Deep Under the Sky

Extremely simplistic (1 button) puzzle game that would be barely tolerable on a mobile platform. PROS: -Art is ok -Puzzle setup is clean and varied by levels. -Very calm gameplay. CONS: -"Trial and error" gameplay that is extremely repetitive. Gameplay consists of you shooting these balls from the same starting location and trying to time a series of actions to hit targets (except you don't actually control the actions, all you can do is control when each action begins). In short, each time you miss the target you simply repeat the series of actions until you hit it.....and then you repeat that a bunch more times until you hit all the targets in the stage. Then you move on to the next stage which presents you with a different order of actions, but the same concept of hitting targets. That is the entire game with only the order of actions changing between stages. -MISLEADING description: There is no "exploration" or "movement" really...each stage simply presents you with a series of actions and a bunch of targets to hit, and then you go on to the next level. Similarly, nothing here is psychadelic. Its simple, colorful graphics, but thats about it. The video presented on the steam page (showing "gameplay) is also misleading. It shows the character moving through a variety of environments, but this is not, at all, what the gameplay is like. Your objective is to "explode" yourself near those orange balls and then respawn and repeat until you hit all the orange balls in a stage (usually about 5-7).

Don't buy this game. At least, not through Steam. This is a mobile port tried and true, and so faithfully ported from its home device the tutorials still refer to everything as "tapping." Not only this, but if you want to play it on android it's 4 dollars base price. Here, it's 10, which is an absolute rip off unless it goes on sale for pennies. Is the game itself bad? Not at all. In fact, it's fairly decent of a port, glaring phone prompts aside. As some of the other reviews stated the description is misleading for emphasizing exploration and the ability to turn into a ball "like Samus!" as this is more or less a physics based catapult game, with couple cute little tweaks to make it interesting. The ball transformation stuff only happens for a few choice levels too, and it's simply done as that world's gimmick. It's not a selling point, trust me. This being said, I found the art style extremely pleasant, and the puzzle layouts to be very rewarding. While the later levels rely on trial and error, the general layout for a majority of what I've played was quite clever and implemented some interesting tricks with the variety of physic defying powers. I have to say, this is definitely a high tier mobile game and could easily be received well on Steam if they priced it more realistically and, ya know, made the steam version in any way superior to the mobile version. Of course the Store Page doesn't even reference its origins so I doubt that will happen, but I would color this game as kind of a shame, since with a bit of modification and an added area or two it would've been a great little gem. For 10 dollars though? Not a chance. At best, get it in a bundle, or wait for it to go on a big sale. Even 4 dollars on mobile is a bit too much to ask for. Such a missed opportunity.

The only reason I am not recommending Deep Under the Sky on Steam is due to how poorly it was ported over from a mobile system. It can be played with a single finger on a single button and, when it's cooperating, the uncomplicated play style is suited to that equally simplistic control scheme. The trajectory of the jellyfish-spore creature is locked from the start of the level and the tools used to alter its path, as well as the order they can be used, are predetermined as well. Despite a small difficulty spike at the end, even getting the optional hidden stars isn't made to be a challenge. Everything's so relaxed and smooth that I was inclined to play through the entire game in a single sitting. Furthermore the visual style, though not quite stunning, isn't as cluttered as some screenshots make it look. The only irritation I encountered was due to a strange indecision surrounding how to adapt to the lack of a touch screen. No in-game instructions have been altered in the transition, so when told to tap and hold that may mean to press and hold or to press again to release which itself can change from moment to moment. That can become very frustrating very quickly which spoils the chilled-out atmosphere the developers are justifiably proud of. So if a low effort, low stress couple of hours sounds like a good time, pick up Deep Under the Sky, just don't do so outside of a touch screen device.

Cool looking, but dull gameplay.

