Existensis

[h1]Enter a vibrant fantasy world and exit [i]Existensis[/i] inspired.[/h1] Some games are about concepts rather than skills, and [i]Existensis[/i] falls into this category. It’s an existential journey exploring causality, empathy, and other deep but abstract ideas. Immersed in the game’s beautiful fantasy universe, you may be sad when the story ends, left wanting more, but in the best of ways, in the way that you know that the experience was meaningful, impactful, and changed you. Although I can in no way do [i]Existensis[/i] justice, hopefully my prose brings attention to this gem of a game. [h1]Game Universe[/h1] Our journey begins on a train with Mayor, an artist and an architect with peacock fashion and a long braid, leaving his hometown of Varish on a quest for inspiration. He’s creatively blocked and seeking the meaning of life to inform his magnum opus, a tower. Mayor travels through 15 richly imagined locales, each with unique local economies devoted to different creative disciplines, spanning from tattoos to engineering and from meteorology to agriculture. This wonderfully detailed universe is populated by a diverse plethora of original fantasy creatures and captivating characters, many of whom embody qualities such as kindness, truth, wrath, and grief. From these characters, Mayor asks the meaning of life and death and is inspired to build a Tower of Life. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2578038134 [h1]Gameplay and Mechanics[/h1] At its foundation, [i]Existensis[/i] is a 2D side-scrolling platformer, with the gameplay and mechanics that implies. In each level, the player (as Mayor) needs to collect enough snippets about one of two possible next destinations to fill in that location’s sigil in Mayor’s journal. This will pique Mayor’s interest enough to travel to that location. The narrative branches in this way until you reach the terminal destination of each branch. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2577968286 In each area, the player must direct Mayor through the platforms to discover inspiration for a Tower of Life and find The Poet to receive a codex page for Mayor’s journal. While maybe not challenging enough to entice some players, those who prize narrative and exploratory aspects of games will probably feel [i]Existensis[/i] provides a satisfying amount of problem-solving in determining the best route and figuring out the navigational peculiarities of each place. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2577967063 After finding inspiration for my first Tower of Life, I was confused when it appeared that all of my progress with the sigils up to that point had been lost. I eventually figured out that this was what was supposed to happen, but it would have been nice to have that either be made clear beforehand or explained afterward to avoid worrying that something was wrong with the game. It is a bit of a bummer having to backtrack and replay at least a bit after each Tower of Life is inspired, and if you accidentally choose the wrong level to reload on the selection screen, you’re out of luck. [h1]Art Style and Graphics[/h1] [i]Existensis[/i] is unequivocally the most beautiful game I’ve played in a long time. Each location is lushly animated, richly colored, and unique, yet together they form an artistically and stylistically cohesive whole. This becomes even more impressive when you consider it was all hand drawn and hand animated by one person on paper. As a personal example, Ozzie Sneddon’s rendition of red rock geology at Illithican is visually stunning and brought pure joy to my geologist heart. I took over 500 screenshots while playing the game, which is over 5 times more than I usually take. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2577969191 Mayor’s journal, with its sketchbook qualities and sometimes-hard-to-read-just-like-real-life handwriting font, is an art form unto itself. I only wish that The Poet’s codex pages actually had text that was meant to be read by the player as part of the game’s worldbuilding and lore, because some of the entry titles sound so intriguing. [h1]Sound and Music[/h1] The art is frequently lauded in reference to this game, but the soundtrack is also brilliantly done. Whether a harmonious pleasure to the ear or purposefully dissonant, the music is as perfectly themed and distinctive to each place as the art. It borrows from the relevant musical genres that will best evoke the ambience, be that a sea shanty or rock-and-roll guitar. I was fascinated to note in the credits that Ozzie Sneddon did the music in addition to all of the hand-drawn art and animations, showing that he’s an exemplary artist musically as much as with paper. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2577969810 [h1]Verdict[/h1] Depending on player skill with platformers, [i]Existensis[/i] can be completed in as short a time as 2.5 hours to a more leisurely paced 4.5 hours. Even for players on the more speedy end of the spectrum, [i]Existensis[/i] is well-worth buying at full price ($14.99 at the time of review) for the beautiful experience provided by art, music, and other components smoothly linked together. Gamers looking for a philosophical exploration to engage the brain and/or who enjoy high fantasy are in for a treat. [quote]Visit SaveOrQuit.com for detailed game reviews, posted daily![/quote]

