Etherborn

Cool perspective-based puzzle game!
Just right difficulty wise, short but sweet. You can finish the game + the "New Game+" in just about 4 hours.
Perfect for an evening/afternoon!

This game consists of 5 puzzle levels with a vibe similar to what you would expect in a dungeon in a classic "Zelda" or "Tales Of" game. Each level can take several minutes to finish, and the last few can be particularly difficult if you're not used to these kinds of puzzle. Definitely tickles your brain. The lore, however, is absurdly "edgy" and so cryptic that you'll be left with no clue what the message of this game is about.

very cool, should try

I had a very good time with this, it's an interesting puzzle game and makes you think to reach where you want to reach. Really cool puzzles, mind bending at times. Pretty art and atmospheric.

fun game, just hard enough to still be engaging. i enjoyed game+, it was fun getting achievements, but that's about the extent of it. quick playthrough :D

A really nice game, which is letting you ask yourself how you perceive the world.
I love the simple style but yet challenging riddles.

Can absolutely reccommend!

It's ok, but I wish it was a longer game, probably two or three levels longer. The puzzles are not particularly challenging, but at least the soundtrack is nice (especially in the level where the rising black and white pillars are introduced). The camera changes when you change the plane you're walking on are not that bad in my opinion, but be ready to adjust the direction you're walking in accordingly. Also has a new game plus mode where the keys you have to find are hidden somewhere else.

If you like what you see in the trailers and you're into artsy and somewhat short puzzle games, it might be worth trying. If you're into way more challenging stuff, probably not. Still liked it a lot, though.

Not sure what all the whinging is for. It's difficult enough to not be too difficult for people who don't play puzzle games often, the camera angles are fine it's what makes it quirky and interesting. Sometimes you have to run around a bit if your brain hasn't figured out where to go, this is good. The fact you can't plan your route is exactly what makes it fun to figure out and realise 'Oh I'm a dumbass, I completely didn't think about that'.
The graphical style is actually a really nice colour palette.
Simple and yet effective.
Soundtrack is chill.
No hand holding. BIG +

I would happily recommend and expect an Etherborn 2 but with more story, not a floating geometrical shape talking to me. Either make more to do between levels instead of it being an interactive Super Mario 2 travel journey between them or make the talking with the story over an animation in-between showing the travelling while wild shit happens, like the tree branches actively trying to stop you or kill you. Make it interesting to watch if you're going that route instead of having mini puzzles or a bit of action in between levels.

There's so much potential here to make a great game. This is just good, chill fun. Albeit short.
Maybe slightly over priced given it was apparently crowd funded (although this depends on how much they raised in the first place. With 79 reviews, I can't imagine that much)
On a sale? Absolutely worth it.

The game is not bad, that doesn't change the fact I wouldn't recommend it to every single person out there.
The gimmick is pretty fun, the puzzles are there, but there are a couple spots that getting confused is possible, in a 'what now??' way. The camera moves all over the place, so walking 'forward' is not a straightforward task, jumping as well. I used a keyboard but with a gamepad that might not be so bad.
However that wouldn't change the game's length, which is veery short.
There just were some new elements introduced and boom, suddenly youre on the last of 5(!) levels, the game takes 1.5h max to finish, double that for new game+ which is just the same levels but with 'trickier' spots to get to. You're basically playing the game twice.
- So controls are finnicky, the whole game is way too short, you have to play it twice for 100%.
+ On the other hand the core mechanic is fun and at times even challenging(!), and the graphics are pretty nice.
Definitely wait for a sale for this one

the camera work is just awful angle, I changed the settings but still could not see my goal platform to jump onto... sad, as up to that point i found this game very relaxing..

Nice puzzler. Well done esthetics and music. my only critique besides wanting more of it is sometimes the camera angles
and panning could be greater , but its only minor. definitely not a deal breaker.

Camera is a nightmare that prevents you from seeing your goal so there's no chance to actually plan/solve your path to your destination. Some of the walking segments are stretched to tedium in order to serve visual style. Ok "Story" though it definitely missed me. Mostly a walking simulator with interesting vistas where you just follow the next path blindly.

Plenty of puzzle games aim to test your spatial reasoning in some unusual way, yet how Etherborn goes about using three-dimensional space is particularly intriguing. Exploring the game’s atypical spaces was captivating from both a mechanical and artistic standpoint. As you move between each angle of a level, the geometry around you takes on new meaning. A wall is only an obstacle from one perspective and could be a bridge from another. Learning the significance of each surface around a level and successfully navigating to the exit leaves you with a cartographer’s high.

