Hello everybody and welcome to a new game review. Today we’re looking at a game called Connie and the Essence of Chaos, released by a Finnish indie developer by the name of Ryemanni.
When we think of platformer mascots from the 1990s, there are a lot of characters we gravitate towards. Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Sonic the Hedgehog, Banjo and Kazooie, and the subject of today’s review, Rayman.
When I say Rayman is the subject of today’s review, that is of course based on a technicality, since this is obviously not an actual Rayman game, but a fan game that wears its Rayman inspiration on its sleeve. That should be obvious enough by the name of the creator, Ryemanni, who is actually the developer of Rayman Redemption, a modern reimagining of the original Rayman with a lot of modern touches and even entirely new levels. He has a long history of Rayman fan games, and this one is the next in that line.
Rayman recently had his 30th Anniversary Collection released (which still doesn’t have the original OST, disappointingly), and a remake of Rayman Legends was announced earlier this year. Now seems like as good a time as ever to look at this new fan game.
This one was actually on my wishlist for quite a while, and I bought it as soon as it was released. It’s not unusual for fan games of long-established IPs to become massive successes in their own rights. Look at what happened with Freedom Planet and its sequel. Could Connie and the Essence of Chaos be to Rayman what Freedom Planet is to Sonic? Let's find out!
Inspiration on its (Non-Existant) Sleeve
The bullets don't have hammers in them because they're not as technologically advanced.
In Connie and the Essence of Chaos, you control a character named Connie (go figure), who essentially looks like a female Rayman with white face paint on, accompanied by a spirit named Plum. The story is, much like the game it’s based on, incredibly simple. You adventure around a world called Cuisinia, and the big bad named Lucilate comes over and wrecks up the place. Now it’s up to Connie and Plum to put a stop to things.
When I said that Connie and the Essence of Chaos is a Rayman fan game, I mean that about as bluntly as that can be put. This game makes absolutely zero attempts to disguise the fact that it’s based off of Rayman 1. That bunny enemy in that picture above kinda reminds you of the hunter enemy from the first game, does it not?
Every little detail from the way Connie’s walking animation looks to the signposts ending each section of a stage, to the dance Connie does when you touch the sign. It’s all Rayman 1 through and through, and if you’ve played that game, you will instantly pick up on all of the little nods to it. The fact that you start with 3 hit points is obviously meant to be reminiscent of the first game too, although you can actually buy permanent upgrades for this.
To Ryemanni’s credit, he does remember to give Connie (both the character and the game) some distinct personality outside of being a Rayman clone. The most notable omission is that Connie does not possess one of Rayman’s signature abilities, which is his helicopter hair, and also she lacks the ability to hang onto ledges. Connie has the ability to throw her levitating fist away from her body just like Rayman, but unlike him, she can’t charge it up to throw it farther. Instead, she always throws it at the exact same distance, but trades the reach advantage for the ability to rapid fire.
Despite being modeled after a game for children, Connie and the Essence of Chaos was surprisingly more adult in theme than I was expecting. Characters sometimes swear, saying legitimate swear words instead of family-friendly versions of them. There’s a casino-themed world, where there are devils wearing gimp suits, and other devils holding whips as weapons. The implications there should hopefully be obvious.
Familiar to its benefit
We're already ripping off Rayman 1. Might as well rip of Rayman 3 too.
Of course, I should mention that when I say that this game is a Rayman clone, I say that in jest and not as a knock against it. Fan-games based on good titles often make for good games themselves, and ones that are easy to get into because of how derivative they are. Connie and the Essence of Chaos is easy to play because of how much influence there is from Rayman in there.
Not just the first title either. The game actually does a good job of differentiating itself from Rayman 1 by opting to use some systems from Rayman 3, temporarily granting the player a powerup (grappling onto surfaces, increased punching strength, and more), changing Connie’s costume while it’s active. These powerups are really fun to use and provide the game its own sense of character outside of its Rayman 1 influence.
And much like that game, Connie’s worlds are very whimsical and stray from reality. Cuisinia is a world that, as you can probably guess by the name, is about food. After the obligatory grassy first world, you get a world made out of fast food, a world made out of candy and soda (ala Candy Cheteau from Rayman 1), and a world inside a giant freezer.
While about half of Rayman 1 falls into this whimsical category, Connie and the Essence of Chaos fully leans into it all the way. Ryemanni got incredibly creative with the world themes, and the game has a lovely visual identity all of its own. Rayman 1 is one of the most beautiful looking PlayStation 1 games ever made (and it was a launch title, making that feat even more impressive), and I'm delighted to say that Connie and the Essence of Chaos managed to capture that.
