InFlux

Influx is the video game equivalent of walking on the beach and collecting seashells. It's simple and relaxing. Other reviews explain the point of the game. If you're in the mood for excitement, this will bore you. However, I was in the mood for a peaceful game, so I'm glad I bought this. Why 3/5 stars then? It's a resource hog. The game is pretty, but it doesn't merit how sluggish my system ran. I can run other newer Unreal engine games just fine at 1080p. I had to drop this game down to 720p and even then there were intermitent pauses in gameplay and audio while things loaded. So, in short, the game is relaxing and nice, but the slow downs and pauses can get annoying (and my PC far exceeds the minimum system reqs).

Influx taps into the likes of Rock of Ages and Portal with an almost surreal puzzle game based on physics and gravity. You play as a ball (similar to the boulder from Rock of Ages) and make your way through a combination of open world landscape based puzzles and controlled environments, with a familiar blue and orange colour scheme. The puzzles themselves are often challenging and will require some lateral thinking to get through. Your ball has the ability to perform gravitational maneuvers on other objects in the environement, including the ability to attract or repel objects. Influx is an engaging, artistic puzzler that is well worth your time.

I've always been a big fan of ball rolling games. From classics like Marble Madness and Spindizzy to more modern takes like Ballance and Switchball, there's always been something enjoyable and mesmerizing for me about them. Influx is no less enjoyable in the mechanics of play, the graphics are gorgeous if a bit static at times, the sound and music is great, and the puzzles are fairly simple but at times frustrating if you make a wrong move. Where it tends to fall down is in three areas: First, you cannot arbitrarily save your game. You have to complete an entire pack of puzzles before your progress gets saved. This is inexcusable on a platform where saving progress is trivial. At the very least your progress should be saved after each completed puzzle. Second, there seem to be a lot of places that would be considered hidden or at least out-of-the-way that usually have blue spheres, yet there appears to be no compelling reason to visit them other than to see the sights. The extra spheres gain you nothing. Finally, the game is a bit buggy. A couple of times now I've used the boost function to try and ramp up inside a puzzle right against a ramp or wall only to be propelled through the wall into a small section where the only way out is to trip the bug again to clip back through. It's a great game but its potential is marred by lack of arbitrary (or at least post-single-puzzle) saving, no reward for exploration, and a nasty clipping bug.

i just did 3 houses. so it is really 2 phases cycle "exploration" (go straight ahead, almost useless to wander) "puzzle" a bit slow, and i don't like the way they handle puzzles. you are a ball, you can do 3 things attract interactable items, or repulse them. and then switch buttons (usually rotates gravity like in prey (2006). graphic are ok to nice, but, it's empty, and you are a bright ball. It feels out of place. i really prefer ballance, but i realize i'm really not into that kind of game. But balance feels less "out of place", it's puzzles for a ball. Here, you could be a cube, a human, doesn't change. cannot say about the puzzle, the first 3 are easy (and sloow)