When I first saw the cover art for this game while looking for some new first-person puzzle games, with that head statue, my initial reaction was essentially to just think it looked cheap and badly made. Then, looking at the store page I noticed the “Very Positive” reviews (92% right now) and figured that I had clearly incorrectly judged a book by its cover. The reviews actually made me a little excited to try this game for myself, to see what warranted the high rating.
The game’s description tells us that this is a more open Myst-like puzzler, which includes puzzles set around the five senses. From the description, you can guess that this game is inspired by The Witness. In theory, having puzzles based on the senses was quite a fun and unique idea, but in practice, it has its ups and downs.
In The Witness, you’re plonked into a world and you can wander and solve whatever you like, an upside of the game was that you only needed to “activate” a certain amount of the total areas to be able to finish the game. If you really didn’t click with a type of puzzle, you could leave it, and solve others instead. It was a very reachable minimum and I think that was a good way of having a bigger variety of puzzle types while making sure everyone could finish the game.
In Sensorium, you have 5 areas, one for each sense, and you need to complete them all to complete the game. That means for example, if you really hate audio “puzzles” which are essentially just “listen to this string of notes and then copy them onto a simplified keyboard”, you can’t just leave it, you have to complete them. In this regard I don’t think this game will be for everyone.
This game came with variety, but unfortunately forcing you to do them all just means that you’ll likely have fun with some and really have to drag yourself through others. To fully enjoy this game I think you’ll need to be quite open-minded towards the variety, and up for a bit of a challenge.
The audio area is the best example of an area I really really didn’t want to do, but had to get through it to finish the game. I don’t mind audio puzzles if they are simple or distinct, but there are some tones in these audio puzzles that just sound so similar that it felt a bit hopeless at times. You know it’s not a great sign when you think “maybe if I just tap in random sequences I’ll solve it by luck”. I know I’m not tone deaf, as I remember being tested in school for “music ability” and being told I should start playing an instrument. This game definitely made me [i]feel[/i] tone-deaf though! But hey, don’t fret, there is a “tone deaf” mode in the settings, that I turned on towards the end of the game that as far as I could discern doesn’t really change much at all! This area may be fun for those with perfect pitch or who are particularly musical, but I think for most people this area will be the worst.
My experience with each section was that (if you'd rather find out for yourself or just don't care skip this paragraph) when I started the game, I essentially beelined straight towards the hardest area. It was fun at first, then it got annoying on the last puzzle (which I’m certain was the hardest puzzle of the game). [spoiler]Those that have played know the tedium of the 3 level sliding block puzzle.[/spoiler] Previously absorbed in the puzzles, I started to notice how annoying and repetitive the music was there, got frustrated and gave up. Moving on, I tried another, the hearing area. As mentioned this area was awful and I really didn’t enjoy it. At this point, I wasn’t particularly enjoying the game. The next area I tried was sight, and this area was a lot of fun and really satisfying. It was a ray of hope that showed me what this game was capable of. Next, I tried an area that unlike the others is really finicky and needs external information to solve, so tried for a while not knowing I needed external information and gave up. It was odd to have this area not be solvable within itself like the others, but I didn’t mind it too much so left this to come back to later. Finally, the last area was pretty decent, so I was generally in better spirits by this point.
Alongside the main areas, there are some extra puzzles dotted around, which generally weren’t too bad and shared the same kind of variety the main areas had. I was stumped on one for a bit as the final solution to it was entirely unique in the game, essentially using a mechanic the game doesn’t draw attention to at any point. [spoiler]A puzzle that randomly needs you to use momentum to reach a platform.[/spoiler] This is something they did a few times, which in theory was interesting but could really catch you out at times. Another, I understood the task but noped out of it so quickly as there was no way in hell I was [spoiler]doing a [b][i]34 note audio puzzle.[/i][/b][/spoiler] I was so relieved to find there was no achievement for that puzzle.
After the extras, I figured I was done, as I knew this was a game on the shorter side. I’d be lying if I said being rewarded with another area with harder puzzles didn’t just daunt me more than anything else. The final area involves puzzles that mix up the puzzle types, giving you dual-type puzzles. Despite me not really looking forward to it, as it was cool in theory but meant having to do more of the puzzles I didn’t like, it did end up feeling good to complete as there was a fair challenge to this area. Sure, maybe I went a bit insane doing the audio ones, and maybe I genuinely wrote down “Twang - Dong - Ding - Dong - Dong - Ding” in my notebook as if that makes [i]any[/i] sense (why A B C when ding dong twang?), but I did it eventually and it felt great.
Once I was done with this, I noticed there were a few things remaining. Clues I had left over, the odd puzzle that wasn’t complete. An extra extra puzzle that honestly at this point, I couldn’t be arsed with. I had a rough idea of what it wanted, it wants you to [spoiler]find 8 symbols around the map and use them to open some area that has something to do with the trees.[/spoiler] I knew this was going to mean scouring the map though and I just couldn’t be bothered with that knowing that I had found bits basically by accident in random crevices. Puzzles are one thing, but just searching every nook ‘n’ cranny is another. I decided to just leave it there, which admittedly did leave me feeling a little unsatisfied after feeling so accomplished finishing the other area.
Thankfully, this game was still easy to 100% the achievements and the extra extra part that I left wasn’t needed for it. As a side-note, my logged hours aren’t accurate as I essentially left this game on all day, wandering off and coming back to it.
Overall, despite it not being perfect I liked the game. I'm not sure I'd pay £8.50 for this, but I think it does deserve its rating and I definitely judged a book by its cover initially. It’s heavily inspired by The Witness, but it stands on its own (albeit a smaller and lower budget version). I respect the variety in this game and think they really tried to make some of the puzzles make you think outside of the box, even if it was just random and against the grain of the rest of the game. This game seems like it was made with a lot of love, and I respect that the dev still seems pretty active in the discussions.
[quote][b]Achievements:[/b] Included
Easy to 100% if you can complete the game & some extra puzzles[/quote]
[quote]For more reviews of this genre, check out my curator page [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45518898-The-Best-First-Person-Puzzle-Games/] The Best: First-Person Puzzle Games[/url][/quote]
