Close To The Sun

The great engineering masterpiece, place where remarkable individuals could live and work far from mundane problems of normal people and limiting governments. But something went wrong. Sounds familiar, right? This narrative adventure/horror game (definitely not walking sim as it has some simple puzzles and chase sequences) has somewhat similar premise and art style but much simpler gameplay and the story isn't so good. Puzzles (mainly find a note with a door code or figure out safe code) are simple and won't stop your progress. Chase sequences can be annoying. If you turn wrong way, running from enemy, it's really game over. One or two are a bit tricky. I don't regret I've played it, but I don't think I'll ever get back to the game. Maybe if there'll be a sequel, just to remember plot, as the end is open (maybe even a little cliffhanger). Anyways, it's this kind of game you should buy on sale rather than for a full price.

All the locations are beautifully designed and you have first-person freedom to move around in them. But there isn't enough interesting interaction in the game. There are many rooms where you have nothing to do but reading a couple of notes or pulling a lever. Some action moments, like running away from the enemy, break the monotony but not much. The plot is the same old same old scientific-experiments-gone-awry type. This game belongs in the adventure genre, where the goal is usually storytelling first and gameplay second; but the bane of this genre is usually the lack of interesting gameplay.

This could have been much more. Graphics are really stunning. It feels pretty much "Bioshock"-esque. It game me a few goosebumps without really showing much. I do not want to spoil people too much but this game really lacks a few hours polishing those "getting chased" sequences. For me it was not the fact that it has this stupid progress systems which makes you replay a good portion of the chapter if you decide to stop gaming at the wrong point or the fact that you can hardly defend yourself: It simply was the repeatetion of your own death triggered by the fact you chosen the wrong path during running away. Excuse me: I am used to play fast 1st person shooters such as UT, Overwatch and the alike. Thus I do not want to feel like a granny in a wheelchair when being hunted by a nuts guy with a big knife. Also the puzzle system is somewhat screwed up. Example: You find an entry which is blocked by electrified cables. You also see those cables running up to a higher level. But you are not allowed to enter the room unless you found the matching information in a specific order.

It's fine, really. It really hopes you haven't played Bioshock or the modern Prey because it is more or less this in spirit but without any combat. There are also some technical things lacking, like no rebindable keys, all environmental things like climbing and shimmying etc. are done via context button pushes - which probably speaks to the developers inexperience. What's positive? Well. The story is... fine. Not great, but works well enough. The characters are perfectly fine, especially the protagonist, but nothing special either. The simple puzzles break up the exploration and are simple enough. The sound design and voice acting is good, most of the visuals are there as well, making the ship come alive. Exploring the damaged hulk feels rewarding and suspenseful, though some of the pathing is a bit annoying - again probably inexperience showing. If you want a combat-less exploration game in a very pretty dieselpunk setting, give this a go. Just be mindful that it's pretty rough in places.

To be fair, the graphics are cool. The story is cool. I really enjoy the game. Sort of. The speed of your character is just too slow. I'm getting cramps holding down the shift key and hoping it will make me run. It sort of makes you go about 5% faster. This is maddening. I am about 4 chapters in and I'm going to finish for the art. But I can't recomend this at full price. I got this as a givaway on Amazon Prime Games. I'm very sorry to say that even though the atmosphere is cool. The best part about this game seems to be it's short length. You can knock this out in an afternoon or two.