VHOLUME

maybe in the conversation for game of the year? this game is truly incredible. among the best games that lock you into an intense flow state in recent memory. the movement is unbelievably satisfying. it is tuned with such peerless precision to be very easy to pick up and play while maintaining tremendous room for improvement and expression. the toolbox given to you is simple: running, jumping, sliding, and wallrunning - but the game respects a high degree of granularity in your inputs - the direction, speed, and angle of impact of one wall bounce/jump can influence the subsequent route micro-decisions afforded to you. if that sounds intimidating, don’t worry, the levels are crafted to cater to a wide range of skill levels. you can play with your friends, join a public lobby, and/or pick a ghost on a given level’s global leaderboard to follow through the level and see their route (or try to beat them) like in mario kart. if you desire extrinsic motivation, levels have bronze, silver, and gold times for you to beat. the levels themselves are breathtaking and immense-feeling brutalist megastructures. they ooze atmosphere, and are complimented tastefully by the ambient soundtrack by 1000 eyes and konstantin schimanowski. there is a healthy variety of color palettes and environments to keep things fresh, and the visual form of the courses is never at the expense of their gameplay function. levels reward creativity and precision in the pursuit of their optimization, and the best route might require some out of the box thinking (there are no invisible walls, so some level records literally involve going outside the box) there is a story, and it is by no means front and center. its expression in game is oblique and abstract. the story explanation on the steam page explains more than i had been able to gather playing through, although there are NPCs who will (cryptically) provide more color and context to the world. far from a negative, the setup of a bureaucratic odyssey being opaque and unsatisfying finds great purchase amidst the lonely, overwhelming architecture. if you enjoy movement games, this one is superb. for fans of mirrors edge, csgo surfing, neon white