Trackless

So, this is a modern day text adventure game that's surprisingly playable and the game world has one of the most unique and mysterious vibes I've ever seen in an indie game. It's got a neat soundtrack too.

That's how it feels to wake up from an extended nap cause you forgot to set the alarm.

Gameplay design is unique, and the art direction does a great job for what seemed to be a relatively low budget. Really gives a mood.
And there's a good amount of collectibles, secrets, and alternate endings.

But you will find MANY moments of trying to guess what it wants you to specifically type. That ferry puzzle can go to hell, and the voice acting/mic quality is incredibly inconsistent and often low. It was mostly added for those who don't want to read the text. But still.

Regardless, it's a solid and unique experience, though you MIGHT want to wait for a sale, like I did.

A nice adventure walking simulator where you type command for interaction. This feels like a field trip, so its pretty nice.

One of my favourite games, built around a divisive single word parser that either lights your brain on fire („I‘m a genius!“) or you see it as trivial verb guessing. Every found solution made me (not a native English speaker) feel like the cleverest person of all time (which I am definitely not). So thanks for that. I adore the combination of walkable 3D environments, word puzzles and atmospheric music. Also best intro monorail ride since Half-Life.

I played through it once and I definitely plan on playing through it again. I absolutely loved this game. It is so creepy and mysterious and the color palette/visuals are truly gorgeous. It's like a laid-back cyberpunk setting. I really loved everything about it. So many mechanics are unconventional but they are intuitive somehow. Not sure how to explain it. The way in which you interact with the world is innovative and awesome (innovative to me, at least). Something about this game juts clicks with me. It may require a tiny bit of patients but overall it was excellent from beginning to end.

It's slow going in the beginning, but after that you get the hang of it. Definitely worth playing.

What a nice little gem. The graphics remind me of the good old days and the story, characters, set pieces and especially the ambient is quite original, surreal and relaxing. The text parser is a nice interface, though occasionally it is a bit of too much word guessing, especially if English is not your native language. With about 6 hours of gameplay, the 'pilgrimage ' is just long enough to satisfy and not overstay it's welcome. The normal ending is bit too much 'so, what did you get out of it'. The secret ending is much more intriguing.
If you are into experimental games, definitely give this one a try

Absolutely loved Trackless. If you're into walking sims, adventure games, narratives, etc or anything with a surreal but chill sci-fi bent, this is the vibe. Plenty of secrets and alternate routes | endings to find and multiple ways to solve puzzles while not taking up too much of your time. Also dig the lo-fi artstyle.

Trackless is one of those gems of a game in that it doesn't overstay its welcome. It knows the story it wants to tell, and tells it at just the right pace and length. A single playthrough takes around 3 hours, depending on how thorough you try to be, but a complete run will net you another 3 to 4 hours, if you're super concerned about length-cost justifications.

However, hashing out whether or not it's worth it does it a bit of a disservice, considering not only is it not expensive, but it's far more valuable to find a game that respects your time, and does its own thing aesthetically. Easily the best part of Trackless besides it being short & sweet is that it has an art style typically reserved to some visual novels, insofar as characters go, but further distinguished in its environments and vehicles. For the most part, it all looks like it fits together, which even in some visual novels isn't necessarily the case, wherein you have 2D characters alongside 3D models textured in a different kind of art style. In Trackless, characters, objects, environments, and vehicles all feel part of the same whole, making it all the more impressive.

As to the gameplay, it's also rather distinct, in that it calls back to classic text adventures. Where in a text adventure you had only a text description of the space you were in and some commands/verbs to attempt, Trackless is able to shed much of the descriptive text of the whole space with its visuals. Yet what it retains is the classic command/verb form of interaction, surfacing a text entry field with each object/obstacle to interact with, typically relying solely on verbs for each interaction, aside from one specific optional case, which the game makes clear upon encountering it.

