Разработчик: Oruji Productions
Описание
Always searching for what he didn't have; the man climbed a mountain his entire life just to find himself alone at the top with a view of all the mistakes he made along the way.
In Bliss you are a shadow trapped in a strange world constructed from someone's memories. The world is infected with dark creatures that you have to remove before you can proceed. To your disposal you have a boomerang and a stopwatch that can freeze time.
Each level represents a period of a certain person's life as well as a stage in the Kübler Ross model (the five stages of grief).
* Challenging gameplay & little hand holding
* 5 unique levels
* 4 unique bosses
* Challenge mode for each boss
* Steam achievements
* Heavy but subtle story told without words
The game is played with a mouse and keyboard.
Поддерживаемые языки: english
Системные требования
Windows
- OS *: Microsoft® Windows® XP / Vista / 7
- Processor: 1.5GHz
- Memory: 1 GB RAM
- Graphics: 5 years old or newer
- Storage: 1 GB available space
- Additional Notes: Requires mouse and keyboard.
Mac
- OS: OS X version Leopard 10.5.8, Snow Leopard 10.6.3
- Processor: 1.5GHz
- Memory: 1 GB RAM
- Graphics: 5 years or younger
- Storage: 1 GB available space
- Additional Notes: Requires mouse & keyboard.
Linux
- OS: Ubuntu 12.04 or later
- Processor: 1.5GHz
- Graphics: 5 years or younger
- Additional Notes: Requires mouse & keyboard.
Отзывы пользователей
Craftly, one of the most wondrous two-way-rollers I've ever beheld. The bilithen in the first playmath alone are richly drawn, hued, and strewn such that they make the world seem ymbertrue and yet clearly show with no room for befuddling that this is in someone's mind, and as you meet a ghost boy and see awendings of the ymber throughout your gang, the tale indraws without anyone needing to say one word. The eerie gliw and bellrings further flesh out the world, making it seem alive and inlivesome even as it is made clear as it can be that it's in someone's head.
The wonder this makes... is cut off, however, by the gameplay. Running and jumping through most rooms- ah, yes, the playmaths are split into 'rooms', though not in the outstanding way that You Have to Win the Game or VVVVVV are - is easy enough; even well-setting, giving the aforesaid craftings time to set into the mind and begin the inweaving of the worldfeelings with the playfeeling. There are also jumping puzzles wherein one jumps on foreboding black deohr with masks; and with the help of a time-stopper one finds early on, one may wisp them away, and doing so to all such beings on the flat will open the gate they in all showings guard. Most of these are rightwise heartfilling to get right, and they give some of the most enriching gameplay Bliss has to give - when the thearf is overwhelmingly on reckoning the jumping puzzle itself.
However, The makers of Bliss seem to have chosen to build some lightspeck-allright jumpingcraft hurdles here and there. For showdeal, one gate in the first playmath thearfs bruc'ing a toy block to jump on all the aforesaid deohrs' heads. Well, instead of this being a matter of wit, some hidden trick to bruc, one must stop the block at a very exact place, eyeing a blue tile on the gate for reference - a hard thing to do, inasmuch as there is a belaying of some frames after unpausing the timer before you can stop time again; and even when you get it just right, you only just barely manage to board the head of the deohr above you, such it seems more an oversight of the landingworkings that you even *can* get the footing you need.
Another in the next playmath thearfs the exact directing of a jump off of one deohr's head while throwing a boomerang at another, all while the slightest drift will lead one to be pierced by spikes. I have yet to even clear this one at the time of writing this.
This would be great in a reflex-oriented game; however, for this mostly puzzle-platformer, it is disruptive and breaks the experience.
___
But, still, it may just be a skill issue on my end, so I still recommend this if you like challenging jumping games. It's only a dollar, and if that's still too much, wait for a sale.
This has been an *almost* Anglish Steam gainwrit. Clearly I lost it near the end. Thank you for reading.
Interesting style. That's the only positive aspect. A poorly designed game that's best avoided.