Indie games that present a low-poly aesthetic don’t always pull it off with the sincerity that Etherborn does. The expert use of color and lighting brings an air of solitude and thoughtfulness to the geometric world. Each environment is isolated within an expanse of fog with god rays and distant pillars that convey a humbling scale. Lovely music from a piano and string quartet further elevated the game’s wistful tone. Other pieces from the soundtrack use varying instruments to appropriately match each chapter's visual theme. Outside of simply being enjoyable, the soundtrack also helped to pass the time spent retracing my steps with the slow-moving player character.

Whatever existential message the narrator’s dialogue was trying to get across was lost on me. Honestly, I think the beauty of these abstract environments and the pleasant music that accompanies them speaks for itself and doesn’t need to be intermittently interrupted by a voice who speaks in metaphors.

Etherborn goes on for just as long as it needs to. I appreciate that the game restrained itself from adding ‘filler’ puzzle tropes. There’s enough of a learning curve with unraveling the mind-bending three-dimensional geography that forcing more mechanics into levels would have pushed the game more towards feeling bloated and generic. When you’re trying to make a memorable game with artistic appeal and enticing puzzle ideas, the last thing you’d want to do is throw in a few ‘box puzzles’.

Even though I was sold on the game’s premise from the start, Etherborn still ended up exceeding my expectations. For some, the game might invite comparisons to other gravity-swapping 3D-platformers, but I’ve found that Etherborn’s tranquil tone, splendid music, clever moments, and puzzle-centric goals quickly distinguished it from my initial assumptions. It’s always nice to find a game that manages to be elegant, relaxing, and easy on the eyes/ears without overlooking the need to make gameplay intricate and interesting as well.

"Gravity-shifting platforming" is a great way to describe it.

This is a 3D puzzle platformer where you're basically running around on geometric landscapes and shifting between planes of gravity. The game is engaging and sometimes burns your brain (in a good way).

It's very simple graphically, but it's atmospheric and beautiful. It's short (I finished it in 3.5 hours) and well worth the time.

This is a very short and, in the main, good platform puzzler. The mechanic is the same as Youropa, which is superior both in terms of length and of puzzles.

The objective here is to collect orbs and deposit them in switches to progress. There are four levels plus a tutorial, and you will be done in about 90-120 minutes. Then you can do New Game +, where the orbs are placed in more difficult positions, and it is here where there is a major problem with the game.

In the first level, the orb is placed in a bush, where you cannot see it. Now, that's not so bad there, because there's nowhere really else for it to be, so in some sense it shows you the idea. The problem is, it does the same thing in level 4.

Now, I guessed it would do that, so I ran through all bushes. But that didn't collect the orb, because I apparently ran through the wrong *part* of the bush. I then couldn't find the orb anywhere on the level, so tried again, but still didn't collect it. I then gave up, checked a guide, and found out I was right after all.

This is terrible game design. If you want to hide the orb in scenery, you have to collect it when you enter the scenery. This wouldn't usually be enough for me to change my recommendation for a game, but 20 minutes frustration in a 4 hour game is enough to be a problem.

So don't buy this, buy Youropa. It's exactly the same principle, but better.

Nice little puzzle game. The soundtrack is beautiful and the artstyle is eye-pleasing. This is a good game but it's short; it would be best to buy during a sale instead of full $17 price.

The controllers are not controllable. Gameplay was horrible. I could not even go to up in the very VERY beginning of the game. I could not use my mouse. I do not know whether the game was playable with mouse either. ... I have had lots of hope about this game but I am very dissapointed. I do not recommend. Unfortunately...

"They were beings of stone"
We JoJo now?
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What an esoteric, beautiful clever little game Etherborn is.
"Wait" you may be thinking, "Why the negative review then?".

Story

It's a strange new world, untill you realize the story consists entirely of a voice that gives esoteric explanation about nothing in particoular on the same boring background while nothing interesting happens.

Gameplay

Gravity shifting mechanic based on where you're standing is always a good concept especially if accompanied by very clever puzle design, however the 17$ pricetag and the 4 puzzle room that result in 1 or 2 hours of it at best isn't enough to justify it.
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All and all Etherborn only lacks content to make pricetag worthwile and the execution with visuals for story bits, combining those two like a voice over the gameplay would be the best of both worlds, but as it stands now i sadly have to give it a negative review.

