Etherborn

It's a solid casual puzzler. I enjoyed it. These sort of games are for the people who don't have much time for gaming.
Pros:
Definitely the soundtrack. This game has some great and relaxing music.
Art style of game.
Nice storytelling
Cons:
Puzzles are too easy / Game+ even easier.
Game is too short - only 5 levels
Price is too high - this game should cost around 10€ max.
Personal score: 6/10
Gameplay time: 5 hours

---{Gameplay}---
☐ Try not to get addicted
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Nothing special
☐ Ehh
☐ Bad
☐ Just dont
---{Graphics}---
☐ You forget reality
☐ Masterpiece
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Will do
☐ Bad
☐ Awful
☐ Paint.exe
---{Audio}---
☑Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ Earrape
---{Audience}---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☐ Adults
☑ Everyone
---{PC Requirements}---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{Story}---
☐ Doesnt have (Not counting historical stuff)
☐ Something isnt nothing I guess
☑ Not greatly told
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ Will make you cry or smile a lot
---{Difficulity}---
☐ Just press a bunch of buttons
☐ Easy
☐ Significant brain usage
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Not so easy
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{Game Time}---
☑ Long enough for a cup of tea
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ Depends on you
☐ Endless
---{Price}---
☐ Just buy it
☐ Worth the price
☑ Wait for sale
☐ Maybe if you have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ Dont throw money into a rubbish bin
---{Bugs}---
☑ Never had any
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Few bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ Ruining the game
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

This is one of those 'more of an experience' than a game games. It has 5 levels, the first one is really short, more of a tutorial really then a level. The fourth level is more of a precision jumping level then a puzzle/art game but the rest is nice. I finished it in 2 hours and although I thought the music was grating I see a lot of people liked it... eh. But you can turn it down or off so it's alright.
It was okay, not amazing, and a tad over priced maybe, if you want an art experience game I recommend Abzu over this one, but it was okay.

I chose this game through the Humble Choice subscription. I didn't know what to think. My verdict: this game is criminally underrated.
Yes, it has its problems. For one, the camera is a gigantic pain and sometimes gets in the way of the solution to a puzzle. Also, it can be difficult to precisely guide the character in more delicate platforming areas.
Now for the good: I love the visuals, which seem to be a point of contention for some people in the reviews. The style is new and refreshing, and the translucent main character is a good design for the kind of story this game is trying to tell. The story, although extremely vague, really picks up towards the end, where the monologue is accompanied by your movement through visually insane areas. The controls are intuitive and easy, and the gameplay is relatively simple, the main action you perform as this character is simply moving from place to place. Impressively, some puzzles are quite tricky and had me stumped for a good minute. The soundtrack is also unbelievable, one of the best I've heard personally.
Overall a fantastic experience, and although really short in the regular story, I feel as though I reached a satisfying ending.

