It’s lonely here. bleak, even. Occasionally, a silky, melancholy soundscape will accompany you, but mostly, it’s just you, your unique spaceship, and the sounds of the whizzing air.
Although at times, it looks a lot like the kind UFO pulp fiction teaches us (if the image of an aerodynamic disc sliding quickly and silently across the sky pops into your head, that’s exactly what I mean) You might be surprised to learn that your boat can’t maintain this iconic shape for long; once you’re in the air, the momentum you’ve built up will quickly run out. So its default form is a spherical mass, a solid ball that bumps and rolls over the terrain, building momentum in the peaks and valleys of the landscape until you can bounce yourself back into the air and slide again.
Developer Exbleative says Exo One is an anti-gravity game about interstellar exploration, and while I agree with the latter, I don’t quite believe in the former.I still find myself fighting in games without enemies or combat gravity A lot, wrestling with the terrain below to maximize my cruising speed and glide time, and rarely feel like I’m doing it right.
Most of what you’ll learn is on the fly – literally – and the controls are very simple: you can roll, glide and dive. You can also maximize gravitational force, increasing the height and speed of the projection, at least in theory. Sudden dives can also help extend the glide time, but even after picking up several of the game’s enhanced collectibles, I couldn’t keep gliding as long as I’d like. Yes, you’ll get a little help in certain levels – iridescent blue particles support you on one planet, while on another you can swipe the waves infinitely like the proverbial pebbles.Most of the time, however, your energy — burning white hot at the center of your spaceship until it inevitably spews into the darkness — will fade away, sending you back to altitude and– The aerodynamic form of marble.
At first, it all felt very Zen. You can glide, glide, race and dive, listening to the sounds of intrepid electric guitars and woodwinds, taking advantage of the gentle contours of the landscape below to maximize the heights and distances you can travel. Exo One doesn’t ask much of you; there’s no way to fail or die, to be precise (if you do get lost, you can reset to the starting point of that planet again), and when you find and climb the “transportation” located at each level Boulder”, progress is made. Of course, you don’t tell you explicitly — there’s very little Exo One explicitly tells you, actually — but “Boulder in the Sky” is a bit of a giveaway.
However, after a few hours, I found that my interstellar travel was more boring than Zen. While Exo One definitely won’t surpass its popularity, each planet you reach is more difficult to traverse, requiring you to use tree trunks and wind to reach boulders. There were also a few times I played against the camera, especially late in the game when you needed to get closer to openings and water flow than before.
Essentially, I’m not the type of person who likes scenic routes.i travel because i try to get Somewhere, in my life, I’ve never thought about going for a “cute” walk. I suspect that’s why games like Exo One – yes, even Journey (I know that’s blasphemous, but lack signposts, um, Purpose, I’m depressed, I’m scared) – don’t excite me like everyone else.Although it is impossible no To enjoy the smooth music of the Exo One and the sound of air whizzing past my ears as moisture splashes on the screen, I found myself more and more impatient to find the next boulder so I could move to the next planet and leave there, too.
However, the world is colorful, so you’ll soar over sand dunes and lush forests, bubbling lava, rough seas and dark alien pyramids, manipulating the land below you to help you stay in the air for as long as possible . It’s as good as seeing the world from up high, really; getting too close – it’s unavoidable because you often have to drop to the ground to build more momentum – you might notice that these The texture of the stunning expanse looks less impressive on closer inspection.
But as you transition from planet to planet, you’re treated to brief vignettes that help explain what’s really going on so far. Framed photos on the wall. A voice from a distance. Of all things, that’s what kept me playing until the end. Eager to know how we got here, on this strange ship – as an invisible voice tells us – “there is no cockpit in the design, no interior space for the pilot”.
Of all things, this is what interests me the most; if there’s no room for a pilot, who – or what – is flying this thing? Who are we?
There is room to explore (oh pun, definitely intended), I have no doubts if you veer off the road and look for secrets outside of transporting boulders, but for me, manoeuvring the boat – especially at later levels – doesn’t Challenging because it’s just frustrating. Add in the lack of action and agency, and aside from its quirky story and novel concept, there isn’t enough work in Exo One to convince me to go back.