helpless child and you have to guide her in a quest to find her mother, by holding her hand. That isn’t a metaphor in this case, as the way you move Baby is literally by touching her hand and dragging her to where you want her to go on the Vita’s touch screen. In fact, outside of just a single section of the game, you don’t use any of the buttons or the analogue sticks to control the action. Everything is done through the touch controls, and the console’s gyroscope.

For the most part these controls work very well and using the touchscreen to guide Baby is simple enough, pulling her along to her goals. You can pull her hand slowly so she walks at a slow pace and if you pull a bit harder she’ll resist a bit at first but soon run faster, but try and drag her along too fast and Baby will fall over. However, the screen can get a bit crowded as more actions are required, especially when needing to control both Baby and her balloon. The purple heart shaped balloon isn’t just a prop that floats there, but a life indicator for Baby. If that balloon pops then you’ll fail and be sent back to a checkpoint, though this system is rather generous.

The environment itself will have obstacles that will hinder Baby’s progress, with items and other characters both posing a threat to her balloon. Each section is a puzzle you have to complete in order to progress, by using the environment and by switching between different backgrounds. Every time a background is added you can scroll between them by swiping the rear touch pad. Tapping the pad activates that background’s power, with one producing powerful gusts while another shrinks Baby and others spread out through the game’s four worlds.

The worlds themselves have their own stories and characters who have struggles. Since there is no actual voice work, apart from Baby saying mummy now and again, you have to piece together what happened to each character with clues from the environment. In each world Baby runs into these situations and eventually solves the situation one way or another. In some cases you’ll have to hang lamps to push away the darkness Baby fears, and in others fend off creatures intent on popping the balloon, but these are generally quite simple to work out and you’ll be able to get through rather quickly.

In terms of design, Murasaki Baby looks hugely different to other games out there, and the way in which the backgrounds act as solutions for puzzles is very well implemented. The different colours complement the powers of the backgrounds and they look really nice. However you’ll have to have quite quick fingers in certain puzzles as you drag baby along, all the while swiping the back panel to solve a puzzle, and pulling the balloon down so it doesn’t get popped.

What can’t be ignored though is the length of the Murasaki Baby, which I managed to complete in about three hours, and that includes small breaks I had to make notes and have a snack. Once you complete the game there isn’t a real reason to go back, so it may be hard for some to justify the £7.99 price. There’s also a couple of design issues where it can sometimes be hard to make out Baby’s hand with darker backgrounds, leading to you swiping across the screen without her moving.

The atmosphere isn’t as creepy as I thought it would be when first starting, though you’ll often be surprised by what the game throws at you next. In terms of the soundtrack the music is good though not as memorable as the snippets of dialogue from an old TV show in one of the worlds, which to be fair does instil a bit of creepiness. The main song that does stand out comes at the end of the game and is titled Neeko, which was composed by Akira Yamaoka, of Silent Hill fame.

Murasaki Baby is certainly an intriguing game, but it just feels like it’s a bit too short. At the end there wasn’t that sense of satisfaction from completing it, but more of a surprise it was over so soon. I really like the art design of the title and the way all the elements of the game are used in the puzzles, as well as the focus on touch controls. Though it does offer a little bit of a challenge, it’s not a hard game by any means and once you complete it there really isn’t a reason to go back.

Overall Murasaki Baby is a bit of originality sprinkled with easy to medium puzzles, a short story you have to put together and enough content for a few hours of play. It’s up to you if you’re willing to part with £7.99 for that.

Score: 7/10