Panthalassa

A crash, circuits are melting, the screen is shattered. Just barely you recognize a figure and with the help of an autonomous AI you transfer your programming over to the giant machine since your submarine hub is beyond repair. As you find yourself in a new body, a quick look around shows a foreign world you can't match with your database. A facility so deep underwater. Alien technology with no instructions attached. That's your intro to the beautiful world of Panthalassa. Your character is as clueless as you are. The helpful AI introduces itself as Tetra and while they exist in this place, they can offer little guidance and even less knowledge. This is what leads into the beautiful theme and mystery of Panthalassa. What is this place, where does your new body come from and most of all, how does anything around you operate? You spot a scope that offers a view of the landscape outside the building you inhabit right now. You can make out some tubes, algae and another building, but that's pretty much it. Interacting with the door prompts a round device. Circular buttons with weird symbols. You insert the plug and it opens up. A display on top and a keyboard below it. "Entry No." shows the display but you don't know what any of that means. Left with confusion you press a few buttons, see what they do but you lack the necessary understanding. That's how the first hour will look like. You interact with strange devices that work as alien as they look. Weird shapes, different buttons and dials. A lot of cables, panels and screens. Exploring these, trying out their functions and slowly gathering an understanding is a slow process that feels extremely rewarding once it begins to click. Mind you, the sense of wonder stays throughout the whole game. Understanding the technology is only the first big step to navigating the place. At some point you find yourself mumbling "Ah of course! INSIGNIFICANT means 2 algae and now I need to subtract this from BRIEF and I will gain the code for AGAIN. Then I can use that as offering!" Sounds strange? Yes and I love it. Navigating this alien technology feels like learning its own language. With each new area you encounter new machines and gather more knowledge. The odd interfaces starts to feel like home. The obvious Y2K inspiration with its Frutiger Aero aesthetics makes this hit even harder. There is this sentiment that Frutiger Aero is the future we were promised, the vast and curious digital world that would create a collective and shared wisdom. It's how we envisioned technology to look and feel like. A clear and hopeful vision. A sense of community. This theme of community in Panthalassa is like a red string throughout the whole world building. How can the machines gain a fresh lookout in what seems like stagnation? Does an objective reality exist? Will being able to live in harmony solve all problems or will it create new ones that nobody can answer since that state was never reached before? It makes you crave more of this alien yet magical world. Dive deep into Panthalassa, get lost in between the strange panels and colourful fish to gain a unique experience you should not miss out on. Curious for more indies? Visit my blog: https://freakingindie.com

incredible visuals and sound, this soundtrack actually got stuck in my head. the narrative about this AI struggling with where the thoughts, memories and feelings of the former inhabitant of their body end and their own begin is really fascinating. only thing i can say is that i wish this was some full blown TUNIC puzzle solving with the zine providing hints, but i liked what i got out of this.

A charming short game. I don't think I have ever played a point & click adventure that felt as tactile as this one. I really enjoyed the dialogue between the two main characters, as well as the overall atmosphere and underwater theming. The puzzles were sadly the weakest part of the experience for me, they never felt all that challenging. Most of it was just getting information in one place and then typing it in somewhere else with very little engagement required. The exception are the food equations that you solve to attract various sea creatures. This was also not that hard, but writing out the equation on paper, then selecting the food and finding the animals with the scope was very immersive for me and elevated the experience.

I don't usually leave reviews, but I feel this game deserves to be played by more people. I'm not usually a fan of point-and-click games, but Panthalassa's gameplay format, especially its use of old electronic device interfaces, immediately drew me in. Combined with the puzzles and the story it presents, this game is truly a hidden gem. From what I've seen, there's also an ARG associated with the game, and I'd love for more people who enjoy these kinds of mysteries to join the search and help uncover its secrets.

A beautiful, elegaic little thing. It made me feel things that I can't quite remember the last time a game made me feel. Thank you for sharing this wonderful world with us.

I'm no wordsmith so I'll keep it simple. The game is beautiful. In every sense of the word. The music, the puzzles, the visuals, the writing and story all hit me in a way I honestly wasn't quite expecting. I very quickly became addicted to the game's atmosphere, a strange sense of aquatic "utopia" with an underlying sense of melancholy. I was also rather pleased with the puzzle and level design. Generally with games like this, I personally will frequently run into the issue of needing help after spending hours trying to figure out my next step. Here? Things were generally pretty smooth sailing. Even in cases where i was confused as to what to do next, I was able to figure things out after a bit more wandering and thinking. Overall, I can't recommend the game enough. There really isn't anything to lose with an experience like Panthalassa.

amazing looking and very fun point and click game! highly recommended

Panthalassa is such a beautiful game in both story and aesthetics, I cannot recommend it enough if you're a fan of marine biology, robots, point and clicks, or all three! The characters are so charming and unique, the visuals are so crunchy and nice to look at, and every location is filled with life of some sort. Another thing I really enjoy is the game being very tactile, in the sense of having to drag everything around (like the plugs or the telescope)! Having everything be hands on makes the game even more immersive. While the game isn't inherently easy, it also isn't extremely hard. The only trouble I had was with a secret fish you can find, but even then, the creators themselves admit that it was hard to find on purpose. Regardless, please take a look at this game, or at the very least, recommend it to someone!

Fun game you can complete on the weekend.

尽管议题，台词都比较老套，但是整个游戏呈现出一种难以描述的感觉——它不是那种怪异，我一开始以为是 Yoko Redux:Dream 那种孤独的抽离感，或者是老式精神污染游戏，但不是。它整个世界高度逻辑，而且显得非常生机勃勃和丰富。解题过程看起来都非常简单，作者也贴心的进行了引导，但是不知怎么得过程都非常曲折，也许是UI交互，美术和音乐的陌生感造成的十分强烈的注意力剥夺，而且部分引导不完整。总之很怪，对我来说从来没有这样感觉的游戏。 社区反应也很及时。就从独特的UI，美术，音乐，细腻的心理描写，我认为值得试一试。