LIMINAL WATERS

Alright. [i]LIMINAL WATERS[/i] is done and dusted. This was a fun liminal spaces game that initially transports you to this game's walking sim version of the Poolrooms liminal spaces with a mix of cramped halls and large poolrooms. At the point where you finish the original levels of the game, you then move on to the game's version of Megastructure walking sims. This is a monster-free experience, which it has to be for me to play it. I'm not a fan of creatures chasing me around liminal spaces games, lol. All in all, it took me three and half hours to complete the entire game. The extra hour was me leaving the game running while I went for short hike near my house. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3718471385 The first half of the game, the Poolrooms liminal spaces, had a good mix of claustrophobic halls, dark cavernous areas, and bright and cheery swimming gyms. Along with the standard collection of various rubber duckies of course. However, the game does spruce things up by offering a number of secret areas, many of which elevate the creepiness factor within the game. The use of lighting throughout the various levels is flat out stunning, and there is a good variation of different mini environments within the scope of these levels. For example, there is an Egyptian themed area and a moss covered section. Plus, some creepy cultist looking stuff. The game does a good job of building and then shifting atmosphere, and that serves to build tension where there really wouldn't be any otherwise. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3718620698 The second half of the game makes excellent use of shifting from poolrooms to the Megastructure type of walking simulator level design (although there was some evidence of this in the first half as well). Initially, you start out in a vast cavern system, but from there, you eventually end up in what seems to be an endless structure in an equally endless alien desert setting. Thematically, you could say that since liminal spaces are timeless, the creators of said spaces can simply keep adding to them without the constraints that come with the movement of time. And I think these megastructure levels do a great job of representing this. Additionally, where the persona of the poolrooms area was more cultish, in these areas, you begin to see more structured religious iconography in the form of dragon (and duck) worship. Throughout the game, there are audio cues and a soundtrack, which is largely filled with atmospheric pieces designed to create that tension I mentioned earlier, at times. In other moments, it's designed to elevate the sense of mystery and intrigue. There's even a splash of whimsy in some moments. Additionally, the sound of motion was nicely done. Something that I really appreciated about the level design in both halves of the game is that, despite there being a fair amount of branching paths, there is still a definite linearity to the levels, and I never felt lost trying to find some corridor I'd missed or what have you. As a result, the game's pacing is improved compared to its contemporaries in this regard. And just when I was feeling like it would be appropriate to reach the actual end of the game, I did in fact reach the end. Now, for you screen archers out there, this game is a visual delight. Not only are the majority of environments stunning, but the brilliant lighting and color design really makes this game pop. Additionally, a lot of attention was paid to the small details such as water movement, reflections, and so on. At one moment, I was pushing a golden ball while it was casting the reflection of everything behind me. I thought that was a really cool moment, and indicative of what I'm talking about here. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3718620111 And for you cheevo hunters, there is a level select so you can go back and clean up any remaining cheevos you may have missed in your initial playthrough. Although I have no intention of doing so personally, I did get 35 out of 40 cheevos simply via natural progression and a decent amount of exploration throughout my playthrough. My only real complaint is that I wish the fast walk was more consistent. It would jump back and forth between normal and fast walking at times despite holding down the shift key. However, jumping made up for this as your jumps are quite substantial and floaty, allowing you to cover a lot of space with each jump (and you can control your movement mid-air making the platforming sections super easy). Still, I'd like fast walking to be improved. Or just increase the base speed. Something like that. I saw this game on sale for $1.99 a couple days ago and instantly bought it. I am very glad I did. This is an excellent example of what a monster-free liminal spaces game should look like both visually and content-wise. Pacing was good. I had fun exploring and checking out the various environment and really enjoyed the mid game shift from Poolrooms to Megastructure walking sim. Very cool stuff. Definitely worth a look. [code]If you found this review helpful and would be interested in supporting my Curator group, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32549618/]Robilar's Reviews[/url], it would be appreciated. Cheers.[/code] [code]Also follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]IndieGems[/url] for more reviews like this one.[/code]

