I wrote a really long and detailed review on this game, and then Steam blocked me from posting it for some reason. I still have it, actually. I'm gonna copy/paste it here.
I can't lie - I bought this because I like Gravity Rush.
But that detail aside, I also love puzzle games. And this sure is one. Etherborn is a very short game, it has only [spoiler] 4 levels [/spoiler], about 2 hours of gameplay (for the first playthrough) if you play through it at my leisurely pace; and a very... iffy story. If you asked me how I felt about the story, well... I'll tell you when I can make sense of it.
After every level, the narrator spits a few lines of exposition at you, most of which don't make much comprehensive sense. Something something humanity.. Something something fragility... I love a game about humanity and philosophy as much as, or probably more than, the next guy, but I couldn't comprehend this game's narrative for the life of me. Most of it is just surface level gibberish, it seems.
Thankfully I don't think this game is here to tell a life-changing story. The focus is much more on the puzzling. However this too, runs into problems. Multiple times in the puzzling I felt as though things were over complicated, and not in the way that puzzles are meant to be. This is particularly in the 3rd level, where you're liable to spend more time walking to the desired spots in the puzzle than figuring it out. Other annoyances include things like ledges being just too short to jump up to, forcing you to take a longer route to your desired location (Note that shortening the ledge would not damage the intended solution of the puzzle)
When they say 'New Game +', what they mean is 'we're turning the puzzle game into an easter egg hunt, shove your face into all the bushes, have fun!' This feels lazy. While I was originally thrilled at the concept of a puzzle game having an NG+ mode showcasing and making me find alternate solutions to old puzzles, the reality is that the only difference is the placement of the puzzle nodes, most of which feel either lazy or cheap.
Quick pros:
+Having a reticle indicating where the player will land is helpful, and a rare feature in platformers.
+New Game + in a puzzle game is a wonderful concept that I'd love to see more, even if I do think it underperformed here.
+Music is diverse by level, and even changes with the puzzle
+Some of the puzzle solutions in the base game are quite fun and inventive, makes you feel clever for finding the right path (or in some cases, FINALLY passing that barrier puzzle that took you what felt like ages)
Quick cons:
-Not having control over the camera can be very frustrating at times, since it could've saved me a lot of search time (NG+ actually capitalizes on your inability to control where you look at times)
-Cutscene skipping is inconsistent, and choosy with what you can and cannot skip.
-Having fall damage in a game like this seems like a very strange choice, especially since so many of the puzzles involve falling
-Dying on a ledge results in a soft lock that requires you to exit to the hub to fix.
-Gameplay oriented cutscenes (things like bridges being activated or level bits spawning/changing) get extremely repetitive, and frustrating on repeated attempts at puzzles. Having to sit frozen while watching these is no fun.
Overall, this is not a bad game at all, for as much as it annoyed me at times. I generally enjoyed my time with the puzzles, and learned to ignore the bizarre story beats whenever they came up. Despite its flaws, Etherborn does deliver on interesting game mechanics are visually appealing level design and aesthetics. I would give this game a C+, a good product. Check it out if the trailers look interesting.
I can't lie - I bought this because I like Gravity Rush.
But that detail aside, I also love puzzle games. And this sure is one. Etherborn is a very short game, it has only [spoiler] 4 levels [/spoiler], about 2 hours of gameplay (for the first playthrough) if you play through it at my leisurely pace; and a very... iffy story. If you asked me how I felt about the story, well... I'll tell you when I can make sense of it.
After every level, the narrator spits a few lines of exposition at you, most of which don't make much comprehensive sense. Something something humanity.. Something something fragility... I love a game about humanity and philosophy as much as, or probably more than, the next guy, but I couldn't comprehend this game's narrative for the life of me. Most of it is just surface level gibberish, it seems.
Thankfully I don't think this game is here to tell a life-changing story. The focus is much more on the puzzling. However this too, runs into problems. Multiple times in the puzzling I felt as though things were over complicated, and not in the way that puzzles are meant to be. This is particularly in the 3rd level, where you're liable to spend more time walking to the desired spots in the puzzle than figuring it out. Other annoyances include things like ledges being just too short to jump up to, forcing you to take a longer route to your desired location (Note that shortening the ledge would not damage the intended solution of the puzzle)
When they say 'New Game +', what they mean is 'we're turning the puzzle game into an easter egg hunt, shove your face into all the bushes, have fun!' This feels lazy. While I was originally thrilled at the concept of a puzzle game having an NG+ mode showcasing and making me find alternate solutions to old puzzles, the reality is that the only difference is the placement of the puzzle nodes, most of which feel either lazy or cheap.
Quick pros:
+Having a reticle indicating where the player will land is helpful, and a rare feature in platformers.
+New Game + in a puzzle game is a wonderful concept that I'd love to see more, even if I do think it underperformed here.
+Music is diverse by level, and even changes with the puzzle
+Some of the puzzle solutions in the base game are quite fun and inventive, makes you feel clever for finding the right path (or in some cases, FINALLY passing that barrier puzzle that took you what felt like ages)
Quick cons:
-Not having control over the camera can be very frustrating at times, since it could've saved me a lot of search time (NG+ actually capitalizes on your inability to control where you look at times)
-Cutscene skipping is inconsistent, and choosy with what you can and cannot skip.
-Having fall damage in a game like this seems like a very strange choice, especially since so many of the puzzles involve falling
-Dying on a ledge results in a soft lock that requires you to exit to the hub to fix.
-Gameplay oriented cutscenes (things like bridges being activated or level bits spawning/changing) get extremely repetitive, and frustrating on repeated attempts at puzzles. Having to sit frozen while watching these is no fun.
Overall, this is not a bad game at all, for as much as it annoyed me at times. I generally enjoyed my time with the puzzles, and learned to ignore the bizarre story beats whenever they came up. Despite its flaws, Etherborn does deliver on interesting game mechanics are visually appealing level design and aesthetics. I would give this game a C+, a good product. Check it out if the trailers look interesting.