Interestingly, this works better than one might expect! It's certainly unusual, and in some cases one might feel it leads a little too much to guesswork, but in most circumstances it's not too difficult to determine what the game is going for to simply interact. The part that makes it feel more like guesswork at times is that the game does evaluate the terms you're attempting to use, rating them as great, ok, or meh. Any of these should work, but you'll receive less money in return for that are only ok or meh, which given that money is used only for some optional tasks and the game seems to be pretty generous with it, isn't much of a concern. There's even a fun moment where, if you're feeling a bit strapped for cash, you can completely work around it through some clever interactions.

Oh, and before I forget, the game is fully voiced, which I had accidentally missed in my first run by inadvertently disabling the voiceovers. Frankly, the voice acting is a tad hit or miss outside of the main characters, but it's never downright terrible either, so it was fun to play through again and realize that apparently you're playing a man, and also just how to pronounce some of the characters' names. Nevertheless, if the voice acting doesn't do it for ya, you can easily switch it all off via the phone's sound option.

On top of all this, Makeup and Vanity Set did the soundtrack for the game, and if you've not heard their work, you're in for a treat. This isn't by any means their best work, but it absolutely fits the game, and strikes all the right notes for it, which Makeup and Vanity Set always seem to do a great job of with their soundtracks.

So, yeah, I absolutely recommend this game. It's a strange scifi world with some charming characters, slick aesthetic and sountrack, not terribly expensive, and just the right length with some replayability, what's not to dig about it?

The text-input mechanic is kind of underutilized, but it's a cool story full of cool environments, and more exploration and optional stuff to find than first appearances would suggest.

A strange and fascinating first-person adventure puzzle game, Trackless is an experience you won't forget. Features a unique art style, clever verb-based puzzles that will make you think but won't cause excessive frustration, and a bizarre and fascinating far-future world. It's a relatively short play -- you can finish in under three hours, but there are several endings and achievements to find for the persistent. An introspective experience that will make you think. Recommended.

A first-person adventure game with a text parser? Sign me up!

Cleverness abounds from this low-budget indie game. Your vocabulary skills equal points, so e.g. if you "take" an object you get less points than if you, say, "acquire" or "retrieve" it. But all that is just flavor and don't influence the game itself, which is a smart move.

The wonkiness of the graphics (2D flat sprites in a 3D world) would seem like a downfall of any other game, but here it adds to the otherworldly mysteriousness of it all. Combine that with an excellent musical score by Makeup And Vanity Set and you've got a dream-like atmosphere like no other.

Only downside (for me) is that when I streamed this game, I kept getting copyright strikes from Makeup And Vanity Set's publishers. Licensing music to a game and then cracking down on YouTubers who try to play said game is NOT cool.

Trackless is another game I bought on a whim a while back after seeing some of the screenshots and such. Plus, I love a good walking simulator/adventure type game. So, was it worth it?

Story

Honestly, the story in Trackless is pretty basic on it surface, and the story variants tend to veer away from the product page description in favor of pursuing a more conspiracy oriented story. That said, you are still a seeker as has been described on the product page, trying to complete a set of vague trials that will allow you to witness "The Object". The Object was kind of a let down, and the story, while fun and quirky, ended up with this seeming world cult and the object they worship being nothing more than a trip to a convoluted amusement park.

5/10

Gameplay

The gameplay in Trackless consists mostly of wandering around, interacting with objects and people, and solving minor puzzles. However, one very cool wrinkle is that ll your decisions are text based, meaning, you need to type in key words, which will generally be obvious, but not always. You can type anything in, but those particular puzzles will only be solved by guessing a word that is exact or close to what is appropriate for the circumstance. Some easy examples might include "open" to open a door or "insert" to watch a VHS tape, but they do get at least a little more complex than that. I thought it was a pretty neat game mechanic that helped add a little spice to the gameplay. Beyond that though, it was pretty basic walking simulator material throughout.

