Apotheorasis • Lab of the Blind Gods

Spoilers below [hr][/hr] Apotheorasis is a fascinating and very brave concept, with a competent if definitely not perfect execution. The game is functionally an FPS with a sci-fi theme, comprising three short acts that increase in difficulty but remain relatively basic and straightforward. Indeed, if Apotheorasis was just a regular shooter it would be, frankly, comparable to a pretty good student project. But of course, Apotheorasis is very much *not* a regular shooter. I'm sure more than a few people saw the description for this game and thought "how can that possibly work?" and the answer is quite simple - sound design. I would personally rate the sound design of Apotheorasis at a B+ to an A-, though I am almost certainly judging it more harshly than I would in most games simply because it has to do so much more heavy lifting. Sound (and perhaps some controller vibration) is your only source of information about what hazards are nearby, where enemies are, and when they are planning to attack. For the most part, you can get all of this information well enough - pinpointing where around you footsteps are coming from is tricky at first, but quickly becomes second nature. Enemies generally have a distinctive sound they make before attacking and your shield seems to work regardless of whether or not you're facing them. I could be wrong about this, but I think your main projectile is also considerably wider than a bullet in your typical FPS so you don't need millimeter perfect aiming (or I could just be more accurate than I thought!) These little touches combine to make something that sounds like an unplayable mess into some surprisingly gripping action. I will stress that it's not perfect though - a few more polishing touches would likely increase the ease of play. For example, I think the guards have a death noise but I'm not sure if I ever heard it over the sound of my blasts, so I was often spraying until my companion remarked that the enemies were dead. Likewise, one enemy towards the end had an attack with a few seconds delay between actually hitting/killing you and the death sounds followed by menu/retry sounds kicking in. Generally speaking, towards the back end of the game you begin to encounter more complex enemies (shoot when they lower their shield, then raise your shield to block their incoming attack, for example). When there are multiple enemies around and you're trying to distinguish a 'Robot charging laser' sound effect from a 'Robot moving around' sound effect, the game can get quite brutal. That brutality, though, isn't necessarily a bad thing. While I wouldn't call Apotheorasis a horror game, it's certainly very tense, stressful and even outright scary at times. Walking through a room called "The Kennels", my companion of absolutely no use as all the lights were off, hearing the growling sounds of dogs all around me but not quite able to pinpoint them, but also knowing they were about to attack - absolutely one of the most tense experiences I've had playing a video game. Further adding to the fear is that you're never really sure *what* it is that's attacking you - you can only guess from how it sounds. There is an intimidating atmosphere to the game as a result of the blindness mechanic and it's without a doubt one of it's best narrative qualities. Story and characters are...well, functional. It's some pretty cheesy sci-fi and the villain is a fully mask-off cackling mad scientist type. Nothing wrong with that of course and I think the occasionally comedic tone does actually help to not make the game feel too oppressive. Voice acting is serviceable throughout - I suspect the VAs are not professionals but it's not at all bad, just a little theatrical. In summary, Apotheorasis is a thrilling, pocklet-sized adventure which provides a unique experience for a very reasonable price. It's not going to change your life, or consume all your waking hours for the next month. But it does giv you something that you can't get anywhere else and it does it pretty well. Recommendation: BUY (what, are you going to wait for the [i]next[/i] blind-FPS-for-under-a-tenner or something?)

This is a cool game on paper, but (and I don't know if this is something that will get fixed when the full release drops soon) the execution just isn't there to make it playable for me. A fun stage is set in front of you with the dialogue, but even with my good noise-cancelling headphones, I found it too hard to get my bearings and figure out where to move and shoot. The auditory cues were too short, too quiet, and/or too infrequent to help me indicate where I needed to be facing. It wasn't clear enough that I was walking the wrong way off a bridge until it was too late. I just couldn't get very far because it was too hard to hear the space around me. I'd love to see an audio-only game like this more fleshed out, but I don't think this is the right game to define the genre just yet.

[h1] 真盲人模拟器 [/h1] 这是一款什么样的游戏，其实我也说不清楚，你可以说它是剧情游戏，也可以是射击游戏，甚至还可以说它是模拟游戏。 游戏的副标题：Lab of the Blind Gods译为盲神实验室，大致说明了游戏的玩法。 ●由于车祸事故，男角既失去了家人，也变成了盲哑人（不能说话也看不见任何东西，不过倒是可以借助机器设备进行简单的yes跟no答复）。在被神秘人拯救后，他重新生存下去，并深入探索隐藏在事件背后的真相。 玩法倒不难，主要是设计理念很新奇，游戏内没有任何画面跟Ui，只有声音作伴。在游玩期间玩家需要全程佩戴好耳机且紧闭双眼（为了更好的代入进盲人角色），游戏内的各种交互也都是基于听声辩位来进行的。 ●大部分是剧情，其中也会涉及到部分战斗，可以开枪射击，也可以举盾防御，初体验蛮有意思的。 操作也不难，支持键鼠跟手柄，个人更推荐键鼠，毕竟第一人称视角可以更好的进行目标瞄准 ●wasd移动，方向上键yes，方向下键no，鼠标控制视角方向，鼠标左键或者空格射击，鼠标右键或者shift进行防御 虽然玩法跟操作都很容易，但这款游戏也存在一定的上手门槛。 ●全程英文配音且没有任何字幕，意味着玩家在玩懂前首先得听懂才行。不过也不用太担心，英文的难度不会很高，并不需要托福雅思那样的级别，四六级足以。 ●入手前也可以尝试下序章试玩版https://store.steampowered.com/app/1836310/Apotheorasis__Lab_of_the_Blind_Gods__Prologue/ 综上所述，比起一般性玩家，更推荐给有一定英语基础的玩家入手。 [quote] 加入[url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/ADZZW]爱の榨汁屋[/url]&关注[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34815366/]爱の鉴赏家[/url]，用爱品鉴世间作品，用心流淌真情实感。 [/quote]

I had a hard time with this game, especially at the bridge section, theres a ton of sounds happening, so its difficult to make out where you actually need to go, and only stopping to move for 1-2 seconds to reorientate, ends in you getting killed by whatever hunts you. I didnt think you have to do blind speedrunning right after the tutorial. The voice acting in most cases is also quite bad, it felt like the doctor was Mario lol. It didnt feel unprofessional, but it just didnt sit right.

