Beautiful, Imaginative, and... Tedious
Fri Dec 11 2020 ProsilireThis is a hamster wheel game. It is perhaps the most beautiful hamster wheel ever created, sounds and haptics combined with the visuals are rich... it’s an amazing world. But there’s not much gameplay to speak of. Just keep walking. See stuff? Move toward it. Sometimes you roll toward it quickly. Most of the time I just flounder around not knowing what to do (or what I’m doing)... and yet I somehow still make progress... I just move toward where there is more “stuff” and... voila! Level completed! It’s not at all an “adventure,” as billed, more of the opposite... a numbing, mostly passive cinematic experience that unfolds in front of you as you walk. Nothing to be curious about or to do... no puzzle, or problem solving. Just move forward and the book (maybe the object of the game?) will write itself, usually inexplicably: it pops open unexpectedly and frequently. Did my fingers make an errant gesture? Did I stumble upon a page by accident? It doesn’t seem to matter. Just close the book and move forward. Stay on the hamster wheel.
Emotional, Heard, Seen
Sat Aug 14 2021 jessvaughn11I’m a writer and marketer by profession, so I’m normally good with my words. But this game leaves me speechless. “Game.” I use that loosely. I don’t see a game when I play this. I see … Therapy. Peace. I see myself. I got emotional in the first 30 minutes. A world of papers and memories and letters in the clouds with anchors of restlessness and uncertainty. Oh my gosh. The ability to interact with this world peacefully but also face ideas that weigh on my heart every day. “I chase a never of tomorrows knowing only a forever of todays.” I recently learned as an adult that I had ADHD, and so this particularly resonated with me, especially as it related to an anchor. I’m successful… and yet, “in time I grow weary.” Who made this game? Who so perfectly captured my mind, my heart. I dream in words and flight. Now I can hold my phone and show my husband “This is how I feel,” and have the perfect image and sounds to communicate the noise in my mind that I can’t otherwise seem to shape yet.
Thank you. 💜 Thank you for this.
I’m clueless, obviously...
Wed Feb 03 2021 Patsy WThis is a beautiful app when it opens. I don’t have a controller device. Am using an Apple Pencil. There are literally no instructions. It’s difficult to move through anything here without the page zooming too fast or hardly moving in the direction I thought I was moving in. Then a few pages in, there are nothing but big black blobs. Page after page of black blobs. Trying to go back, I can’t find what I’ve missed that might fill in or complete these pages in place of blobs. In the menu, there is no info as to how to proceed throughout the game, etc. Obviously, I’m clueless here and can’t figure out what the heck I’m supposed to do. And it’s so difficult to figure out how to get back to the initial “play” page where to enter into the game. While it’s beautiful I’m totally lost in this game. Not in real life! But here I’m owning it - I’m clueless about his game. ... so frustrating... but after multiple days and multiple hours spent trying to figure this out, I figured it wasn’t made for me... hope others have wonderful hours discovering beauty here. Wish I could...
Masterpieces, deep feels, creativity at its best.
Thu Jan 28 2021 Machine brainWhat a beautiful and unique game. Absolute masterpiece. Among mobile games this was a true standout both graphically symbolically and emotionally. It engages you like no other game and you can fill in the blanks of the game with your own experiences in life. It has a very emotional and deep message I think that can resonate with many people in the population, as its themes are universal. Excellent use of symbolism in the game, also well thought out landscapes for the theme and parts of the story. This game is a novel experience and should be played without distractions. I would rate it on the depth of feels that one would get from the likes of ICO, shadow of the colosseus , creatures are we, and journey/children of the sky. It’s not something that you will easily forget. This game is emotional and requires solitary play for complete engagement of your mind and emotions. Absolutely fantastic game.