8.5.2020. Game #122
DO NOT BUY THIS AT FULL PRICE. WAIT FOR A SALE
I know this is mean way to start a review but if you are going to take anything with you from this review, take those two sentences. Now with that out of the way, let’s begin.
The human mind, its wasted potential and other nonsense
Etherborn is a game that tries to way too hard to be deep and meaningful. The second you start a new game you will be hit with confusing statements how the human mind and body are wasted potential and how humans could have done so much more with ourselves but how instead we settled on mediocrity and blah blah blah blah, I’m sick of it already. This game pretty much talks about the same thing that those hidden Gods that created the world talk about in Assassins Creed games
By that I mean, the criticize humanity and state how we are destined for so much more but how weak we really are and how we aren’t able to improve because of our artificial boundaries. Yeah, maybe that’s not exactly what Etherborn is trying to say but it’s pointless anyway. It will talk about the above mentioned things and try to make a story about it but in the end, it’s all just a bunch of words about nothing. I could have gone to a wiki and checked what the game is trying to tell me but I can’t be bothered because I really don’t care about the “story” of this game. So, let’s talk about better things.
A glowing being on a journey of self-discovery? No? A see-through being on a journey to complete puzzles! That’s better!
While I really couldn’t care much about the story, what this game has going for it are the puzzles. You play as a humanoid see-through being. Actually, you can’t really see through yourself but you can see your veins and arteries. This is unsettling to say the least but seeing how you will be looking at your character from far away, it’s not so distracting. The game consists of going through a few levels where you have to get to the end by solving gravity-shifting puzzles. You play the game from a third person view. Your character can’t do much except run and jump. Luckily you have the power to defy gravity to which I will get to later. Your job is to reach the end of a world tree by passing sections (levels).
The game is really relaxing
Etherborn doesn’t have ground-breaking graphics but it certainly isn’t ugly to look at. Each level consists of you climbing or navigating through giant sky blocks while the camera shifts in lots of directions, depending on where you stand. It mostly feels like you are navigating the ruins of an ancient giant civilization. Everything is huge, blocky and gives a strong feeling of being alone. You also have really relaxing music playing in the background. Combine this with puzzles that aren’t too challenging and you have got a Zen-like experience in Etherborn.
Who needs a portal gun when you’ve got smooth slopes?
Etherborn plays mostly like a puzzle game similar to portal
You will have a level where you will have to reach the end by using the level itself to your advantage. You will do this by collecting orb-like glowing items and placing them in various openings which will then raise platforms and open new paths. However, some of these orbs are hidden high up on walls, upside down, inside holes and other hard-to-reach places. This is where your special ability comes into place. Whenever you walk up or down a smooth slope, you are able to change your own gravity. For example, if there is a wall that shifts through a smooth slope in a 90 degrees angle, you will be able to just walk over the smooth slope and start walking upwards. If you find another one of these on top of that wall, you will shift to walking upside down. I should point out that you don’t change the level’s gravity but just your character’s, this means that if you are walking upside down, you will be able to fall UP to your death. That’s what the game is all about. You see something out of reach, you look for a slope or 3 and you eventually reach that place. It’s hard at first but once you get used to the idea of moving over smooth slopes, it will become second nature to you (kind of like using a portal gun).
The puzzles aren’t too challenging and I never had to use a walkthrough
While it may seem impossible at first, pretty soon you will see that these puzzles are just hard enough to make you think a little but not too much. You probably won’t need any help solving any of these and yet, they will still make you feel like a genius when you finally reach that exit. It’s one of those “AHA” moments in gaming.
Slopes are fun
While it really doesn’t sound fun on paper, I couldn’t put this game down. Once you figure out how much freedom you have to traverse each level in almost all directions, the game starts to get really fun. Whenever you come across a challenging section it all becomes a matter of figuring out how to shift yourself to a certain wall and just walk your way there.
Listen to the game and use a controller
While the entire game can be played using a keyboard, I highly recommend using a controller. Not because, the controls are weird with the keyboard but because you will have to do a lot of walking in this game and that will mean holding a keyboard keys for a long period of time. Honestly, it’s much more pleasant to just tilt an analog stick than to hold a button when it comes to walking.
Now, let’s address the elephant in the room
If you take a quick glance at my playtime of this game you will see that it’s just under 5 hours. That’s not a lot is it? What if I told you that in those 5 hours I was also able to get every single achievement? Now it sounds like the game is even shorter? Now, get ready for this: what if I told you that in those 5 hours I was able to complete the game twice .
“Short” is an understatement when it comes to this game’s length. Going through the game once took me about 3 hours and the “new game +” took me about an hour and a half. Now add to all that the game’s full price of 17 euros , and you’ve got yourself a big fat “NO, NOT BUYING THIS”.
…but I had so much fun with this game
Even with the incredibly short gameplay and the ridiculous price, I still have to say that I’ve had quite an enjoyable time with this game. It’s just a lot of fun. I even had fun in New Game +, which shouldn’t even be called that because it barely changes anything. If you like puzzles like Portal, you will probably like this game too. That’s why, I am recommending this game
BUT ONLY IF IT’S ON SALE .
Next game: Event

