The Shape On The Ground (Steam Edition)

Absolutely fascinating experience. The Shape on The Ground is a very niche piece of work, but has a unique excellence as a tool for esoteric introspection. As someone who is a tarot enthusiast, this experience is very much in the same style as a practical Tarot card reading as a tool for self reflection. The low-fi graphics are charming and efficient to their purpose, and the creativity of the dioramas is top notch. There is a wide variety of stuff to observe that is entertaining and thought provoking. The ambiance is subtle yet effective. It could very well be an early entry in a potential new genera of digital psychological experiences, which I am excited to see more of. The only areas where I could see improvement is giving a longer wait time between observation and delivering an answer (perhaps a more subtle button prompt), and I hit a crash at the end of my first run. Otherwise, had a great experience.

[b]The Shape On The Ground[/b] is an experimental indie game that's best described as a "first-person exploration horror tarot reading". You're meant to walk around a small town, find twelve dioramas and choose for each a word among three that describes them best. For example, one might show you a scene of murder and ask if you see sacrifice, liberation or betrayal - although the scenes are more intricate, beautiful and evocative. Have a quick look at the screenshots in order to get an idea of what to expect. After answering these twelve questions, you get a final reading based on your answers... and that's it! There's really not much more to say about [b]TSOTG[/b] as it's best experienced without knowing too much about it. What I can say is that despite it being a very short experience, lasting 15 minutes at most for a session, it does what it wants to very well. Walking through the town is creepy and foreboding, with some dioramas making you feel oppressed or downright scared. The short length makes it perfect for replaying, and looking at the dioramas from another angle might make you think about them differently: what if this one doesn't evoke beauty but compromise? The game's ability to make you think about some short scenes for yourself with a simple prompt is its most interesting feature in my opinion - the final reading is deliberately very vague, which isn't something I enjoyed too much since I would have liked something more in depth. But this feature is something so unique that I feel it's important to give [b]TSOTG[/b] a try. It's short, it's cheap and I can guarantee you've never played something similar before. [code]Find more reviews of small and overlooked indie games that deserve more recognition at our [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40624114-Hidden-Indie-Gems]Hidden Indie Games[/url] curator page![/code]

As someone who's done a fair bit of work with tarot in real life, I can see that the creators have a good grasp of the right sorts of prompts and questions to work with in divination. The environments and visual design are very nicely done too, and it's clear that a lot of care went into them. They do an excellent job of building atmosphere and putting one in the right headspace. Overall, a very interesting experience, and well worth your time.

WOW, I have not played anything like this before. This was a a interesting experience and would say check it out for yourself.

The Shape On the Ground is one of the strongest examples in the "games as art" argument. [h1]While I didn't loathe the entire experience, I also felt like going through it was rather pointless, unengaging, and bland overall when viewed from a 'gameplay' perspective.[/h1] Which isn't to say that its visuals or the effects of its numerous dioramas you idly look at are uninspired... each of them certainly present at-times unsettling, strange, or surreal arrangements moving and whirring their way appropriately to induce a feeling of being at a 'creepy carnival', but making your way to each of them in the game's woefully empty hub area is an exercise in tedium. Clocking in at only about 20 minutes, this experience may have been more fitting tailored to a short experimental film, rather than asking the player to slowly shamble their way to the next elusive diorama, only to answer a vague existential question akin to reading a horoscope to then shamble to the next short 10-30 second diorama, answer another question, and meander their way to another. You do this 12 or-so times and while I was excited to see what each of them had on display, getting to all of them was more a chore than anything rewarding. If the "game" were more streamlined, I may have enjoyed it more. All that being said I am curious to see what else the developer has made, as they clearly have an eye for the macabre and skewing a player's mind toward dark, surreal areas, it just feels as though presented in this medium that the player is more of a passenger than a participant, despite the game's mechanics trying to imply otherwise.

A complete piece of ♥♥♥♥.

"The Shape on the Ground" ist mehr experimentelles "Kunstwerk" statt ein echtes Game. Man befindet sich in einer menschenleeren Stadt und nur die Häuser selbst und die Plakate an den Wänden "erzählen" eine Geschichte. Man läuft durch diese Stadt und versucht 12 Leuchtkugeln zu finden. Berührt man eine dieser Kugeln, wird man mit einem grotesken Kunstwerk konfrontiert und das Game fragt den Spieler, was er da vor sich sieht. Hat man sich alle 12 dieser Kunstwerke angesehen und die Fragen beantwortet, kann man die Kirche betreten und diese gibt eine Analyse zu den Antworten. Das ist alles, mehr hat das Game nicht zu bieten. ABER die Atmosphäre dieser Stadt ist wirklich fantastisch gelungen und ich hatte ständig das Gefühl, ich werde beobachtet oder es schleicht noch Jemand oder Etwas in der Stadt herum. Die grotesken Kunstwerke sehen wirklich toll aus und beweisen sehr viel Kreativität von Seiten des Entwicklers. Das Game wurde mit der Unity Engine entwickelt und kann überraschend scharfe Texturen aufweisen, die der unheimlichen Welt Lebendigkeit verleihen. Sehr interessanter Kunst-Horror, aber für echte Gamer wohl eher uninteressant.

Granted, this one might not be for everyone. It describes itself as "a cross between a walking sim and a tarot card reading" but I rather think of it as a short, intense experience, unlike anything I've ever played before. I am quite fond of titles like these: highly vague, highly stylized, immersed in its own aesthetics. Not much in terms of gameplay but then again, it never claims to be a game at all. It's beautiful to look at, the atmosphere is utterly unique and it stayed with me for a while after I found all the endings. If you're looking for something special, this could be your cup of tea.

I did not enjoy this game. But it made me think a lot. I don't know how I feel now. It's a good game. Buy it. Introspect.

this is weird but fun