OK, decent indie with a pretty but heavy theme. Climbing is fun and reminds of Grow Up/ Grow Home but less frustrating (mostly). And that is about all the positives.
It's supposed to be played more linearily than I thought based on how it presents itself. The game is essentially comprised of a few more "open" areas that are supposed to be explored for lore connected through stretches of climbs that are extremely linear.
The problem for me was that both the climbing and exploration parts look much more open than they actually are.
Areas look like whole villages but if you break it down it's really just a hallway with a few rooms to the sides that may have a note in it that you won't read anyway.
That being said, just like with most games it makes no effort in trying to get the player to read in a clever way, instead the reading completely breaks the game's flow. Especially since most logs are abundantly located within the walkable areas.
The climbing itself is fun and it episodically implements a few minor mechanics to it. However... the linearity of the climbing parts takes away from the fun of 'trying to find the way' which the game's vision seemed to be. Because of this it's less of a climbing game and more of a walking simulator... just a vertical one.
The visuals are its strongest point. In this regard I have nothing to complain. Pretty looking indie title although nothing experimental. Drew me in to play in the first place.
The story is.. okay? Because it's half told through the logs which it makes not much effort to have them read, it feels lackluster. Enough is explained visually through theme and cutscenes that you can piece together the basic lore but it's a little of a cliché without much of a twist to the 'explore the post apocalyptic world and maybe save it too' genre. It still portrays hardship, death and the struggles of civilisations and communities in a touching way which is definitely something I salute this game for but it can't save the game as a whole.
In this state I can't give it more than half because that's what it does itself.
It's supposed to be played more linearily than I thought based on how it presents itself. The game is essentially comprised of a few more "open" areas that are supposed to be explored for lore connected through stretches of climbs that are extremely linear.
The problem for me was that both the climbing and exploration parts look much more open than they actually are.
Areas look like whole villages but if you break it down it's really just a hallway with a few rooms to the sides that may have a note in it that you won't read anyway.
That being said, just like with most games it makes no effort in trying to get the player to read in a clever way, instead the reading completely breaks the game's flow. Especially since most logs are abundantly located within the walkable areas.
The climbing itself is fun and it episodically implements a few minor mechanics to it. However... the linearity of the climbing parts takes away from the fun of 'trying to find the way' which the game's vision seemed to be. Because of this it's less of a climbing game and more of a walking simulator... just a vertical one.
The visuals are its strongest point. In this regard I have nothing to complain. Pretty looking indie title although nothing experimental. Drew me in to play in the first place.
The story is.. okay? Because it's half told through the logs which it makes not much effort to have them read, it feels lackluster. Enough is explained visually through theme and cutscenes that you can piece together the basic lore but it's a little of a cliché without much of a twist to the 'explore the post apocalyptic world and maybe save it too' genre. It still portrays hardship, death and the struggles of civilisations and communities in a touching way which is definitely something I salute this game for but it can't save the game as a whole.
In this state I can't give it more than half because that's what it does itself.