Viaerium

⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠿⠟⠛⠛⠛⠻⠿⠟⠛⠛⠛⠻⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡿⠟⠛⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠈⠉⠛⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⠇⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠈⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣆⡀⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⢹⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⡤⠄⣠⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣄⡀⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⢸⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡆⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⣸⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡀⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢟⣫⣭⣿⣿⠃⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⢠⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄⠩⢿⠯⣓⠛⣻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣄⣀⠐⠄⠄⠄⠄⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠦⠄⣰⡒⠶⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⣿⣿⣭⣤⠄⠄⢀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣁⣀⡉⠁⠤⠄⠒⠛⠛⢋⣉⣵⣾⣿⣿⣿⡇⢠⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣯⡀⢲⣶⣶⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠸⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣶⣶⣾⡿⠋⠉⠄⠄⠉⠛⠛⠉⠉⠄⠄⠄⠈⢹⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⢠⡄⢀⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⢸⡇⢸⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⢀⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⣸⡇⢸⣿⣿⣿

Well, that was entirely unexpected. I love giving indie games a chance, and I love it more when they actually effect me in some way. Let it be said that I am notoriously stingy about paying for video games, and almost always say to buy on sale, and I generally advise to buy on sale- but this game has some real charm from a small dev, I recommend buying at full price, though to be fair I got it on sale. I always get nervous when I see "Powered by Unity" at the opening of a game- I've played some real shovelware trash in my time. But Unity is a resource for people, and it's a great way for people to get started in the art. I had my expectations set fairly low- but this game proceeded to blow them away. The design is very simple but the execution has some real heart. The soundtrack in particular is spectacular- and the game triggers it well. The actual philosophy embedded in the game is so-so and not so different from any self help schlock you'll find around, but the sincerity in which it is preached is strangely ameliorating. This game is a fantastic demo from a promising dev, and I wish them the very best.

A short journey for those troubled. Enjoy

30 minutes of simple but competent platforming + collecting gameplay. The platforming is easy, and the very occasional puzzle requires actual thought but usually is solvable with about 5 seconds of thinking. This is actually kind of impressive, since many game "puzzles" are blindingly obvious and just require going through the motions you've practiced in a thousand other games (sliding block puzzles and the like). This game has none of that; the puzzles are fresh, even if they are easy. I wish there had been a lot more of them. The collectables are super easy to find, and each comes with some kind of vapid philosophical flavor text that's best ignored. They don't seem to be required to progress and don't really add much to the game. The graphics are minimal to a fault but the architecture makes up for it. Unfortunately, more focus was put into making the structures aesthetically repetitive in a brutalist kind of way then on what would make a fun game level, and several of the levels involve repeating the same thing 4-6 times, which means duplicating the same gameplay that number of times, too. For a game that's 30 minutes long that's nearly fatal. The music is nice, though. A technical issue: the game is meant to be played with keyboard and mouse and a gamepad isn't properly supported out of the box (but enabling steam input to emulate mouse + wasd fixed this well enough). There's only one action button required (jump), and nothing requires highly refined reflexes so it's very friendly to disabled players like myself. I paid less than a dollar for it and I'm not sure it was really worth that, but I did enjoy the 30 minutes of game play so I'm not asking for a refund. If I had paid more than a dollar (list: $3!) I'd be more inclined to get my money back. I'm marking it as recommended, but only at significant discount.

I got it on a mega sale; not bad, the random philosophies are interesting. it feels like a comp sci students midterm assignment; there not a lot here

Nice