[h1] [b] [i] Игра встречает искусство [/i] [/b] [/h1] Невероятное, запоминающее путешествие по самым разным мирам. [quote] [url=store.steampowered.com/curator/11769719-Dreams-of-Genesis/] А здесь ещё больше интересных обзоров на игровые новинки! [/url] [/quote] [h1] [i] Так много волшебства вложили в небольшую бродилку [/i] [/h1] Игра представляет собой обычный платформер с элементами визуальной новеллы, в котором вам предстоит искать вдохновение, исследуя окружающий мир. Выбор предмета исследования предопределит ваш путь, однако правильного пути, как такового, нет. Собственно, сама цель игры - это [b]созерцание[/b] в поиске вдохновения: пройтись по локации, поговорить с персонажами, понаблюдать за некоторыми процессами, решить небольшие головоломки... В каждой локации вы встретите множество новых персонажей, но один - Поэт - будет неизменно ждать вас - собственно, он и будет подбрасывать вам немного вдохновения. [h1] [i] Поиск смысла жизни - о, как это знакомо! [/i] [/h1] Есть два типа локаций: промежуточные звенья, которые также могут оказаться финальными, если вы поговорите о смысле жизни со своего рода мудрецом (отмеченным фиолетовой звездой) и непосредственно финальные локации, которые так или иначе приведут вас к одной из концовок. Всего концовок, если мне не изменяет память, 14 + финальная. Собрать их все можно только с помощью тщательного исследования всех локаций. Правда, не очень удобно определять, сколько концовок ещё нужно собрать, т.к. это можно посмотреть, только [i]уже[/i] получив какую-то концовку, в дневнике же вы найдёте лишь заметки, которые лично мне говорят не очень много. [h1] [i]Техническая сторона проекта [/i] [/h1] Визуально всё выполнено выше всяких похвал. Мне трудно представить, как это всё мог нарисовать и собрать в единую игру один единственный человек. Картинка вышла очень качественной, и дополняет её в меру залипательный саундтрек. Каждая локация имеет множество деталей, и в то же время выдержана в каком-то общем стиле как внешне, так и музыкально. Платформер - он и в Африке платформер, поэтому никаких проблем при прохождении не возникает. Всё идёт в меру плавно, лишь иногда при появлении других NPC происходят небольшие просадки fps - что практически не мешает процессу. [h1] [i] Общее впечатление [/i] [/h1] Созерцательная игра, которая позволит вам как задуматься о смысле жизни, так и медитативно исследовать локации, открывая для себя что-то новое. Это тот редкий случай, когда я готова поддержать проект обеими руками, потому что это и правда нечто волшебное. Если у вас всё ещё есть сомнения - отбрасывайте их прочь и поскорее погружайтесь в эти прекрасные миры! [b]Плюсы[/b]: + великолепная графика, отрисованная вручную; + залипательная музыка; + интересные и по-своему уникальные локации и персонажи; + можно расслабиться и бродить, а можно вникать в смысл. [b]Нейтральные аспекты[/b]: ~ нет русского языка - вникать на английском труднее. [b]Минусы[/b]: - не очень удобный интерфейс, особенно дневник. [b]Итог[/b]: игра - подарок для тех, кто ищет вдохновение и смысл жизни. Конечно, она не даст вам прямые ответы, но, возможно, подтолкнёт к искомому. [i]Кому понравится:[/i] тем, кто потерялся в серых буднях и хочет отдохнуть глазами и разумом.

