One of the major things about this one is that you have to go into it with accurate realistic expectations. A lot of the negative things I've read about this were from people who that was not true of. I'm not saying it's flawless; I'm just acknowledging a pattern. Some of what I'm going to describe here could come off as bad to you. If that's the case it's probably simply that it's not your kind of thing. I'm going to be as neutral as I possibly can.
This features an open world that you can explore almost entirely at your own leisure. It is however largely empty; there's almost nothing you can interact with and the vast majority of it is nearly completely devoid of living animals, much less NPCs. And even when you do encounter the latter any communication is just you activating the lines they have to deliver. There are no dialogue trees. No one follows you or otherwise engages with you. There's at least one that shows up more than once that's about it. They give you hints at what you're supposed to do and also provide world building.
This does not have collectibles, something that would have been easy to implement and would have increased replayability. The achievements do encourage you to go everywhere and try to see everything. That is also how you find out where to go, nothing other than place names and a little bit of progress ever get marked on the map, which starts out almost completely empty, has been provided by the finest cartographers in the land and they would be grateful if you would just fill it out as you go. I loved playing this but if I ever fire it up again it'll probably be for the stress relief of the flying.
That probably is the single best aspect of this. From mere minutes into this whenever you're outside you can transform back and forth at will between human form and that of an eagle. You can stay in the air for as long as you want. Essentially the only negative things I've seen that I think make any sense is the fact that it's literally only used for transport and exploration; there's never any challenge connected to it. Then again there isn't particularly, in any aspect of this. And someone pointed out that there's not that much flying up and down; it's mostly on the horizontal axis. Sometimes there's such distance between the islands that you'll spend over a minute just closing distance that you couldn't possibly on the ground. Certain places are so far away that you won't even be able to see them for a little while. Some are covered in those wonderfully fluffy clouds that you will never tire of going through.
That's also where the controls are completely smooth and responsive; that is not quite the case for the platforming which definitely is something that could have been handled better. It's one of the central tenets of that subgenre. Not that there's anywhere where it's completely okay unless you're doing it to make it tough on purpose like the tank configuration of several Silent Hill series entries. It is slightly unfortunate that there are places where it really looks like you could make a certain jump and then you attempt it and it turns out it was simply that the level designer didn't realize that anyone would attempt it. In reality you'll glitch into something though I personally never got stuck anyway. Or you'll hit an invisible wall. Other than that they did a great job; everywhere you look there is environmental storytelling going on. Some places it is warm and sunny, others it is snowing and there's some wind. I feel like the word "storm" is possibly pushing it. Anywhere that has people feels like it actually could support them. Like, there's at least one place where there's access to water, a farm with a field of wheat, sheep and an entire family working there.
The puzzles have been described by some as perfectly fine in how tough they are, some even suggesting you'll need a walkthrough. And certainly if you find yourself in that situation those do exist some in text some in video. Others say, and I agree, that these can barely be considered brain teasers. Essentially it's more like they are tasks. So somewhat like the relatively recent title Adios. It's making you appreciate this situation rather than trying to stump you. So it has more you can do and faster movement than Dear Esther. All three of these are less video games and more vivid short stories that you get to feel like you are experiencing in real life.
The ending has caught some flak. I won't spoil it here though I will try to explore it without doing so. Like many aspects of this it's not quite mainstream; it's not giving you what you think you want it's trying to do something else. There is an audience for what it's doing; it really won't appeal to those who are not part of that. Nothing in this actually suggests that the ending will be what evidently a number of people did expect because of the medium. And there's no shame in that; I'm one of them. At first I was very disappointed. But upon reflection I realized that it does do what it needs to, and well at that. Don't get me wrong; if this cut to credits just 30 seconds earlier I would definitely agree with those who say it is unfinished. I hope that they don't cave to pressure and make a sequel, though I would love either a spiritual successor or just more from these developers. The low poly minimalist graphics are never unpleasant to look at and have meant that it aged better than some that go for a high LOD. No matter what you do here, you cannot reach a fail state. 8/10.
This features an open world that you can explore almost entirely at your own leisure. It is however largely empty; there's almost nothing you can interact with and the vast majority of it is nearly completely devoid of living animals, much less NPCs. And even when you do encounter the latter any communication is just you activating the lines they have to deliver. There are no dialogue trees. No one follows you or otherwise engages with you. There's at least one that shows up more than once that's about it. They give you hints at what you're supposed to do and also provide world building.
This does not have collectibles, something that would have been easy to implement and would have increased replayability. The achievements do encourage you to go everywhere and try to see everything. That is also how you find out where to go, nothing other than place names and a little bit of progress ever get marked on the map, which starts out almost completely empty, has been provided by the finest cartographers in the land and they would be grateful if you would just fill it out as you go. I loved playing this but if I ever fire it up again it'll probably be for the stress relief of the flying.
That probably is the single best aspect of this. From mere minutes into this whenever you're outside you can transform back and forth at will between human form and that of an eagle. You can stay in the air for as long as you want. Essentially the only negative things I've seen that I think make any sense is the fact that it's literally only used for transport and exploration; there's never any challenge connected to it. Then again there isn't particularly, in any aspect of this. And someone pointed out that there's not that much flying up and down; it's mostly on the horizontal axis. Sometimes there's such distance between the islands that you'll spend over a minute just closing distance that you couldn't possibly on the ground. Certain places are so far away that you won't even be able to see them for a little while. Some are covered in those wonderfully fluffy clouds that you will never tire of going through.
That's also where the controls are completely smooth and responsive; that is not quite the case for the platforming which definitely is something that could have been handled better. It's one of the central tenets of that subgenre. Not that there's anywhere where it's completely okay unless you're doing it to make it tough on purpose like the tank configuration of several Silent Hill series entries. It is slightly unfortunate that there are places where it really looks like you could make a certain jump and then you attempt it and it turns out it was simply that the level designer didn't realize that anyone would attempt it. In reality you'll glitch into something though I personally never got stuck anyway. Or you'll hit an invisible wall. Other than that they did a great job; everywhere you look there is environmental storytelling going on. Some places it is warm and sunny, others it is snowing and there's some wind. I feel like the word "storm" is possibly pushing it. Anywhere that has people feels like it actually could support them. Like, there's at least one place where there's access to water, a farm with a field of wheat, sheep and an entire family working there.
The puzzles have been described by some as perfectly fine in how tough they are, some even suggesting you'll need a walkthrough. And certainly if you find yourself in that situation those do exist some in text some in video. Others say, and I agree, that these can barely be considered brain teasers. Essentially it's more like they are tasks. So somewhat like the relatively recent title Adios. It's making you appreciate this situation rather than trying to stump you. So it has more you can do and faster movement than Dear Esther. All three of these are less video games and more vivid short stories that you get to feel like you are experiencing in real life.
The ending has caught some flak. I won't spoil it here though I will try to explore it without doing so. Like many aspects of this it's not quite mainstream; it's not giving you what you think you want it's trying to do something else. There is an audience for what it's doing; it really won't appeal to those who are not part of that. Nothing in this actually suggests that the ending will be what evidently a number of people did expect because of the medium. And there's no shame in that; I'm one of them. At first I was very disappointed. But upon reflection I realized that it does do what it needs to, and well at that. Don't get me wrong; if this cut to credits just 30 seconds earlier I would definitely agree with those who say it is unfinished. I hope that they don't cave to pressure and make a sequel, though I would love either a spiritual successor or just more from these developers. The low poly minimalist graphics are never unpleasant to look at and have meant that it aged better than some that go for a high LOD. No matter what you do here, you cannot reach a fail state. 8/10.