I ultimately cannot recommend this game for the simple reason that despite the appealing art design, it simply ceases to be fun (which is kinda what a game should be, you know?). The first level was quite fun (a good blend of easy and slightly more challenging towards the end), but the second was borderline (it seemed to require a bit too much of the "pat head rub tummy while singing opera and opening a can of cat food with your feet sort of keyboard and mouse dexterity), and the third is where I stopped playing.
Sorry, tldr, it's just not fun/enjoyable past the first level, and rapidly reaches levels of "why the hell am I doing this again?!".
Bullet points
- Precision platformer with moderate puzzle platforming
- Novel mouse-based control mechanics
- Undertone storyline reflected in the levels' different art styles
Full review
Resetting expectations
It's somewhat significant that I liked this game as much as I did, since it's got a few strikes against it in terms of what I personally tend to like. I don't usually like super-precise platformers, and I especially don't like games that demand razor-sharp execution and then don't hold up their end of the deal by providing razor-sharp controls. To be clear: the controls in Bliss don't appear to be buggy or poorly coded; I believe that they are responding exactly the way the developer intended, I just don't agree with his design decisions. :)
But despite that, Bliss brings out enough platforming joy that it outweighs the controls. In fact, given the novel control mechanics it introduces, it's possible that the "floaty" jumps are a necessary evil (more explanation of that point later). And that's the difference between how I see it versus something like Super Meat Boy. As much as I can't stand to play Super Meat Boy, its controls are as tight as its gameplay and so it deserves its accolades; I don't like Super Meat Boy's gameplay, but I respect it. Bliss is the opposite: I can't respect the gameplay of a precision platformer where you float in the air like a balloon when you jump, and slip of the edges of platforms...but somehow I like it anyway. The game's just charming.
Mouse and keyboard...WTF?!
One thing that really threw me for a loop was the mouse and keyboard requirement; for a platformer, that just doesn't make sense. In fact, the first time I played this game I broke out AntiMicro and made a controller profile within 60 seconds of starting the first level. Now, normally I'd fully stand by that decision, but as it turns out with Bliss...it's not that simple. Turns out, there's a reason that all the reviews (that I read, anyway) that go on a tirade about requiring mouse and keyboard don't have that long of a play time and don't sound like they finished the game.
I don't play that many platformers so maybe this is just new to me, but this is the most important part of Bliss, and what makes it not just any other indie platformer (at which point it'd still be a good game, but not what I'd call noteworthy). This is probably what's going to make or break the game for a given player, and I bet is the lion's share of what a lot of the reviews that say the gameplay is super frustrating are talking about (and believe me, I felt it too on quite a few occasions!).
[The following paragraph contains minor spoilers, strictly about the nature of gameplay mechanics.]
The thing is, later in the game Bliss introduces a gameplay mechanic where you use the mouse to target things on the screen, independently of your avatar's platforming movement. In fact, eventually you'll have to navigate situations where you'll be controlling your avatar's platforming with your keyboard hand, while simultaneously performing targeting actions with your mouse hand; it's like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time.
Because of the above, I have to say I agree with the author; the game requires a mouse and keyboard to play, not based on whether the engine supports it or not but because of the gameplay itself. That's also one reason why I wonder if the floatiness of the platforming is actually advantageous; it gives your brain more time to process the additional stuff you have to deal with.
If you really want to play with a controller (pro tip: don't) then you'll need something with dual analog sticks (or a Steam Controller) and a program like AntiMicro to handle the mappings. That's what I did the first time I played, and the game itself worked just fine with it...but eventually the controller became Not The Right Tool For The Job(tm). Unfortunately, I think I had a really bad time from then on, because I hadn't been building muscle memory for the "real" controls and thus I had a huge difficulty spike on top of the existing difficulty increase of the game itself in the later levels where this really became an issue.
And it's also a puzzle platformer
While the vast majority of the levels/bosses in the game require moderate to high precision platforming (with a few moments requiring extreme precision), it's not just about the action; the gameplay is broken up into "scenes" (most of which are a single screen, but not always) which usually require some amount of puzzle-solving. For the most part, the puzzle level is pretty low, but there were a few scenes that left me scratching my head for a bit. All in all, though, Bliss stands a lot stronger on its action than its puzzles.
