Like moths to a flame I keep feeling drawn to this game, despite it's many shortcomings and lack of deeper emotional narrative like it's obvious inspirations. Comparing it to those, it seems like Vane misses the point of games like ICO, Shadow of Colossus and Journey, but that doesn't mean it's without it's own merits, either.

You don't have to look far to see a game that's visually so stark and unique in it's ability to tear itself apart, that I found myself chuckling as I suddenly saw typical Z-fighting in this game servicing the art style, rather than ruin it. The distorted, synth-y sound design and music brings the whole aesthetic of this game together very nicely, and it's noteworthy how well both sound and visuals are tuned to each other. Thomas Lilja's work on the Soundtrack is playing on my sound system more than I like to admit.

I'm conflicted how I feel about the gameplay in the middle third of Vane, as it seems to muddle it's themes a little, but that could as well be intentional. My personal favorite moments have always been the desert in the beginning, and recently the ascension in the tower. I only recently found out that you could beat the other children in their race to each door, and found myself instantly connecting a few more dots to the picture this game seemingly wants to draw. On the flipside is rolling the ball around in the middle third. It's visually fascinating, yes, but also not very engaging in an either emotional, nor intellectual manner, though - like I said in the beginning - this might have also been intentional.

Calling Vane a "puzzle plattformer" or "walking simulator" would be both misleading or reductive, as it's undeniably something that tries to be itself first and foremost, without conforming to any kind of pre-defined genre. That, it's creative intent, the picture it tries to paint and the brilliant audiovisual realization make this more of a work of art to me than most other video games.

It's a shame then, that Vane get's slept on so much.