I have over 600 games in my Steam account, and the vast majority of them are still unplayed. So now I'm dedicating an hour to each of these games and writing a series of One Hour Reviews. An hour isn't very long to judge a game on, so think of this as more of a first impression, and take this review in the spirit in which it's given. Be sure to read other reviews from players who have spent more time in the game. One Hour Reviews #45 - Deep Under the Sky When I started playing Deep Under the Sky, it kept bothering me that this game reminded me of something I had played, but for the life I couldn't remember. But after getting through the first Chapter, it finally dawned on me that the game I was thinking of was Angry Birds. At first glance, you wouldn't really notice the similarity. And really that is to this game's credit, as I don't actually intend to call it an "Angry Birds ripoff". In fact the colorful, almost trippy, art style is quite different, and definitely what I would consider this game's strong suit. And the music blends itself well into this trippy vibe that the game has going for itself. It's the gameplay that has some striking similarities to Angry Birds. In Angry Birds, you launch your birds, and each bird has a different ability that affects how it travels, but regardless of the type of bird you are still trying to take out the pigs. What birds you play vary from level to level. In Deep Under the Sky, you play as a jellyfish that will morph into other forms as you hit the button (which by the way is the single control in this game). Each form does a different thing, such as launching you like a rocket in a certain direction, or curling up into a ball to roll around. The forms you take change from level to level. With Angry Birds, you launch your bird with a slingshot, but here you always launch your jellyfish in exactly the same way. So the only difference in controls is the timing of when you hit the button. In that sense this almost takes the form of a rhythm game where button timing is essential (but the timing has nothing to do with music). While the button timing presents a challenge, it also gets repetitive pretty quick. Each time you fail and relaunch your jellyfish, you end up pushing the same button through the same sequence, up to the point where you left off and need to change your timing. It turns into a lot of trial and error, but there isn't any real strategy to it. It's more a combination of luck, patience, and some amount of skill. Just don't confuse this with a puzzle game. While I appreciated the presentation and music, I just can't get into the gameplay enough to recommend this to anyone, unless you really happen to like Angry Birds. I didn't quite finish my hour of gameplay and really I don't feel any need to come back to this game. It's not something that would really keep my attention, and for that I really couldn't justify the $9.99 asking price.

[h1] One button game of your dreams. [/h1]

It's a physics based puzzle where you try to sperminate some pods of future life placed in an underwater maze with your ejeculating jellyfish using repeated space button push which needs good timing. Reminds me of 'The Sparkle 2 Evo' watery motion feel and aesthetics combined with 'Angry Birds' shooting. Would be a great scrensaver. Головоломка с физикой про осеменение зародышей в лабиринте при помощи извергающейся медузы, которая управляется расчетливыми нажатиями на пробел. Напоминает "Блестку 2 Эво-на" в плане движения в водной толще, а равно и внешним видом, в соединении со стрельбой из "Сердитых птиц". Отличный хранитель экрана.

Lovely little puzzler about squids on Venus - 1 button, many things happen when you press it - some talent required!! Visually gorgeous, nice ambient soundtrack... MIGHT have been nice to have leaderboards based on times/getting the stars etc. - but then someone would only cheat so maybe not...

Kinda interesting, kinda silly. It cracks me up that the entire point of the game is shooting a squid to impregnating those little pods. If you like casual gameplay with a bit of depth to it, and pretty graphics, this might be of interest to you.

It turns out that the far side of Venus is populated by a whole mess of crazy-ass life forms, including big fuzzy bioluminescent jellyfish that shoot eggs everywhere. You play one of those jellyfish in a one-button physics puzzler about launching and exploding your eggs to plant babies all over the planet. Once you get the basics of hitting targets down the game starts introducing additional movements to the sequence, like speed boosts, bounces, rolls, and so on. Using whatever sequence you have loaded at the right times will get your seeds where they need to go, and can also score you two stars per level tucked away in hard-to-hit spots. Once upon a time, this was the chillest game in my library, enough that I would pop it open as a break between other games all the time. There’s zero stress or pressure here, just you, a bunch of targets, and infinite chances to hit them. The graphics are busy as hell but sway in a calm, reserved way and the soundtrack is exactly the weird kind of low-key ambient you’re expecting. With four chapters of 20 levels apiece this one can keep you busy for a good long while, working out all your trick shots or just blasting jellyfish bits all over Venus to relax. You can find more mini-reviews like this one, along with full reviews and other features, at https://goldplatedgames.com/ or on my [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/11322459/]curation page[/url]!