Phantom Path

嫌な思いをする人が減ることを願って、このレビューを書きました。 目標に向かって一歩一歩、着実に手を進めていくタイプのじっくりパズル。なのですが…。 ランダム出現する敵や即死トラップが仕込まれており、それらで主人公がやられると、パズルは頭からやり直しになります。 敵は倒せないのでタイミングを読んで避ける必要があります。柱を行き来している奴は、柱に近づくとやられるので、次の柱へ移動するまで、遠くからただずーっと待つだけで、全然面白くありません。 即死トラップは、何かギミックを作動させた瞬間に即死ガスが吹き出す！みたいなタイプで、よく画面を見れば気付けるのですが、まあ、普通はやられます。どれだけパズルを順調に進めていても、作者のしょうもない小ネタに付き合わされて最初から全部やり直しになるのは、かなりゲンナリします。 上記の演出が、"パズルそのものの難しさ・楽しさとは無関係に" 出現するので、パズルを解くのに集中できないし、じゃあアクションゲームとしての面白みが出てるかというと全然そんな効果も無いし、ただただ無意味にテンポを崩して、時間と集中力とモチベーションを奪っていく嫌がらせ以外の何ものでもありませんでした。 せめて、途中にチェックポイントが設置されていればまだ許容できるのですが…。 パズル自体のギミックや難易度、隠し要素の探索、ストーリーの作り込みなどは良作になり得る実力を持っているのに、当パズルの性質との相性が極めて悪い上記要素のせいで、この手のパズル好きに勧めるには微妙なゲームとなってしまっています。 本当になんでこんな作りにしたんだろう？ とはいえ、このマイナス要素を理解した上でプレイするのであれば、難しいアクションは無いし、パズル自体は楽しいと思える作品なので、UpVoteにしておきます。

Phantom Path is a neat little puzzle game. Having finished the game in about ten hours, there's a lot that I liked but also some stuff that took away from a very good experience. The game is separated into separate levels, each containing one and sometimes two puzzles to open the exit to the next level. Each exit requires yellow or blue fire in particular pillars around the level. In the beginning it is pretty straight forward to find a fire of the required color and bring it to specific pillars. The further you progress it becomes more challenging, especially with the introduction of more puzzle elements. There are teleporters and bridges which also require a source of power that you have to find and provide. Furthermore there are so-called arcane walls that only let you pass if you have transformed into a floaty phantom thingy. Problem is that you can only do that transformation in certain positions of the map and as long as you are transformed you cannot interact with anything or exit the level, so you have to transform back first. As with any game of this kind, it revolves mainly around reading the environment of each specific level, deducing which actions require what and prioritizing those actions by achievability. I'd say that the game does a pretty good job in readability. Only rarely did I find myself completely stumped as to what I'd have to do next. And each time I felt there was no way forward it was because I had overlooked something that in fact was not difficult see. So all in all I had a pretty great puzzling experience! However, there were some downsides for me: the camera angle is fixed which sometimes made it quite difficult to see elements further away. I'm assuming the developer did this on purpose but I fail to see the logic. In my opinion the puzzles would be difficult enough without that artificial restraint. And then there are those dark phantoms that pop up every now and then. They can kill you if you come to close. But since they are introduced (and escorted off) the level with particular sounds they are not difficult to stay away from (if they are even close to your position), So in effect all they do is force you to wait a couple of seconds until they are gone and, thus, interupt puzzle flow. The same is true (and even worse) with black floaty phantoms that oscilate between certain pillars in some levels. They are a total nuisance because with every step you take you have to make sure that they do not swing by a pillar near you sometime soon. Fortunately they are only in a handful of levels if my memory serves me right. Another thing that has to be noted is that there is a lot of running back and forth. However, that is not a bad thing per se. It rather is an integral part of the particular kind of puzzle game that Phantom Path is where you need a to get b but in order to get a you first need c etc. Some players may be turned off by this feature of such particular puzzles. Finally, there's also some exploration as to finding loot and treasure which I found to be a nice side to the puzzling. There is a back story being toldd through books and letters you can find. The visuals are pleasing while the music sounded a bit cheap in my ears. Thankfully, the latter managed not to get annoying so I was fine with that. To sum it all up, Phantom Path certainly is an enjoyable game for players who like this kind of puzzle even if it has some minor flaws. At the time of this review pricing was 8.19€ which I deem appropriate for the amount of gameplay. With all of that being written, I can definitively recommend it.

