Vane

A very abstract and immersive game that gets compared to Journey quite a lot, but I think it's a surface level similarity. While Journey is also a quiet, enigmatic experience, I feel like that game is very frictionless while here you may find the controls and camera slightly frustrating and apparently a lot of people have trouble with where to go or what to do. Personally I had a blast with the game, I think it was very evocative and explores some very interesting themes and culminates in a poignant ending with a lot to say.

Besides the unclear guidance, Vane’s controls feel loose and sometimes fail to respond properly, making puzzles and movement more frustrating than they need to be. The collision detection can be inconsistent as well, which is a real problem in a game where puzzles often require pushing objects or landing precisely on small metal platforms. The only bright spot in handling these awkward controls is the rarely used but very smooth synthwave soundtrack.

OH MY GOD PLEASE WALK FASTER. it is such a chore to do anything in this game. It is beautiful but i don't have the patience to go any further.

Visually stunning, but the terrible controls and no visual indication where you can do something in huge open area's ruined the game for me.

This is a game I still think about.

I never really understood this game or its concept. It jumps from one thing to another without any real logic or direction, and the gameplay itself was clumsy and frustrating. It completely failed to deliver on what the trailer promised. Honestly, if you’ve watched the trailer, congratulations — you’ve basically seen the entire game. I regret buying it.

It's a nice game once you figure out the controls and your objective. The layout and color choices are beautiful and make for pretty screenshots. Careful when exploring though, because I went "Can I go in there?" a few times and fell through the map on 3 of those occasions.

I loved the bleak, strange atmosphere and the overall sense of weirdness the world has. It feels lonely and off in a way that really worked for me at first. Eventually the map design and clunky controls wore me down. Getting around stopped feeling mysterious and started feeling frustrating, and that’s what finally pushed me away.

I'll be honest, this was one of the most frustrating games I've ever played. The controls are a mess, & the game itself is deliberately obtuse, but I do think it's worth playing if you have the time! There's a moment you start flying around the desert at the very beginning & realize you can just... Go anywhere??? & not only go anywhere, but everywhere you go is an actual place you can go & feels like it was part of the world? THAT was worth it. That was extraordinary. Just... The way the environments move all around you, the way the bird/boy moves through the world, the art direction--A LOT went into it. The internal mechanics must be fascinating. It's very reminiscent of Ico in the way characters move. It's clearly very inspired by Journey & Team Ico games, but I DO think it has something unique to say that's just as dark and deep and yet hopeful. I appreciated it, though I'm not sure I enjoyed it. I think it is worth experiencing, but you must accept a LOT of clunkiness & frustration to experience what is frankly, quite transcendent beauty. I hope that more people will give it a chance & I hope all the people from Friend or Foe Studio are prospering wherever they are.

I don't know what I'm doing, my thumb hurts from mashing A to fly, and the camera has spazzed out on me a few times. Very unpleasant experience. Even the action-packed opening couldn't keep me playing to figure out wtf was going on