Two further notes for those just getting started with Trackless. There are apparently three different endings based on your gameplay decisions, and standing under a lightpost functions as the checkpoint system in the game.

8/10

Graphics

There was a game that came out on the original Xbox a long time back called XIII, which was possibly the first cel-shaded game out there (definitely the first I remember). Although XIII had more of a comic book presentation, I think it is the closest analogy for what Trackless looks like. It is just really, really cool looking, in a lite cyperpunk-esque fashion. The graphics aren't the most awe inspiring, but they do look very cool.

7.5/10

Audio

The audio in Trackless is what I would call fun. There is a lot to hear and experience in the game overall, and while I wouldn't call any of it distinct, it was nice.

7.5/10

Verdict

I was honestly underwhelmed by Trackless overall outside of my initial impressions of the graphics and the fun soundtrack. I had a bit of a flat feel despite being a solid game, and while I had fun while playing it, the thought of going back to play through the remaining endings doesn't seem all that appealing to me. That said, as a one off, you will almost certainly enjoy this game.

This one deserves a straight 7 Ravers/EDM Fanatics wandering around on Ecstasy out of 10 possible.

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It's a very atmospheric game. It's well paced. There's some challenge but it's not discouraging. It runs well and it plays well, movement and interactions are adequate.

Walking simulator + text puzzle with unusual art style and weird futuristic setting. Puzzles are not very diffucult, you must guess one of several proper verbs. Some puzzles are optional.

An interesting adventure with a unique verb selection gameplay mechanic. Quite straightforward - I didn't have to look at a guide to get two of the endings.
The atmosphere was unusual and I'd like to explore more of this world if there were a sequel.

12East did a great job. Let's start with that.

Compelling story, excellent music. Multiple ending possible which is always cool. Reminds me of text based games from back in the day [Zork, Dungeon]. Branching narrative, sometimes frustrating but always solvable. Well worth the price and time invested :)...

My suggestion? GET IT

If you're looking for a chill game without all the mindless violence, yet one that still requires you to think, look no further.

The thing I like about Trackless is that it lets you progress by solving puzzles using verbs. It requires you to stop and think, yet its not difficult to come up with answers. Also, if you just want to explore and not worry about high score then you can actually reuse old verbs when applicable. Otherwise there are multiple answers that are expected to interact with the environment. Overall it was a treat to see an old premise get revived in this way. In the end the game was very enjoyable to play through.

When it comes to sound, it also was excellent and the ost essentially added to the atmosphere. I`ll definately check out the artist. The voice overs were meh, but they did not detract from the gameplay. It was a good choice to leave them in so you can use multiple senses while exploring.

The only cons that come to mind are slow movment speed for the first 3/4 quarters of the game and the fact that I enjoyed it so much that I wish it was longer with greater interactions.

I`ll look forward to what the dev has to offer in the future.

Part walking simulator, part text adventure. Most of the game is spent wandering around, exploring - the other half of it is inputting simple verbs through a text interface to interact with objects, solve puzzles, and progress in the game.

It's a pretty fantastic little game, short, sweet, and meditative. I don't know that it necessarily comes all together at the end, but it left me thinking for awhile, and that's always a sign of a game doing something right.

a lo-fi futurist walking sim. a cyberpunk game that questions what (or if) we value spiritually. a phone theme collector. strictly speaking, in trackless you'll be interacting with your environment, typing verbs, or, in some instances, answering quizzes, in order to progress. but this mechanic is tightly wrapped in a slick mobile phone GUI and presented in a world that is simultaneously alien and eerily familiar. this game isn't perfect. like the text-based games it draws inspiration from, there are some frustrating moments in trackless where progress is limited by vocabulary. luckily, in this always-online generation, these frustrations are mitigated by keeping a browser alt-tabbed. all in all, i found trackless to be another interesting experiment in the larger first person exploration genre, with a place, visual style, and identity all it's own.