The game is atmospherically heavy, by which I mean two things: the entire narrative is very dependent on its atmosphere and it drowns you in its very weighty melancholy. As you play an AI, the visuals of the game are perfectly and inhumanly fit: you are not a human, you do not see like a human. Therefore, the world you (or rather, the person you guide) explore forever stays alien to you, you only get to know anything through meticulous descriptions that really allow your imagination to work. The soundtrack is very melancholic and I think it fits the themes of the game perfectly.
This is a very narrative focused game which makes you imagine an extensive in-game marine universe with rich environmental descriptions of the flora and fauna. The story itself is mainly told through occasional monologues and a few diary pages, which I found very depressing by the end of the game.
On the gameplay part though, the game is a bit lackluster. I think the ergonomy could seriously be improved. Having to constantly shift through the scan mode and travel mode is a pain and the worst is that you can't read descriptions, which are essential to enjoying the game, while in travel mode: this means that everytime you're in a dangerous situation where you need to move fast you have to stay still and waste your oxygen and outside of that is it also annoying because of the amount of time you spend watching your character moving without being able to do much. Fusing the scan and travel screens and having hovering text boxes would have been much better. The controls are also somewhat lackluster, I think it would have been better to simply click on things to travel rather than move the directional thing. I tried both keyboard and mouse and a gamepad, ultimately settling on the keyboard and mouse because I couldn't figure out how to use the shuttle menu with the gamepad.
The map being limited to such a small screen is also relatively annoying, in my opinion, as it really becomes a bother when revisiting areas. I don't think it would remove annoying to the unknown nature of your environment if the whole screen was used, they could simply use a fog of war instead. If these points were improved, the game would really be a great experience. Nonetheless, I still highly appreciated it.
This is a very narrative focused game which makes you imagine an extensive in-game marine universe with rich environmental descriptions of the flora and fauna. The story itself is mainly told through occasional monologues and a few diary pages, which I found very depressing by the end of the game.
On the gameplay part though, the game is a bit lackluster. I think the ergonomy could seriously be improved. Having to constantly shift through the scan mode and travel mode is a pain and the worst is that you can't read descriptions, which are essential to enjoying the game, while in travel mode: this means that everytime you're in a dangerous situation where you need to move fast you have to stay still and waste your oxygen and outside of that is it also annoying because of the amount of time you spend watching your character moving without being able to do much. Fusing the scan and travel screens and having hovering text boxes would have been much better. The controls are also somewhat lackluster, I think it would have been better to simply click on things to travel rather than move the directional thing. I tried both keyboard and mouse and a gamepad, ultimately settling on the keyboard and mouse because I couldn't figure out how to use the shuttle menu with the gamepad.
The map being limited to such a small screen is also relatively annoying, in my opinion, as it really becomes a bother when revisiting areas. I don't think it would remove annoying to the unknown nature of your environment if the whole screen was used, they could simply use a fog of war instead. If these points were improved, the game would really be a great experience. Nonetheless, I still highly appreciated it.