I've recently started trying to make video games. As such, I can say that I get the impression that the developer is trying to convey to the player a condensed version of what it feels like to make the game. - You have a bunch of sometimes fiendish problems on your hands - It's somewhat of a dark storyline - You spend (or at least I spent) a lot of time running in circles, sometimes in a "grindy" way and other times in a "Jesus Christ wtf do I do?" way - You go to others for help when you need it (the developer is good about answering questions in the "discussions" section) - When you finish, you have a feeling of great satisfaction.

it's pretty good. The YUME engine is making lots of headway. The game just throws you right into the deep end as far as difficulty goes, and I like the environmental interactions. All I can say to the negative review is git gud.

This is a very comfy puzzle game! The puzzles are interesting, the graphics are nice, and the soundtrack is great. Reminds me of The Talos Principle. Quick edit after full completion: I rather enjoyed the game. The story was pretty neat. It isn't the most difficult puzzle game to date, but it offered a fun experience that stimulated my PFC. It took a second to get used to the controls, but it ended up feeling great on a gamepad. I think I will find myself craving some more gameplay of this style. That isn't to say that the game was too short or anything, I just really liked the feel of this one and hope to see more someday.

Was really enjoying the atmosphere and the puzzles until I got to the part where turrets start one shotting you 10 minutes into a puzzle and you have to redo the whole level, most of which have lots of backtracking and running in circles where the solution is clear but the execution takes a lot of time running back and forth and waiting for gates to open. The hazards add absolutely nothing but irritation, if they were nerfed or removed I would pick the game back up in a heartbeat because everything else was great but as long as they're in the game I can't recommend it

I just completed the game, almost 8 hours to 100%, and I loved it! The puzzles are really good, and even though it's the type of puzzle system that can easily become overly complicated if badly designed, in Phantom Path the puzzles were really well designed, never becoming overwhelming, and always offering a good challenge that slowly increases as you progress. New systems are added as you progress, so there's always something new to discover. Most of the systems revolve around the idea of unlocking doors, but they all do in their own unique way. It was really fun to discover all the new ideas and concepts that the game brings to the puzzle genre, and the really well designed puzzles were a joy to solve. There are also a lot of secrets and collectables hidden throughout the levels, which sometimes require you to solve extra, more difficult, puzzles. I really enjoyed this, to the point where I 100% the game. The story is also pretty interesting. I won't spoil anything, but you are an explorer progressing into a dangerous forest with traps and monsters. Some people don't enjoy those traps and monsters, since when you die you have to restart puzzles from zero, but I didn't mind. Puzzles are rather small, and once you know what to do it's pretty quick to get back where you were, and as long as you're careful, you shouldn't die too often (enemies are really easy to avoid). I only died about 3 times during my playthrough. The game isn't perfect though, but most of the problems can be fixed with a quick trip into the options. At first the levels felt disorienting, and since you're always running back and forth between sections, it was difficult to follow. I thought it might be a problem with the level design, but after going through the options I found an option to deactivate the "automatic camera movement". That made my experience a lot better, because the default camera has a mind of its own. It tries to follow you around, but it does so in a weird way and gets in the way of the puzzle solving. For achievement hunters, there are achievements for all the possible endings, but don't worry, all can be achieved in the same playthrough. No achievement is missable. Overall, I recommend this game if you like the type of puzzles you see in the trailer. I personally really enjoyed it and completed the 8 hours campaign within a couple of days. Definitely worth the price! I can't wait to see KEYREAL's next projects!

It was fun.

A really enjoyable and clever puzzle game. It's not perfect, but the puzzles are very satisfying to solve, and it's longer than I expected for its price. I had a lot of fun playing it, which is why we play games in the end. There are a couple of bad things though. First of all, the puzzles can get very tedious, even when you have figured out the solution there will be a lot of running back and forth to do the necessary steps. A sprint button or something would help, maybe. And also there's the enemies. Most of the dangers you face are basically a way to slow you down, since they go away after a few seconds, but in the end you add that extra time to the already tedious way to solve the puzzles, and yeah it's detrimental to the experience, sadly. But if you're worried about enemies becoming a chore (I'm thinking of Aporia: Beyond the Valley), it's not that bad, some enemy types appear randomly and go away after a few seconds, other move along predetermined places in a very predictable pattern, and then there's the traps. Traps killed me a couple of times because the game surprises you with them. That was annoying because you have to start the whole puzzle from scratch... But those are the only things that annoyed me really. Other reviews I've read here say that the enemies are unnecessary but it is all explained if you reach the conclusion of the story. So there is a point for all that danger, which as I said, is scarce and easy to avoid for the most part. The real difficulty of the game lies where it should: figuring out the solution to the puzzles. TL;DR: if you enjoy clever puzzles and don't mind if they're a bit tedious to solve, this is a must-play. If you don't like puzzle games where you can die, skip this one.