The Subject

[i]The Subject[/i] is an incredibly obtuse game. I'm under the impression that the game is broken and, when asking for assistance, I was dismissed by the developer with the excuse that they'd seen two other people complete the game successfully, so there's definitely nothing wrong - despite another person chiming in with the same issue and ultimately solving it for both of us. [i]*Sigh*[/i] (Edit: this thread has now been deleted for some unknown reason.) While the four main puzzle rooms are deeply logical, they mostly require brute forcing their solutions (think of those sliding puzzles to get from one side to the other). The rest of [i]The Subject[/i]'s puzzles are number combinations and button presses. There's no real thoughtful "puzzle crafting" here. I played with the monster turned off and I can't imagine how frustrating it would get trying to hide/run from the monster while navigating this absolute maze of corridors. It doesn't help that the recent implementation of a map isn't to scale and seems to be missing a fair chunk of the map. It is poorly colour-coded (white, grey, dark grey, blue-gray), and is lacking any kind of map legend to aide with locating points of interests. A coloured line down each hallway would assist so, so much. I ran into a fair amount of bugs such as invisible walls, randomly triggered voice lines, and switches that wouldn't stick so I can only assume that the inoperable door that lead to me wandering aimlessly for hours was also a glitch, otherwise if the orb solution [i]was[/i] intended it was never actually set up in the mind of the player, much like the other puzzles in [i]The Subject[/i].

Beautifully designed environment and a poorly designed monster and monster mechanics. When the monster catches you it is insta kill. Also, the only way to temporarly hide from it is to hide in a proper hiding spot. Most of the puzzles will require you to roam and get lost in dark corridors while searching for countless switches. It is a bit scary at first, but it gets boring fast. Although I had the game video quality maxed out and had a good framerate, I had problems with the antialiasing. It was enabled but it just didn't look like it actually was. Regardless of the AA problem, the game was not very fun to play so far and I would not recommend it to others.

The Subject starts out promising but you'll quickly realize how annoying the game play will be, as the majority of "puzzles" are buttons and switches that may do something, somewhere. It's all guess and check work. There are 4 rooms that have some real puzzles, but these are the tedious, brute force solving kind. Getting to all these rooms, buttons, and switches is a huge pain since you have to navigate a 4 section maze of corridors with a monster wondering around. (You can turn the monster off at least at the start of the game.) The monster sounds scary, but it looks very goofy and moves like a wacky waving inflatable arm tube man that just learned how to run. The game has a proximity alarm go off when you're near the monster, which is nice for surviving, but completely takes the tension away. I might actually be scared if I didn't know the monster was near. Also the alarm goes off even if the monster is on the other side of a wall or floor, making it misleading. All these annoyances while having a time limit too. You have to keep saving the game at scan stations to reset the time limit. When you re-load your save file, some puzzles reset while others don't. Not sure if that's a bug or intentional. Starting a new game instantly erases your previous save file, and it won't let you replay the tutorial again, so you can't find the combination to the Easter egg door. Overall, the game looks great. But the monster is more silly than scary, the puzzles are simply annoying, and the whole experience is just tedious. If you like walking simulators, random button pushing, and good space aesthetics, then you might like this game.

If it wasn't for the stupid AI monster interrupting your puzzling every 5 seconds, this game would be a decent puzzler.

There really isn't much to The Subject beyond what you experience in the first hour. Puzzles, a monster, and occasional steam blasts from vents. The puzzle are okay with a few memorable ones near the end, but I can't recommend this game to anyone. It's just not worth the time. Mostly you will just be wandering around halls trying to find how to progress to the next puzzle and then backtracking after you meet the monster -- you either die or go long the long way around.

You spend 95% of the time running down long corridors trying to find something to do. The game artificially prolonging its gameplay by making you run in circles without a clue. Absolutely terrible game/level design. Basically a walking simulator.