Something entirely original is the ability to buy new cosmetic skins for Connie, although this feature doesn’t have as much prominence as you might expect. Once you get to the later levels of the game, powerups become much more common (and needed to get through the level), so you’ll see the skin you chose less and less as a result of this. Still, it’s good for those who love unlocking new costumes, and there’s one that’s just Rayman’s clothes.
Evolving Past its limbless roots
From easy grassworld to bloody murder. Truly the Rayman 1 experience.
How the game actually plays is the most important part of any platformer. You might be either thrilled or terrified to learn that Rayman 1’s infamously high difficulty is translated over to Connie and the Essence of Chaos. This game starts out fairly easy, but it does not take long until it becomes quite challenging. Still, there are a lot of concessions that this game makes in response to Rayman 1’s notoriety.
In fitting for modern games, you have unlimited lives and an assist mode to give you some extra health and longer invincibility time. Additionally, falling into a bottomless pit will merely cost a single health point and respawn you immediately where you fell, as opposed to losing a life and respawning at the checkpoint. So while the backbreaking challenge of the original game is sometimes present, you’re never far behind where you died, and you have the ability to upgrade your character. The only penalty to dying is that you lose 20 jelly beans if you die, but this can actually result in you gaining more instead of less of them since they will respawn.
Speaking of jelly beans, that’s basically your main collectable of the game. Their only real purpose it to be used to buy upgrades and cosmetics. You can also find nine giant jelly beans and six cages per level (another figment of Rayman 1 carried over here). Each level consists of three sections with three jelly beans and two cages, meaning that going back through previous levels to find what you missed is not as frustrating as it could’ve been.
How is controlling Connie though? For as notoriously difficult as Rayman 1 is, none of that difficulty comes from Rayman being hard to control or anything. In fact, it’s one of the snappiest and most responsive platformers out there, and that was perfectly translated here. Connie is very comfortable to play as. Her movement is fantastic, fun, and fluid. Ryemanni’s Rayman Designer days have certainly come into play as pretty much every inch of the level is explored.
All of the bosses in the game are quite fun too, and unlike most platformers, you can damage them at any time, so you’re encouraged to try to find opportunities to hit them as opposed to needing to wait for an opening. Just to be clear, I have no problem with bosses like that, but all of the agency is on you here. If you’re creative enough, you can find ways to beat the bosses more efficiently. Dodging their attacks and trying to find moments to get a good strike in is quite fun.
What is quite disappointing however is that the soundtrack is middle of the road. Rayman 1’s soundtrack is an iconic gem of the 1990s platformers. Any Rayman 1 player knows how special Harmony and Peaceful Peaks are. There are some pretty good tracks in there, but on the whole, it’s fairly unremarkable in comparison to the game it’s paying tribute to.
A victory for Rayman fans
I would certainly hope that this candy country has free dental.
My final criticism about Connie and the Essence of Chaos is a bit nitpicky. There were a few times where the level structure was slightly inconvenient. For example, in the freezer world are some sections where you need to grab a lantern to avoid freezing to death, but when you fall, you’ll drop the lantern and respawn where you fell, probably away from any sources of heat, so it’s effectively just an automatic, slow, painful death. There are also some obstacles that expect basically split-second reaction time or you'll get hit, so you're forced to have a hit ready there.
My overall experience with Connie and the Essence of Chaos is that it’s a fantastic fan project by someone who’s obviously very passionate about their game and the game it pays tribute to. I’d say it isn’t perfect, but then again, neither is Rayman 1. If you’re a fan of the limbless fella, this will be a delightful gem of a game to pick up. It feels like Rayman and plays like Rayman, but it also feels like its own thing and plays like its own thing.
Pros
Tight, snappy controls with good movement.
Easier to get into than its source material due to the lack of lives, generous checkpointing system, and upgrades to buy.
Graphically wonderful to look at, with lots of creative world designs.
Really fun powerups that help to deviate the game from its inspiration.
Cons
Fairly mediocre soundtrack (but it still has some great songs in there).
Occasionally questionable level design.
As of right now, the game is only available on either Steam or Itch.io. That might change later down the line. I played the Steam version for this review, though as far as I can tell, the only difference is that the Steam version has achievements whereas the Itch.io version does not.
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