Venineth

at first, my interest in Venineth was merely aesthetic. i mean, it is ABSOLUTELY STUNNING, but you can see that in the trailer. the grainy effects, the world design that looks from outer space, all the shiny things... it didn't last long for me, tho. the novelty wore out eventually and i wanted to play something else. a couple years later, i remembered that i didn't finish this game, and started... missing it? so i decided to give it a second chance, and it was the right choice, no doubt. i get a lot of the criticism, the controls CAN get frustrating, and some puzzles are a bit obscure,, but if you have a little patience, Venineth rewards you with that feeling of accomplishment a lot of us are after when we are playng games. it doesn't feel like a really "gamey" game, even when there is (as far as i can tell) only one path to take, it isn't an obvious path, and the lack of pointers and clues leaves it up to your observation and your excitement for exploring,, as a result, Venineth got me into games again after months of not being able to tolerate playing more than a couple hours at a time. i LOVE this game, and if you want something that is challenging, doesn't grab your hand, but at the same time feels relaxing and enchanting, give Venineth a try! <4 [also THE SOUND DESIGN IS ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ AWESOME!!!]

limbs are overrated

There is something so pure about this experience. Bizarre, obscure, atmospheric, gorgeous, challenging, and sometimes outright infuriating, but oh-so-rewarding when it clicks. It's like rolling an intergalactic marble around alien planets that give me [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/773370/Exo_One/]Exo One[/url] and [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/261530/Lifeless_Planet_Premier_Edition/]Lifeless Planet[/url] vibes. Clever platformer puzzle-solving and interesting superpowers for your marble. The visual design in the levels (and even in the menus) isn't always intuitive and requires some mental decoding, giving it a truly alien feel throughout. The control of your ball isn't either, as the controls are more about the speed and direction of spin on your marble, rather than the very direct motion control baked into many players' heads by years (and decades) of other games. The learning curve is worth it though, and leads to some very clever parkour tricks learned along the way. I'm frustrated this game hasn't gotten more love (judging by the low number of reviews in the many years since its release, and the lower global percentages on general progression achievements), but I hope the devs aren't too discouraged, as this is a fantastic experience. Everything from the atmospheric music to the clever level design has left me thirsty for more, and I'll be sad when the last few levels I have remaining have run out. Thank you for this game. I really needed this.

Short Summary: Good Rolling marble game but the game is too long, has a few basic game-related issues (level length,design,etc). £15 as well. I wish there was an option to give a game, a "Neutral Review". I say this because, the game is good. The cosmos environments are really the highlight of the game, and gameplay (for the most part) is decent. The problems with this game are as followed: Sometimes ( personally I feel) the levels go on for way too long, you may take 30-40 minutes to finish one level, when it should be half this. Numerous times throughout the game, I didn't know where to go, so that's an error on behalf of the level designers. The physics of the ball I don't really like too much, they feel a bit too weighty and sometimes it feels like the ball is like controlling a fast-moving car, - at high speeds you can't turn that well, and it take's a bit of distance for it to stop, however, this is just a personal annoyance. But the biggest grievance is the length of the game. At the time of writing, I'm 10hrs in, with three levels left, I would have finished Batman Arkham Asylum in the same time. Can you believe that! I think this game should be at a sweet spot of 3hrs, 5hrs at most. I still like the game though, but only get this one if you really like rolling around as a cool marble in the multiverse. P.S Bit too expensive as well.

playing with your balls in 4k

Probably the only marble game that can be considered an immersive sim. Comparable to 2001 A Space Odyssey and other slow paced sci-fi films in the 1960s and 1970s. The basic geometric-shaped structures littered throughout the alien worlds has the vibes of early PC Gaming in the 1990s like MYST and Riven. Best played with headphones. There is a lot to like here, with a good blend of platforming, puzzle solving, and exploration. It just doesn't come together though. There are many annoying and frustrating segments that are too painful to overlook. The relaxed, chill, zen vibe is instantly killed when running into one. For example, a puzzle where the answer is obvious, but actually executing the plan is difficult. The bugs are unforgivable as well. The primary action is to jump, but under certain conditions, jumping is either bugged out or intentionally disabled. Sometimes in order to re-enable or fix jumping, it is required to bump up against the geometry to get into the air first. The general idea for the game is great though. The Steam Deck is able to run the game just under 60 FPS, but it will get hot.

When your species has become so advanced you achieved a civilizational apotheosis and transcended material reality to cast aside your undying machines, incorruptible by the eons and the elements, strewn across and among all the now-silent spheres of your star system, but you'll still always love a good game of "Mousetrap." I loved it, it's proudly and successfully carried by its aesthetics and atmosphere, even as certain platforming sections (especially one of the gas giant levels) were so frustrating even with the checkpoints I'll probably never play it again.

Некоторые уровни очень бесят. Игра не для релакса.

marbles keep building their cities on hostile planets full of acid or lava, no wonder they went extinct

Venineth is a game that's difficult for me to write about because really it feels like two games stacked on top of each other. The first of these games is a hyper aesthetic game about exploring an alien world, and the other is a 3d precision platformer marble game. Unfortunately, the second of these types is both the majority of the game, and not very fun. I would have much preferred a short experience, with a loosened focus on precise jumps. The moments where Venineth gives you a wide open area to roll in any direction you want are by far the best part, as the visuals and soundtrack make the game feel perfect. I especially love the choice to not use any english text in the game, including in the options menu. Venineth runs on Unreal Engine 4, which the devs haven't used to make the game look realistic, but instead hyperreal. Most areas in the game are stylized in a way that doesn't necessarily look realistic, but rather looks like how we emotionally feel when exploring an unknown space. Unfortunately, even the graphics have a few flaws, as quite a few places in the game have either low resolution textures, boiling artifacts, or texture flickering, all of which distracted from the vibe the game was attempting to elicit. Moving on to the precision platformer stuff, I feel that it substantially took away from the experience of the game, as the feeling of frustration from failing a jump distracted from the experience of exploring a strange and alien world, and also many of the smaller details added to make the game look pretty ended up causing the marble to behave strangely in ways that are very frustrating (I had many, many times where I flew off into a pit because of hitting some small piece of angled geometry). Overall the game was interesting, but I wish it had been more focused on the exploration aspects. (6/10)