At first, this game seems to be a fun puzzle game, but unfortunately, the automatic camera rotation and awkward jump physics make it nearly unplayable with a keyboard.

Play Youropa instead.

This game here has an awful camera. Whenever you switch gravity the camera switches places. And with it the directions you control in swap too. So I might turn a corner by going left only to run of a ledge because now I am technically walking up.

Again if you compare this to a good game like Youropa then you'll see that Youropa let's control your camera and since it is focused on your character Walking forward is always orientated to yourself.

Even if you can get past the horrible controls, the game doesn't offer much in the game play department. Find glowling shapes to press switches with. That is the game. Also there is a cut scene everytime bridges appear just to break what little flow this game had.

The level design is really bad. Walk in a straight line until you encounter a slope to change gravity with. Repeat. If all the slopes were right next to each other you could complete each Level in 15 seconds. But they are stretched out so far that you have to walk forever to get anywhere (btw select Always Running in options or you go mad). And since the camera is so godawful, you can not even see where you need to go even by zooming out. So you have to walk all the way till the end of a sideways pillar just to see that this is indeed a dead end and then all the way back.

PLAY YOUROPA INSTEAD. Really Youropa is the reason I bought this game, but it's like day and night. Also way to few people actually even know about Youropa so I am gonna advertise the sh*t out of it here.

More of an 'experience' than a game, with all the entails. Pretty graphics, pleasant set-pieces... but you'd better take the time to APPRECIATE those graphics and set-pieces, because this game has a lot of aimless wandering down long paths. The story... was clearly trying to be really philosophical, but doesn't seem to be philosophical about anything. Although I admit I'm not the most patient person, so maybe someone with a calmer personality would enjoy it more.

The actual puzzle-solving/gameplay isn't bad, but it really isn't good either. The puzzles come down to three main elements: Find keys to unlock doors (although the 'unlock doors' aspect tends more towards 'build bridges', but from a gameplay perspective there really isn't much difference), walk around rounded corners to change gravity, and the white pillar things pop out from the ground when your orientation matches theirs. There are black pillars as well, but they always pop out, so they're effectively identical to normal terrain from a gameplay perspective. Additionally, the inability to control the camera (which was clearly put in to make things more 'cinematic') makes navigation a pain.

There's the core of a good game here, but it's not worth the price I paid for it. As-is, it has an amount of content and entertainment about equivalent to that of a good web game. The graphical and sound design pull it up a bit past that, but I still wouldn't pay more than five bucks for it knowing what I know now. Admittedly, I haven't tried the new game plus mode yet, but from the game's description of that mode, it's the same exact levels, just with the keys being hidden from the player, which... just sounds frustrating, and like a way to pad out the game's play time. Overlay the narration on the gameplay instead of relying on cut-scenes, give the player control of the camera, and add more actual gameplay content, and it'd be worth maybe ten bucks.

That said, my issues are from a raw gameplay perspective; if you're the type of person who's into games that try to be 'experiences', then it may well be something you enjoy.

This is a cool game. When I first saw the trailer, I couldn't help but liken it to Monument Valley and the comparison holds up playing the game. My only small complaint is that the camera can sometimes be a little weird. I often find myself having to stop as I go around a curve so I don't run off an edge as the camera is adjusting. The puzzles aren't too hard, though there is a pretty large difficulty spike after the first few levels. All in all, great game. You should play it.

(Early Review) I've played about 2hs of the game and I am loving it so far.

As platformer it's a well polished game that plays with an uncommon mechanic, gravity changes as you go to different faces of the same place. The cameras work surprisingly well in this regard. Both providing clues about places you can visit, and keeping you to understand where you are.

As a puzzle game, it does force you think laterally, specially in terms of spatial perception. I already had some good wow moments that I love in this type of games, where you come with a solution you wouldn't be able to imagine minutes before, try it, and it works! It's really satisfying ha ha.

Artistically it's beautiful both visuals and sound. A couple of times, I found myself distracted with looking at the scenario elements, and specially its surroudings. Trying to move the cam away and capture some cool shots.

The story is minimalistic and complex as hell. I really will need to play it a second time or something because it feels really deep but at this point I am not sure I understand it yet.

I'll come back once I finish it, but so far a really satisfying puzzle-platformer game.