Asterism

Asterism is a truly unique experience, it's handcrafted visuals make every level feel unique and the music and gameplay of each place we visit pulls you into its own world.

The mystery at the heart of the game will hook you in from the start and forms the core of a beautiful story.

If you like science fiction, cool art and great music you owe it to yourself to play Asterism

Asterism reminds me of an art CD-ROM from the 1990s, when CD-ROMs were considered “new media” and had their own section in book and software outlets – and if it had been released as such, would probably have gotten critical attention as a “significant new form.” It’s not exactly a game (although I’ve given up trying to define what is and isn’t a game). The Scottish developer, Claire Morwood, calls it “a playable indie-rock concept album set in outer space.”

You play as Ruby, a scientist based in a lab on the sun in a solar system that is obviously not ours. Having spent years trying to decipher curious signals from planets within the system, she decides that she needs to visit each of them to learn more. So she embarks on her space ship, the Solar Flare, to do just that.

Each planetary visit unlocks an alt-rock song, quite well done, but mostly fairly surreal in terms of lyrics (though one obviously refers to Brexit, and not in a happy way). The visuals – created by Morwood – are trippy and diverse, using claymation, drawn images, crochet, CGI, origami, photography and video – very diverse in terms of the media it utilizes. In essence, each planet offers a music video that references and dovetails with the theme of the song, but each one is very different from the others, and the graphics are at least as surreal as the music.
Screenshot for Asterism 1
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Between each planet, there are messages from others from your home-base solar lab that advance the story; but really, this is about the music and the visuals that accompany the music, with narrative on the side. There are minigames in most sequences, often involving navigation through the music video landscape. One is a kind of no-risk shmup, another a rhythm game – but they’re fairly irrelevant in a way, permitting a degree of videogame-style interaction. You can, if you wish, totally ignore them and progress without engaging with them, simply listening to the music and observing the graphics. (Although there are some achievements for successfully completing the minigames). I often treated them as distractions, wanting to read the subtitles for the lyrics more than caring about whether I flew through the next hoop in the visuals, or hit the right buttons in the rhythm game.

At the end of each song/level, you have a story bit, then “decode” the music to produce a painted image, and dispatch both the song and image to your home lab, then look through surrounding space to find the next planet to engage with.
Screenshot for Asterism 2
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This is clearly Morwood’s vision and passion, though some others are credited; she wrote and performed the songs, and created the visuals, often with analog media like drawn art, clay models, and crochet. It’s a unique, and uniquely strange experience, and I don’t think “significant new form” is an exaggeration. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever encountered or played before, and I think that’s a good thing.

That being said, if you’re looking for AAA graphics or a compelling narrative experience, look elsewhere; but if you’re looking for true innovation in indie games and an amazing personal passion project, this is pretty fantastic. I look to indie games for innovation, and am quite often disappointed; I don’t need to play another survival game or deck-building battler, thanks. Asterism is barely a game, but innovative for sure, and well worth your time if you’re willing to engage with an entrancingly dynamic art project.

(Cross posted from my review here: https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/asterism)

What a very brilliant and lovely thing this is. A pure indie game through and through. It’s structured as an indie-rock space opera album: each planet a new song, and a vibrant new art style. Each of the planets you visit are essentially playable music videos, which, taken together, tell an engaging story that ends rather brilliantly. The handcrafted, mixed media art styles are all are incredibly tactile and beautifully messy. The world is surprisingly immersive; surprising because you can see the creator’s hand in everything (sometimes you can literally see their fingerprints in some of the models). It’s like you’re sharing in their delight in the creative process, while simultaneously losing yourself in the fictional world. This is quite an artistic feat. The main story is light on traditional gameplay elements, but the interactivity of the music and movement kept me fully engaged, and there’s some more ‘gamey’ elements on offer if you’re a trophy seeker. All the songs work wonderfully-well in tandem with the visuals. It seems that the solo dev did most of the art, music (including performing all the songs), programming and writing for the game. It’s quite an achievement. This is such a charming, inventive and original game.

Very, very avant-garde. Not for anyone expecting a conventional game. But it's a very beautiful, weird, sophisticated experience. The songs are haunting, the visuals a throwback to the early 90s, and the whole thing is quite unlike anything else you've played.

SSOOOOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Multi-media bliss

Asterism is awesome! Every song and level is unique and each new art style and little mechanic for each one was such a nice surprise. Sometimes you feel like you're helping direct a music video the way you're moving the camera and the player character. The minimal, chill gameplay helps it to be super immersive just taking in the music, the vibes and the story, and also all of the irl handcrafted assets that look so cool. After the first playthrough it's a fun different experience to go back and focus on the achievements. The songs are beautifully introspective, honest, and poetic, and a few really catchy ones! Some upbeat and some more intense. It's such a varied game in so many ways. I haven't really played a game like it before, it's really unique. I loved it :)!

Love everything about this game, the mix of all the different visual styles. The music is nice as well. Yeah it's good :)

This is a lot more of an interactive art experience than a typical game. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but you definitely shouldn't go into it with the hopes of getting some epic gaming or whatnot. There is no fail condition, and while there are some secret objectives it's mainly you and the art. And it doesn't need to be anything more.

Beautiful claymation and love the way it all fits with the music.

A lovely, thought provoking experience that feels like you're playing an interactive album for the most part. Going through several mini-games with unique art styles and gameplay mechanics, you experience an immersion with the music that's being played. Whilst throughout there's a story about isolation and self-discovery playing in the background.

It looks lovely, with the variations of visuals ranging from traditional handdrawn animation to plasticine model work to cut-out paper to full motion video.

The gameplay is minimal, but it doesn't overshadow the main spectacle of the visuals and the music. The music is very alternative-rock in the vein of Muse, and accompanies the overall themes of the story.

Best played in one sitting, it will take just under two hours to complete, but then there is a Tony Hawks-style challenge for each song that will eventually unlock some more stuff that I haven't gotten to yet.

A great experience that I think should be worth your time.

Conceptually, it's a really cool experience going through a surreal and cosmic space-faring journey through the universe in the form of a concept indie rock album. The songs have a variety of mini-games, perspectives, art styles, themes, and songwriting styles. There are clear nods to retro videogames with the mini-games. I can appreciate the craft a lot, and I love the hand-made art. There are a couple of live-action sections that were cool too. I loved all the surrealism. The only point of comparison I can bring up is Jack-King Spooner's games, who's also a Scottish developer. Emotionally though, I wish I was more connected to Ruby's journey. There were some songs, like any album, where the interaction wasn't that interesting, or I wasn't as enthralled with the instrumentation. The singing throughout was excellent, though. It only starts getting emotionally engaging for me towards the very end when we come across another figure and the revelations start coming out about a past forgotten and reconnecting. I would have loved more of that interpersonal storytelling throughout. But it ends on a beautiful note, and I look forward to more of Claire Morwood's art.

A beautiful experience exploring an epic soundtrack!

Asterism is a very unique game, like a CD whose music videos you direct.

There's so much wonderful variety here! Every level is not just a different setting, mood and mode of interaction, it's often a completely different art medium, which does a great job of getting across the feeling of the song. Despite all this variety, the game as a whole still feels cohesive, and boasts some amazing handicrafts (and wonderful guitars!). Thanks to the button indicators, you always know how to interact, so even as the scenes change, you what you're able to do.

You can play Asterism however you want - don't press any keys and just listen, use the actions to express yourself or how the music feels to you, or play it like a game with its own sub-goals. There are many layers to each song, so there's plenty of reason to replay, too (I know I regret not paying more attention to the lyrics the first time around - but there was so much to do and see! The game's namesake sequence alone is worth a few trips.)

Also, while the game doesn't list controller support, I played the whole thing with a controller. A few menus were a little awkward, but nothing that really got in the way, and they seem to have fixed themselves as I kept playing.

This game is vital and human. You can feel the breath, see the fingerprints, "hear" the warmth of it all.
Handcrafted Gaming to a degree I've not seen paralleled elsewhere (at least not in the digital space).
- Is the music completely to my taste? Not necessarily, but this is a person communicating with the universe (and with themselves?) and I felt a certain degree of honor in being there to hear and participate.
- Will I do all the the additional/optional tasks? Not sure, but I may feel the pull at some point.

I really enjoyed Asterism. The plot sounds simple - find the location of strange radio signals coming from somewhere in the Solar system. However, you soon become engrossed in searching surreal landscapes on planets and asteroids - with the occasional emergency to deal with. As the search progresses the graphics become more colourful and impressive. Many different materials and techniques have been used in making this game which has a soundtrack of 12 thought provoking, original songs also by Claire Morwood. It is a feast of creativity.