Californium

Californium pulled me in immediately with its striking visual style and Philip K. ♥♥♥♥-inspired alternate reality premise — the color palettes across different worlds are genuinely stunning, and the voice acting gives the whole thing a professional, eerie polish. Playing as Elvin Green, a washed-up writer unraveling the seams between realities, I found the atmosphere and storytelling genuinely compelling, even when the narrative leans into deliberate vagueness. That said, the core gameplay mechanic — hunting for theta symbols that only appear from exact positions and disappear if you look too long — quickly became more tedious than mysterious, pulling me out of the immersion I was otherwise enjoying. It's a short experience (around 3 hours) that works better as a strange, psychedelic journey than as a traditional game, so if you can make peace with what is essentially a hidden-object walking simulator dressed in brilliant sci-fi clothing, there's something worthwhile here. Go in knowing what it is, watch a video first, and catch it on sale.

it's incredible, I have crazy sensitive motion sickness but that's on me. The game play and execution are so charming I wanna overcome my nausea to finish it(and I WILL, just you wait) I installed it with 0 knowledge about it, just dive in head first and vibe(which means I also have never heard about Philip Kindred ♥♥♥♥ before, might have to go check out his works after this) usually I don't get along well with first-person pov game so I tend to avoid it, but Californium's graphics hooked me in immediately, like I gotta try it even if it means I'll have to go puke after(fortunately I didn't, just almost) and DAMN! It wouldn't come out this perfect with any other pov, and even more perfect with the plot, with the protag's conditions, nice work, keep it up!

This "game" isn't precisely a game. It's a journey. It only makes [b]some[/b] sense if you know it is an elaborate tribute to the science fiction writer Philip K. ♥♥♥♥. The wacky pseudo-California world, the themes of oppression and rebellion, are all contained within many of his novels, and so too is the basic plot of a woman walking out on the main character, although it has been a long time since I read any of ♥♥♥♥'s books, so I am not sure of that. Judging from my achievements, I played about half of this game in May of 2017 and didn't [b]finish it[/b] until I got a better machine in July 2025. I am guessing I lost interest, as the game play is slow, and the finding of the symbols sometimes needlessly difficult. You definitely won't like this game if you are expecting action. Other than some mind-bending scene changes, [spoiler]very little actually happens![/spoiler]

Wow

Californium est un jeu qui j'ai bien aimé mais il ne plaira clairement pas à tout le monde. Le gameplay est très minimaliste. C'est un point'n click à la première personne où le "jeu" consiste à trouver et cliquer sur des éléments dans le décor. Le genre "walking simulator". Les graphismes sont sympathiques sans plus et le doublage pas toujours exceptionnel. Le jeu se boucle très vite (3h-4h) sans vrai rejouabilité. Le principal attrait de Californium est la plongée dans l'univers (ou plutôt les univers) de Philip K.♥♥♥♥ (ok merci steam c'est très malin) et c'est en cela que je le trouve réussi. Il m'a donné envie de m'intéresser à cet auteur. En solde, c'est une bonne affaire si vous voulez connaître un aperçu de ce grand nom de la SF (nom qui n'est pas censuré automatiquement sur le synopsis du jeu).

Game breaking bug, at the end of chapter 3....since 2016. I have verified game files, uninstalled, reinstalled on a different machine, and started an entirely new save. Nothing works haha. I wish I never bought this game.

не интересно

Weird.

Un beau petit jeu avec quelques bonnes idées. Les personnages que l'on rencontre sont horribles, il s'agit surement d'un choix artistique, car mis à part cela, les différents environnements sont bien construits et intéressants à explorer.

Excellent design choices. Engaging and fun. Exactly what you'd want out of a game like this. Only 3-4 hours long. Really great idea and very well executed.