Pela capa eu esperava algo mais parecido com Dead Space, após um tempo vi que parecia com alien. Mais não é nada parecido e nada similar, é um game apenas de puzzles e puzzles super difíceis e interessantes. O jogo não te da dicas e nem te mostra o que fazer ou o que interagir, é algo completamente inusitado; pois tudo ta escondido. Exemplo: Inicio você tem que ligar a força do elevador, só que o game não te mostra o que é parte da força do elevador e no final era as paredes, tocar em sequência correta. É um game que você pode zerar em 40 minutos com guia e detonado, mais sem ele você pena e vai além de 3 a 5 horas fácil. Para quem gosta de quebra cabeças e um game mais culto, aproveite. É interessante e barato, e nas sales ele deve estar por cerca de 3 reais.

Сперва долго ковыряемся с совершенно нелогичными головоломками, которые вызывают массу вопросов. Какому гениальному инженеру пришло в голову раскидать кнопки управлением саркофага будущего в разных местах корабля, ответ мне не удалось найти. Итак, поковыряв корабельную систему управления, созданную неким безумцем, мы открываем таким макаром капсулу, из которой с воплем вылезает довольно агрессивный уродец, всю последующую игру усложняющий своими появлениям борьбу с шизоидной системой управления aka головоломки, погружая игрока в предынфарктное состояние. Безусловно, атмосферно, но очень глупо.

Annoying game, had potential with an awesome atmosphere and fun puzzles but ruined by terrible navigation. I even played on casual mode and it was still annoying as ♥♥♥♥, I missed a read circuit somewhere and could not find it after an hour of running through the same ♥♥♥♥ over and over again. I can’t imagine being in this position topped with a creature up your ass. ♥♥♥♥ THIS GAME.

This is basically a horror/puzzle hybrid and as is the case with such attempts, it's quite difficult to 100% hit both marks. It's a tentative recommendation from me, not because the game overall isn't good -it is really good actually-, but because of two main reasons I will mention below. Overall, a few details could have made this a great game. Even as it is, it can get you hooked and thirsty for more. [h3]PROS[/h3] + Easy controls + Solid graphics, I especially liked the lighting in some corridors + Great audio + The combination of sound, claustrophobic environment, dark areas and dystopian theme, make for great atmosphere throughout the game. And all that in casual mode + Casual Mode, which is what saves the game for me. I wouldn't touch it if there wasn't a no-monster mode + You can get the vast majority of the achievements in casual mode. Very few involve the monster and even for those you don't have to beat the game or even progress much. [h3]MEH[/h3] ? The need to use the bio-data terminals every few minutes so that you don't die. I understand that it adds to the sense of urgency, but it does hinder the puzzling aspect of the game ? Almost zero hand-holding (direction-wise and puzzle-wise). This is usually a plus for me, but it's not everyone's cup of tea, so it's worth a mention here ? The maze: It's pretty huge and the only means of navigating will be your memory. Again, it does match with the dystopian theme, but some players go nuts if there's no map ? Monster design/movement: Both could have been done better. That said, whenever you encounter it you don't really have time to marvel at it, as you will be running for your life the opposite way [h3]CONS[/h3] - The normal mode gets very frustrating very fast. For me it's virtually unplayable, as the monster completely ruins it for me. It would have been ok if it appeared every once in a while, but it appears quite often AND the proximity alarm doesn't always give you enough time to avoid it. Plus, it can appear while you're trying to solve one of the smaller puzzles or right after you've solved one of the main ones. Which means you can die before managing to save at one of the terminals, so you will have to do the puzzle all over again. It's supposed to be scary, but it just gets annoying and pretty fast. - A few of the achievements involve the use of Twitch, which for me is a no-no. You bought the game and it's yours, you shouldn't have to deal with other platforms and depend on other people in order to get all the achievements. Especially the voting one seems like an attempt to advertise the game for the developer, which is a bit lame. Like I said, thank god for Casual Mode.