Just... wow. I'm speechless about how stunningly gorgeous this game looks, it really feels like you've encountered a treasure. This game's imagery is a pure manifestation of childhood: how you walked past shelves in a bookstore, examining covers in the fantasy corner, how you read the half-forgotten fairy tales, how you watched countless cartoons, none titles of which you could remember today. The way it evokes nostalgia is not by depicting how you lived, but rather how you was thinking, dreaming and fantasizing about great kingdoms and obscure adventures, which is pretty universal. That is the greatest achievement of solo dev Ozzie Sneddon, and I can recommend this game for anyone to feel this way alone. Essentially, it doesn't matter if gameplay-wise this game doesn't offer much, although it tries to tweak some things with little mechanics here and there, if it's too short, if the music is sometimes irritating, and if lore bits are ciphered from stupid people like me (thanks for the tip Ozzie, tho) — all these things are negated by what it leaves afterwards, that is, reemerged feeling of childish joy and excitement. Buy it, experience it, and hopefully, you won't regret it.

[h1] To all the people reading this, I recommend you finish the full game, explore every location in the game perceiving its beauty whilst doing so, this game is an astounding experience and exploring every region enables you to proceed even further in the lore of the game in which regard I choose not to specify so as to encourage others into experiencing a blind play-through and as to not ruin the lore. [/h1] [b] tl;dr [/b] - Quit wasting your time looking at reviews and get the bloody game already, its an absolute masterpiece. The game is an absolute masterpiece, having each area, each character hand drawn, every area resonates its own ambience, being different in its own way, every area is beautiful and very cleverly made by [b] Ozzie Sneddon [/b], each character is unique and is characterized by the developer in such a way, you wished they were real, you wished you knew them, you wish you could spend reality with them and each character, hand-crafted by [b] Ozzie Sneddon [/b] is beautiful, from the ones with the tiniest of dialogues stretching all the way to the ones that play a major part in the lore of the game. The game also features its own unique play style, wherein as you explore areas as an artisan, seeking inspiration about what life and death truly is, these areas furthermore branch out into plethora's of areas, each one more glamorous than the last, every region expresses its individuality from the others, being greatly unique from other areas since you cannot (always) proceed into further areas. The soundtrack of the game is a masterpiece, every areas soundtrack gets better as you spend more time in the area and proceeds only to get better each time you revisit the area, being the reason I have over 15 hours in this game, I liked to spend my time in each area, re-experiencing it over and over while proceeding to another. The game is also a source of inspiration, while the plot revolves around inspiration itself! A lot can be learned about how one perceives the world, and their view on life and death can from this game. [b] Ozzie Sneddon[/b], being a solo dev who worked on this game has created perfection, you sir have created a world that people will never forget, a world that will forever reside in peoples hearts. Thank you for developing one of the most wonderful experiences. This game is the type where you wish you could forget all of it, and play it blind, all from the beginning. [h1] 'Life is all about iteration, efficiency, developing a perfect system from a chaotic beginning and a uncertain end' ~ CLAUS AFFLEC, Thoughtform of Ingenuity [/h1] ~ DIFFICULTY ~ ✅ My 90 year old grandma could play it 🔲 Easy 🔲 Normal 🔲 Hard 🔲 Dark Souls Not really a difficulty based game, it is more focused on lore hence being unique and beautiful. ~ GRAPHICS ~ 🔲 MS Paint 🔲 Bad 🔲 Meh 🔲 Graphics don't matter in this game 🔲 Good 🔲Beautiful ✅ Masterpiece Each character and area is hand-drawn exquisitely, looks fabulous. ~ MUSIC ~ 🔲 Bad 🔲 Not special 🔲 Good ✅ Beautiful You would keep returning to areas just for the music and the lore, it is splendid. Keeps getting better every single time. ~ STORY ~ 🔲 This game has no story 🔲 Like playing Temple Runners for the story 🔲 It's there for the people who want it 🔲 Well written 🔲 Epic story ✅ Imagine Kingdom Hearts but on crack The lore is beautiful, starts off with a simple story of an artisan seeking inspiration for his magnum opus, a tower representing the meaning of life and death, and delves deeper and deeper and ends with a banger (after having experienced every area in the game) ~ PRICE ~ 🔲 Free 🔲 Underpriced ✅ Perfect Price 🔲 Could be cheaper 🔲 Overpriced 🔲 Complete waste of money Prices are set regionally by the developer and are affordable, one can say it is under-priced not for the length gameplay it offers which is average, but for the lore, the soundtrack, the visuals and the experience. ~ REQUIREMENTS ~ 🔲 You can run it on a microwave ✅ Average 🔲 High end 🔲 NASA computer Requirements are stated on the store page and aren't high at all, easily can be run on a low end laptop. ~ LENGTH ~ 🔲 Very Short (0 - 2 hours) ✅Short (2 - 15 hours) 🔲 Average (15-50 hours) 🔲 Long (50-100 hours) 🔲 Extremely long (100+ hours) 🔲 No ending (cuz multiplayer) Depending person to person the game lasts, I spent my time repeating areas because the game was so beautiful in prospect of the soundtrack, visuals, the lore and the will to complete it to a 100% because of its magnificence. Hence enabling me to have over 15 hours in the game ~ FUN ~ 🔲 I'd rather watch paint dry 🔲 Hard to enjoy 🔲 Repetitive 🔲 Actually pretty amusing ✅The kind of fun you'll remember 🔲 Ride of your life The gameplay is good, your job is to traverse and explore areas, interact with the characters to expand yourself into the lore achieve different 'endings', find secrets, make decisions. Very fun overall ~ REPLAYABILITY~ 🔲 It's a one-time experience 🔲 Only for achievements ✅ If you wait a few months/years 🔲 Definitely 🔲 Infinitely replayable Each area can be reexperienced repetedly since the lore is splendid and likely hard to forget because of its beauty, not in just the lore, but in the soundtracks and each hand-drawn area as well, but you are likely not to forget such a game without not playing it for a while. You would wish you could forget it and play it all over again.

