Ether One is a first person adventure that deals with the fragility of the human mind. There are two paths in the world you can choose from. At its core is a story exploration path free from puzzles where you can unfold the story at your own pace. There is also a deeper, more adventurous path in which you can complete complex puzzles to restore life changing events of the patients history in order to help the validation of their life. The choice is left to you. Welcome to Pinwheel. The aim of the parallel paths was to make Ether One accessible to a range of skilled players. The hope was that people would be able to enjoy playing the game and solving puzzles with parents or friends, as well as immersed in the game on your own with the lights off. From a young age we enjoyed the first person puzzle games that required you to write cryptic notes on spare pieces of paper to unravel mysteries. Ether One aims to bring back pen and paper puzzle solving, whilst still being accessible and optional for people not wanting to get stuck and frustrated on the harder puzzles.
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For some reason, practically all puzzles are optional - in fact, you only need to solve a single one and just walk through the locations to finish the game. In fact-fact, you can skip an entire huge level out of the four available ones, so I guess you can have a pure cut-down walking simulator experience, but I wouldn't recommend it just for that. Both the inventory and clue saving systems are a bit whacky, so you better grab a notebook. There are also a couple of annoying puzzle bugs, so be prepared for the recurring 'Am I too bad at this or is it a bug?' meta game.
You might like this game if you liked the following (or vice versa!):
- Kona: A lone detective investigating a town's story during a supernatural blizzard - not as much puzzling, but more horror.
- The Occupation: A much more intricate world, a whole load of interactions and all of it in real-time. Made by the same devs.