Liminal Waters is a walking simulator with, yup, you guessed it, (mostly) liminal space / pools environments to explore. There are no enemies that attack you or chase you in this game. However, I have spotted a few interesting oddities that move around in the distance that can creep you out. There are 1-2 minor puzzles in this game. One runthrough of the game takes approximately 3 hours to complete. There is an a chapter select at the end of the game which is excellent for cleaning up achievements. To complete all achievements and explore 100% of the game, it took me 5 hours. + The game runs on the latest Unreal graphics / ray tracing, and is gorgeous. You will need a high end PC for full effect. + Most of the games in this genre, your character walks super slow. In this game your character can run fast and jump, which is great. The levels are very large. + The sound effects, soundscapes, and music, are original by the developer and well made. + Achievements provide alot of fun replayability. Trying to find all the secret areas is fun. +/- The levels are not "Maze like". You can generally find your way around with minimal effort. This is not typical for the genre, some people might like this change, but some people might want more challenge and enjoy getting lost in these types of environments. +/- The last level has a different enviroment than the rest of the game, and this will throw many people off. The level is beautifully designed, however it is not liminal and has nothing to do with water. I had alot of fun exporing the environments in this game! Overall: 9/10

This is probably the best liminal space game I've played since pools. Respect to the person/people that has been updating the game a lot. This is a very unique experience and game. Check it out!

Duck lovers wet dream. Amazing liminal space adventure. Highly recommending!

At first I wasn't impressed. I was thought this was just another run of the mill liminal space poolrooms game with smiley balls and rubber ducks like dreamcore and liminalcore, but then things started to change. As I got deeper the game started doing more interesting things, things I'd never seen before. The atmosphere got better and better, the environments got more and more unique until I wasn't even sure if I was even playing the same game anymore. You never get too far from water but you sure do find yourself in a lot of places I have NEVER seen in a liminal space game. It even gets a bit sci-fi alien futurist. It's so weird but so fascinating. It was a joy wandering these spaces trying to figure out what was going on and why we're even there in the first place. I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did and I'm glad I kept an open mind. I'm shocked they're making another chapter honestly, but I look forward to it! If I had to make a complaint or two, I'd say that it isn't super well optimized in some areas and I feel like some of it's attempts to be scary feel forced and a little tryhardy but I enjoyed it overall anyways. Well done!

Liminal Waters is another one of my favorite liminal space walking simulators- I would put it into the same category as POOLS. It is very immersive and the everything about the atmosphere - the sound effects, the lighting, the small details [such as the slippers that someone took off before they stepped into the shower or the wet footprints from someone stepping out of the pool etc. The feeling of a presence watching you, even when nothing is there, never leaves you.

With the new updates this the best liminal space game I have played. Good job dev.

By far one of my favorite if liminal space backrooms style games! Every part of this game shows passion and detail, from the audio to the textures and physics. There is even some fun easter eggs and aspects to the game that open up an entirely new experience. I can't give props enough to this company for the continuous updates and community driven improvements as well as the humbleness that this dev and company give to their testers. Very well done, fan for life! Definitely worth the $$$

Alright after playing this again and again from the start. This game isn't like other liminal games I've played. First I love how realistic it feels as well as the physics. You can tell the Developer thought this through putting every level together. Its also easy to get lost but even then every room you come to has something different to look at and new obstacles to to get to the next area. The lighting is spot on and the atmosphere works great together. The Origins and Void updates really brought it together as I have played the original Origins back in the day. There's really no other game like it. The Developer is a master of his craft great job and keep at it.

One of the most common complaints about liminal style exploration games is that they can get a bit boring and samey after a while, but that isn't true for Liminal Waters. A lot of thought has been put in by the developer to give each stage and room a distinct visual style, meaning it remains interesting to explore throughout the game's runtime. Visually the game looks really good, and a lot of effort has been put in to make each environment pop visually, including some really interesting lighting choices. Performance is also decent. On my hardware at 1440P native, the lowest I saw was 53 FPS (and even at that framerate the game didn't stutter and frametimes remained excellent) and for most of the game's runtime it stays in the 80-100 range. The game is fairly light on the CPU so you can play it on a much weaker CPU than mine. Sound design is also great. There is a great mixture of creepy, eerie and atmospheric sound and the music used is subtle and blends into the levels well. The developer is also really receptive to player feedback and implements fixes and improvements quite quickly. If you're a fan of this style of game, Liminal Waters is well worth a play.