I've struggled with suicide for a while because it's difficult to find beauty in the simple things, but even I can see that this game is a simple, beautiful thing. People have written entire novels on the meaning of life, death, sorrow, peace, etc., but these characters say just as much with only a few poignant lines of dialogue. This game isn't so much a "game" as it is a narrative experience though. Stages branch off into other stages, requiring a bit of backtracking in order to complete all the routes. This can be a little tedious at times, but is the only downside to this otherwise fascinating world. The characters are vibrant and so very human, despite looking otherwise at first glance. The settings are surreal and gorgeous. The music is... odd sometimes, but ultimately sets the mood quite well. Overall, this short game is both charming and humbling. Thank you Ozzie for putting so much passion into this piece; when times get tough, I'll probably think of this experience now and then.

Philosophical adventure + artistic graphics/music + multiple endings = Wander in the world of Eré to gain inspiration for your greatest masterpiece. 15 areas to explore and about 4 hours long. [h1][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35180752-3-point-play/] Follow our curator for similar games [/url][/h1]

**NOTE:** This review is part of my steam curator review and is the extended version. Check my steam curator page at https://store.steampowered.com/curator/39607348-Random-Game-Reviews-by-Labprofess/ . Follow appreciated! --- Existensis is just wow. Despite the random name which I'm still struggling to understand, this game is one of the best I have played recently. However, if I had to guess, I would say the name got some inspiration from the word ‘exist’ which can be explained as the existence of a certain object or idea. If so, that's a very smart title which foretells the background of the game and its purpose in relation to the player, you. To fully understand this let's look at what the game is about. This game revolves around you, the mayor, seeking inspiration to build a tower that represents the journey of life. But you are out of ideas so you travel the world in hope of understanding more about life and death in general which ultimately help you shape the design of your tower and its creation. Seems simple right? But the journey to get there is filled with emotion, astonishment and philosophical questions that will make you reflect on the purpose of time and how you would like to spend it (or not if you don't care). You are trying to find reasons for existing and the end of existence (death) in order to work on a greater project. An entire paragraph on what a game title might mean and its relevance to the game. This already justifies the game's tag ‘philosophical’. The game looks beautiful. It's all hand drawn. It's difficult to believe, I know. The drawings, possibly scanned or digital art look amazing. Very good use of vibrant colors, wherever you look. Even the backgrounds are detailed. The dedication and hours of work put into just one level carries on throughout the entire game including the NPCs. Even the non-interactive NPCs are detailed from top to bottom. It really shows that the developer is proud of his creation. You spend around half the story time just appreciating the scenery in awe. I checked over the developers Reddit where they showcased the drawings of the various assets of the game and it's a lot of paper. Big props to the developer for going through with it. I can imagine it wasn't easy and motivation quickly drained out. Now I spoke so much about the colors and beauty of the assets, but what about how the game runs? Perfect. Even a potato could run it. The game doesn't have graphic settings but that doesn't make it bad. Come on - even a mac can run it. There's nothing to worry about. Lastly, to conclude this review I want to answer the question if this game is worth its price and your time. The short answer is yes. The longer answer is yes, however don't think this is a bug free experience. Neither does it target everyone's interest. First, if you are into the bigger picture of the meaning of life and death, this is for you. Doesn't matter if you’re religious or not. It doesn't conflict with religious values at all. Rather it supports them by mentioning points of life's