Beautiful game
Wed Dec 29 2021 k∆ssI just started playing this and I must say, this is a near perfect game. It is extremely captivating, with hand drawn visuals tied in with enchanting sound. I found it a magical world, with something fun for any time. The flying game is a relaxing test of movement capabilities, and the original game is an amazing venture into the unknown. I do however have a few suggestions. First of all, I think that the way you move your screen to look around should be a little different. I would like to have an option to be able to drag my finger instead of having to hold it down. I would also love to see more crosshair options, and maybe also a way to jump, or some kind of elevation to climb on top of. Otherwise, I definitely recommend this game, and if you have Apple Arcade, there is no reason not to try it out.
Beautiful
Sat Oct 31 2020 eleanor314Though this may not be a traditional game, you get to build a beautiful story in a paper world. All over are little interactive elements, like cogs that spin when you look at them and play guitar strums, pinwheels that set off a Taptic feedback. This is a beautiful interactive world, and I can’t wait to fill my book with the lovely words that can be found. I mean, the writing is sublime and inspiring. Honestly I’m glad I found this game, as it is simple and sweet. Thank you creators for making this wonderful app.
One other thing that I really like is that there is different music for each area and event. It makes the game a lot more interactive and enjoyable.
The app runs fine on my phone- doesn’t heat it up like most other games do.
Extraordinary gaming experience
Wed Mar 24 2021 mjseikI'm not sure where to start with this review.
From the artwork to the animation, interaction, originality, and heart of the message, this felt like a mix of game play, exploration, and meditation. My mind was off.
I chose to simply follow whatever needed spinning, or what was moving or sparkling, beams in the distance, and of course, floating letters, and the game objectives reveal themselves organically.
This is an intuitive experience with no confusion as to how it's played, good on-screen direction (minimalism and good guidance are not easy to achieve) but not stifling or restricting, and a feast for the eyes. Yes, in grayscale.
The music, the words chosen, the animation, and everything in an expansive environment with dreamlike context, this game is absolutely worth playing and celebrating.
Thank you to all the creative and technical talent involved in making such a unique game, something very hard to come by.
Congratulations!
Really needs to get to the point quicker
Sat Oct 17 2020 El nacho cheeseI only played this game for about 10 minutes, and while the art style was distinctive and...interesting, it was literally just walking around collecting letters, of the physical paper kind and the literal alphabet kind. That seemed to be about it. Maybe there’s more to this game, but honestly I was so bored in the first 10 minutes that I had absolutely no desire to stick around and see what else there was. Even the title screen at the beginning that I assume is some sort of loading device makes you sit on it for 10 seconds or so with no indication that you can’t do anything. This game is literally slow, boring and unintuitive before you even start playing. I feel like I’m being generous giving it 2 stars, it’s pretty but it’s also pretty awful.
Kept looking…
Thu May 05 2022 LoveMelodioI don’t like giving up on things without putting in my due diligence, but this game made me want to cry. There were no tutorials, no directions and nothing made sense. The descriptors used to advertise the game were so amazing I couldn’t wait to see all “the beauty, losing myself in the art” etc., etc. I never got that far. I only crashed my flying dude about a hundred times in an embarrassing display.
Developers: we all weren’t born with a joystick in our hands, or a computer screen as entertainment. Video games were not always the main source of life for lots of people. Directions, tutorials, user-friendly game-play makes more sense than imagining we all know everything about games and how to play them. Frustration just makes us dump them for some that make sense to a normal person.
No directive
Fri May 28 2021 XotomiMaybe for someone who doesn’t overthink things this can be something to do. But for the rest of us that think in consecutive thought patterns this is nothing but sheer obscurity. Nothing opened up within anything already discovered. How hard can it be to add a little direction?
I actually got stuck, go figure, moving so close to the ground imagery that I literally had to figure out why all controls just disappeared and stopped working. After roaming aimlessly in circles a gate suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stuck in my visual field. I have no idea how or why it just left my control, and I couldn’t take it back up again to correctly place it where I can only assume it belongs. Now there is no option for moving forward?
Were you going for chaos?