A side note about reported play time
On a side note, you may see that Steam shows 8.8 hours played at the time of this review, while my metadata at the bottom says I've only played 6 hours. This is because I played a while a long time ago and got a bit frustrated and left it. In the interim, my hard drive crashed and I lost my save game; I played through the whole game from the beginning today and that's where the 6 hour figure comes from; it actually took 5.3 hours (I can tell because that's my "last two weeks" play time), and then I rounded up to 6 to account for the time I didn't spend figuring out puzzles this time because I remembered the solutions from my previous (partial) play-through.
If you like this game, check out...
Review metadata
[table]
[tr]
[th]Date of update[/th]
[th]Time played[/th]
[th]How far in base game (estimate)?[/th]
[th]Cost[/th]
[th]Cost per hour[/th]
[th]Notes[/th]
[/tr][tr]
[td]2016-06-19 21:54[/td]
[td]6 hours[/td]
[td]Campaign 100% complete, no "challenge boss fights"[/td]
[td]$4.99 USD[/td]
[td]$0.83 USD[/td]
[td]Initial review[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
A truly underestimated game. I think it was great, the music was great, and it definitely touched me.
Underrated! This game is brilliantly dark but with an overall positive outlook on life? Maybe? Regardless of that I love this game. A semi-simple to maneuver platformer with a surprisingly challenging twist on it. I am horrible at explaining things, just check this game out, it's pretty sublime.
(SPOILERS)
It's a musical/visual representation of the 5 stages of grief. The screenshots basically summarize the entire game, save for the frustrating gameplay. Basic platforming controls (walk, jump) with one puzzle type and no added features.
Listen to the soundtrack on Soundcloud because it's actually pretty good, but don't bother playing the game.
This game is lame. That is all.
Why do so many reviews call this relaxing? Did they play it? It's a frustrating, annoying puzzle-platformer that requires absolute pixel-perfect timing, despite how slow everything moves, and playing is a waste of time. The music is repetitive and only mildly relaxing, the graphics look like a bad Newgrounds entry, while the puzzles are all incredibly easy to figure out but enhanced by tons of fake difficulty to waste your time until the next one.
Total waste of money, don't get it unless it comes in a bundle.
OK, so the game itself is well polished, smooth, and the level design is acceptable. It is best described as the result of putting eversion, limbo, and braid put into a blender. It has a touching story narrating my own future in a few years as well as reminding me of past grief in 2011. The game is also appropiately priced. However, this game is doomed to complete obscurity for the following reasons:
- The name is abysmal, game names need to be googleable and distinguishable. Not only is "bliss" a common english word, but its also the name of a different android game
- No effort whatsoever was put into the settings, there are no settings in fact, it's not even possible to put the game into fullscreen and experience some immersion. This makes Bliss the polar opposite of Mortal Kombat X on launch day.
- The game starts easy enough but after an hour or so it starts to approach IWBTG in terms of difficulty. This means the game will only appeal to hardcore gamers.
Edit: out of all of the games I have on steam, this is the lowest rated one that I've given a recommendation. I stand by it. This game is not the best in the world but it is definitely underrated.
I really enjoyed this game! If you like Braid then this is a game for you. Some really smart puzzle mechanics and level design and it never felt like repetition. The ambience and art in the game is beautiful and I loved the story. I also love the fact that there are no single word in the whole game except the end credits.
Puzzles were conveniently challenging requiring even amount of platformer and puzzle solving skills. The bonus challenges punished me a lot(!!) till the point of rage quitting but I finally managed to squeeze the rest of the achievements.
Great music, relaxing to play, I would recommend it, its different and calm to play. It's to bad it does not support gamepad or higher resolutions. I think that might stop some people from buying it, but I still recommend it.
Дополнительная информация
| Разработчик | Oruji Productions |
| Платформы | Windows |
| Ограничение возраста | Нет |
| Дата релиза | 19.01.2025 |
| Отзывы пользователей | 58% положительных (12) |