meaning which are present in various religions. It merely builds up on them or simplifies them. However, if you don't want to face death and the bigger picture of life, this isn't for you. Now regarding bugs. There are 2 bugs I noticed: First, you can fall off the map in some places if you make the correct jump at the edge of the map from a tall platform. You fall into nothingness and have to restart the level. Sucks. Another bug is the full screen key: DON'T spam it! If you spam it too quickly, the screen can just turn black and you can't even use your pc! Have to restart it completely :/ (However, I'm using a new monitor so It might be on my end, not sure). With all this said now, and you knowing what the game is about, including an insight to ‘imperfections’ , it's up to you to decide if you want to get the game. I would say go for it, the amount of work put in the game and its story rich environment justify its price 100%. Enjoy!

This game had a wonderful story, enjoyable characters, and beautiful art and music throughout. I highly recommend this game and look forward to games made by Ozzie in the future.

A short game with a beautiful artstyle and a deep meaning made by only one person. You would do yourself a favor by playing through this game.

Here is a link to the [url=https://youtu.be/g4VnV4ONTBg]video review[/url] if you prefer to listen. In order to keep spoilers to a minimum, this is going to be a super short review. Existensis is a platforming exploration game that follows a colorful man named ‘The Mayor’ on his search for the meaning of life and death for his magnum opus, a tower that symbolizes what it means to be alive. This journey takes the Mayor down many roads, multiple times in fact; and at almost every setting he will meet other people also traveling but for their own reasons. In one timeline he will travel with one and other timelines another, leading to diverging paths. At the end of every path there is some inspiration but his opus will not be completed until every path available is traveled to its fullest. The world made by Mr. Sneddon is packed with lore and world building that I was not expecting. I only got a glimpse of it through playing this game and I am already hoping for another project of some kind that continues the tales of some of these characters and places. The imaginative writing is matched with the equally imaginative art style and character design. Different kinds of city and landscapes with vibrant colors solidify this fantasy into something real. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to jump around its many levels all the while listening to a surprisingly well made soundtrack. The compositions for each area fit perfectly and further elevated this memorable experience. I also loved seeing the artifacts of the animation process carry into the final product. This organic treatment of animation style really made everything feel alive. For a solo dev project that was literally made by hand, I cannot find fault in the writing, visuals, or soundtrack. But there is more to this game than these things. I mean it IS a game after all. So how does it play? The gameplay is exceedingly simple; you can move left, right, jump, and interact with the people and world around you. The platforming is a tad muddy and the more modern platforming style of being able to drop through a platform is not included here. Sometimes the platforms were hard to differentiate, but never to the point of frustration and I have a feeling some of it was intentional. The game is short (I completed it in less than four hours) and most of the game is redoing areas to travel down new paths. Because of how short the areas were, it avoided becoming tedious and reaching the final ending was rewarding. This is definitely an exploration platformer, but I would say Existensis is an experience more than a videogame. The thoughts on life and death might not be new to people that have taken philosophy classes (or just thought a lot about it) but the way it is presented was thoughtful and the execution pleased my brain, eyes, and ears. I am giving Existensis a 4 out of 5 meaning, please go and buy this game if you like good fantasy writing and art or if you like the artistic side of indie games in general. It was worth the money spent and I would spend more for the soundtrack, Ozzie. OK I said enough.