Uma experiência peculiar e interessante. Foi a primeira vez que experimentei algo tão distinto e fora da proposta de um jogo comum. Apotheorasis inova ao trazer um jogo totalmente voltado apenas para sons e sensações que os mesmos trazem. Aqui sua audição é tudo, você enxerga com ela e sente o mundo a sua volta. A proposta é bem estranha mas acaba fluindo e ate sendo gostosa de experimentar. Com uma historia diferente, o jogo não te entrega um final perfeito mas, te mostra como uma simples historia pode se tornar interessante apenas pelo jeito como é narrada e por personagens que você nem ao menos sabe quem são ou como são. Focando em algo simples, o jogo se torna divertido e não cansa ao mostrar novas experiências ao jogador. Você anda por lugares apenas escutando o som a sua volta, buscando saber onde esta pisando e por onde está indo. Inimigos não são tão complexos mas trazem desafios novos, já que agora sua audição é sua única aliada e sua maior arma. Fiquei surpreso em como isso é diferente e a sensação foi estranha no começo, mas depois fluiu como se fosse um jogo comum e a imaginação fez todo seu trabalho. Falando agora sobre os elementos negativos do jogo. Bom, como todo jogo, este possui alguns defeitos e um deles justamente tentar trazer uma proposta "nova" mas que fica bagunçada por não ter sido bem planejada. A questão do jogo ser baseado apenas em sons, faz dele algo muito gostoso de experimentar porem, quando o áudio é seu maior aliado e o mesmo, acaba se tornando seu maior inimigo, isso deixa tudo confuso e perdido. Sons um em cima do outro, inimigos, aliados e ambiente emitindo sons ao mesmo tempo... Ok ok, a proposta do jogo é essa porem, o jogo possui momentos em que a proposta se quebra e tu sente que aquilo esta errado. O seu inimigo do jogo acaba tendo diálogos um em cima do outro e isso atrapalha de mais, já que sua maior ferramenta é o áudio. Deixando tudo confuso e ate mesmo cansativo. Em algumas partes do jogo fiquei perdido por não saber ao certo o que deveria fazer ou onde atirar, justamente pelo jogo não ter um audio 100% fiel. A trama do game não é um ponto forte mas se torna interessante por conta dos personagens e em como é narrada. Momentos engraçados e ate mesmo a quebra da quarta parede, fazem da historia algo apreciável. No final do jogo parece que não ouve cuidado e senti que o mesmo se perdeu. Em um certo momento do jogo, deveria fazer uma escolha e eu não queria fazer essa escolha e o jogo te da a liberdade de não fazer, porem, o mesmo fez a escolha por mim, sem eu nem ter feito ela. Fiquei frustrado com isso já que me parecia errado escolher aquilo. O embate final do jogo é outra coisa bem estranha, uma bagunça sonora que me deixou extremamente confuso e perdido, nem sabia o que estava acontecendo. Bom, o Apotheorasis não é perfeito mas, é desafiador e ate mesmo confuso, podendo não ser interessante para todos, mas, para os que souberem aproveitar, pode se tornar um excelente jogo. Aconselho para quem quer algo diferente, algo para sentir e apreciar como uma experiência única. Pretendo joga-lo novamente e fazer todas conquistas e entender melhor do que se tratada a narrativa.

Fantastic audio only FPS. I found myself substantially immersed in the game from the word go. I love the weird doctor. I love the choice you get to make at the start. The environments are beautifully realized in sound! I felt like I was there. :D Definitely worth it at the current price of $10nzd. https://youtu.be/9oYBJ6VQF_g

A game with no visuals whatsoever. An interesting concept held back by poor voice acting and lengthy stretches without gameplay that cannot be skipped.

Quiero darles una oportunidad porque el planteamiento del juego está muy bien y realmente consigues vivir el juego sin llegar a ver absolutamente nada de lo que está pasando. Ahora bien, algunos sonidos me forzaban a subir el volumen y otros llegaban a ser demasiado estridentes y tuve que dejar la partida porque acabé con bastante dolor de cabeza. Espero que acaben de pulir esas cosas, porque me parece muy buen proyecto.

This is a very interesting idea in theory, but I found the complete lack of visual stimulus to just not be very engaging; constant attention wandering, wishing people would talk faster, etc. I also found the voice acting to be very unengaging and rather unpleasant to listen to (possibly because of the accents, I'm not sure). If you're a real audiophile I still think you should check this out (for the novelty if nothing else, experimentation in games should always be promoted), but if you're at all a visual person this probably isn't for you.

When I first saw this game, I thought "How hard could this be, its just a sound based game". Turns out I couldn't be anymore wrong. This game takes a simple premise and pushes the boundary on what we think we can do. This is one of the best games I have ever played and presents simple controls that work well with the format of the game. The sound format gives a high skill floor for those that like spamming while there is a high skill ceiling for making quick shots accurately. My only gripes with the game is the lack of sound or narration cues in some sections that can leave you wondering what you're meant to do. This game might also do better with some ui elements for being on the main menu so that its clearer whats being referred to.