Has some good puzzles and atmosphere to the whole game. Love the art work and deep story! you can watch a full play though here

I entered this game with an open mind and no questions, but I left with many.
First of all, boiled down to its base parts this game is a 3D platforming game with a heavy emphasis of logical thinking and understanding game mechanics. The game is simplistic in design with both little to no punishment for failing except for a reset and the fact that the only thing you will ever be doing is grabbing an orb and putting it on a plate. However, the player has a rather unique ability to traverse the terrain, where they may attach themselves to walls and subsequently the roof in predetermined paths that encourages the player to find a ever increasing-in-complexity route. Each time the player achieves the simple goal of placing an orb onto the plate the terrain is somehow affected, which the player must then work around until they reach the end. The puzzle aspect simply stems from the inability to initially process orientation, as in theory you could lay the map out on a 2d map with walls and paths and achieve the same physical layout. However, in practice, it is surprisingly difficult to understand, but not in a bad way. It simply creates another dimension in thinking, literally and figuratively.
But I do not want to boil a game down to its base parts, as this would be just another jumping puzzle game. The Developer has clearly put alot of time into this game, finding all the little minute quality-of-life mechanics to add and giving it a loving polish. I had not found one single bug in both my playthroughs and trust me, I tried to explore every crevice before continuing onto the next puzzle. The Artistic style is simply beautiful. Simple, yet effective. Every detail of every corner is meticulously placed. Details someone would not careful such as a tiny crack on a tile when you jump on it, or the bushes moving as you move through them is simply impressive for a small team. The music was composed by a team, and was directly effected by where the player was. If the player was in a lower area or under something, the instruments would dull and you would be left alone with your thoughts figuring out your next move. If you were up high, the Music would come to a crescendo. And yet it didn't feel mechanical, it didn't simply change due to a trigger point. It felt natural. It added so much more.
I only have three main gripes with the game, the first being that for a few moments of the game I was less trying to figure out how to move on further, but more so trying to figure out how to move the camera. The camera is mostly well intended with pre-determined positions, but in a few cases the solution was just out of sight and I missed the path simply because the character wasnt in the exact spot to warrant the camera to reveal the path. Another is the movement. Honestly, it is clunky on Mouse and Keyboard and I understand why this game is meant to be played with a controller. It even warns you prior to pressing play that this game is intended for controller. It isn't impossible, but one or two sections required fine movement, and coupled with the fact that movement was based on the camera, was more than necessary difficult. Finally, the story. Or the lack thereof. I understand for a logical, puzzle based indie game story is the least of the Developer's concern but the plot was there simply there. Not to drag the character forward with questions or plot hooks. I cannot say that it stains the game, as I believe it was a creative choice to be as vague as possible and offer only questions. During the third section, I found myself running around completing obstacles and looking for orbs completely automatically. Mentally, I was building the plot for myself. Why was I doing what I was doing? What did the voice mean when she said X? Why are there Giant stone faceless creatures bound and staring at me? Am I even a human? What does the tree signify? Why is there a storm circling the tree?
As for the start of my review. I said this game left me with many questions at the end. But my questions were not "Why are there stone giants?" or yadda yadda. When the credits rolled by I simply took it all in. I had to sit there and contemplate for a solid 5 minutes. The only legitimate question I was left with is "How did an indie platforming game pull on my heart strings? How did I almost shed a tear for this?" and even writing this I do not know. I've written this review 3 times now, deleting it, rewriting it. No matter how you try to objectify this game and give it labels, you simply cant. It is an experince that I cannot compare anything else too. It is visually stunning. Musically beautiful. Mechanically challenging. I cannot find any major fault with it.
Samuel Cohen Kellner, I do not know if you are reading this. But if you do, absolutely stellar. Keep doing what you are doing.
TLDR; Great Game, beautiful style and logical thinking all in one. Perfect for a casual gamer for a few hours.