If you're looking to play this game and you just started your journey reading reviews or looking for recommendations, I suggest you be very careful how many sources you read or watch before you begin. So I'll be very careful to not spoil anything for you.
This is a game you can only ever play once. Many games send you on a narrative story with a beginning middle and end. You get more powerful abilities or items and use those to confront your next challenge. You will not unlock new abilities, you will not get new gear, you will not talk to an NPC that magically opens the path forward for you. The way you progress in this game is by how much you understand about the universe you're playing in, how well you understand the events that transpired before the game begins, and simply knowing is enough to spoil massive revelations you have. I played this game at release and I will likely always know how to beat the game within minutes of starting a new save file. I will never forget therefore I'll never be able to truly play this game ever again.
At the very base level, this is a space exploration puzzle game with "realistic" physics. Actually navigating space will be a pain in the ass at first, you will die, a lot. The solar system is very unforgiving to all your squishy parts. But every time you die, there will likely be something you could have learned if you're paying attention. And that piece of knowledge will hopefully lead you to one more bread crumb that will get you to the its emotional ending. It's the kind of game you just quietly think about for days afterwards, as if you have a feeling that you've lost something you can never get back.
The music is ungodly good. I played this game 4 years ago and still find myself humming or whistling the tunes from it. There are a few musical elements that hit at specific story points that are extremely powerful. The atmosphere (heh space puns) is lonely but full of wonder. Each major environment is extremely unique and memorable with their own gameplay elements that may be a mystery at first but once solved were right in front of your eyes the whole time.
At the core, this game hands a ball of yarn. You slowly pull the end and watch it unravel, seeing more of the unwound string as you go. The yarn becomes less tangled, you begin seeing the end and the pieces falling into place. You'll feel satisfied at your journey and what you accomplished and how far you've come, but you'll never be able to bundle that cord up in the same exact way again, you'll always know what it looks like unraveled and that's why this game is so beautiful.
This is a game you can only ever play once. Many games send you on a narrative story with a beginning middle and end. You get more powerful abilities or items and use those to confront your next challenge. You will not unlock new abilities, you will not get new gear, you will not talk to an NPC that magically opens the path forward for you. The way you progress in this game is by how much you understand about the universe you're playing in, how well you understand the events that transpired before the game begins, and simply knowing is enough to spoil massive revelations you have. I played this game at release and I will likely always know how to beat the game within minutes of starting a new save file. I will never forget therefore I'll never be able to truly play this game ever again.
At the very base level, this is a space exploration puzzle game with "realistic" physics. Actually navigating space will be a pain in the ass at first, you will die, a lot. The solar system is very unforgiving to all your squishy parts. But every time you die, there will likely be something you could have learned if you're paying attention. And that piece of knowledge will hopefully lead you to one more bread crumb that will get you to the its emotional ending. It's the kind of game you just quietly think about for days afterwards, as if you have a feeling that you've lost something you can never get back.
The music is ungodly good. I played this game 4 years ago and still find myself humming or whistling the tunes from it. There are a few musical elements that hit at specific story points that are extremely powerful. The atmosphere (heh space puns) is lonely but full of wonder. Each major environment is extremely unique and memorable with their own gameplay elements that may be a mystery at first but once solved were right in front of your eyes the whole time.
At the core, this game hands a ball of yarn. You slowly pull the end and watch it unravel, seeing more of the unwound string as you go. The yarn becomes less tangled, you begin seeing the end and the pieces falling into place. You'll feel satisfied at your journey and what you accomplished and how far you've come, but you'll never be able to bundle that cord up in the same exact way again, you'll always know what it looks like unraveled and that's why this game is so beautiful.