Inmost
INMOST, by Lithuania-based indie studio Hidden Layer Games, is an emotional and deeply atmospheric narrative-driven puzzle platformer. Uncover the story of an adventurous young girl, a stoic knight and a man in search of answers. Venture through a hauntingly atmospheric pixel art world 3 main characters, each with their own unique gameplay styles A knight adventures into the depths of a deteriorating castle. A child uncovers the past of an eerie house. A wanderer searches for answers. Lure enemies into lethal traps, solve environmental puzzles and utilise your scythe, hookshot and pickaxe to avoid a gruesome end! Discover a 3-5 hour emotional story, intended to be played in a single-sitting on a dark, stormy night Explore every nook and cranny to find secret passages and collectibles Featuring the vocal talents of Andrew Dennis and Cassandra Lee Morris Playable in 14 languages, including English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Turkish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese Each pixel is placed with love! Features CORSAIR iCUE RGB dynamic lighting functionality for PC
Steam User 13
An excellent experience despite a few annoying flaws.
First, the graphics are very nice. Very good use of pixel art. Lots of atmosphere, beatiful art and animations.
Second, the music perfectly sets the mood and adds to the emotional journey, never taking over.
Third, the gameplay is smooth, though never really challenging. Some platforming, some basic puzzle solving, a little bit of "combat", lots of walking and very little metroidvania elements, where things locked or not available in the level at first, will become so, once certain item is obtained or puzzle is solved, backtracking pending. Overall, none of those overstay its welcome, and the game switches between activities at a very good pace, keeping the gameplay flow nicely.
Now to the flaws:
First, the story is bashingly confusing at first. It's all atmosphere and mystery, but lots of confusing nonsencial narration that basically means nothing and has very little effect on the eventual resolution. The meaning behind all the alegories and metaphors got so lost, I barely remembered anything while playing. Only towards the end, things begin somewhat to make sense and then the ending bashes you on the head with an "aha-a-a!" moment that really feels quite disconnected, though starting to fit the narrative in retrospect. But not before that. So, the narration gives very little motivation to play. Thankfully, everything else compensates nicely.
Second, the knight sections are frustratingly simple and repetative. These are the only sections where you're barely engaged in anything but button smashing in extremely simplistic combat, except the enemy doesn't really fights back. I understand that narratively it works, but gameplay-wise it is simply boring and annoying.
Same with the old man's sections. You just walk. Very slowly. It halts the game and tests your patience. Fits the narrative, but works against the gameplay.
Third, the controls can be wonky sometimes. It doesn't bother most of the time, but occasionally it would really hurt the experience.
So in the end, the game left me with a very pleasant after-taste. The story was good and packed the emotional punch needed after the confusing beginning, the gameplay was fun and easy and the graphics along with the music contributed a lot to the short but very good experience.
Steam User 10
Oh this was such a good surprise! I walked in knowing basically nothing, the artstyle drew me in, I loved the "monochrome but not really" pixel art but that was it. This was very fun! Very fun puzzles, incredible story-telling imo, a good amount of foreshadowing but that still keeps you guessing, the story is very moving (I will warn you it is on the heavy side). The fighting sections as the Knight were fun to move through, I liked how throughout the game, the gameplay felt organic but didn't get in the way of the story and wasn't punishing so as to get a more streamlined experience, the cutscenes were beautiful and the music was great! This is a very solid − albeit very short − game, I'm happy I got to experience it.
Steam User 9
I loved 90% of this game. it gives you very little direction and expects you to solve puzzles through context clues and a bit of trial and error, and 90% of the time that worked great. it made for a nice challenge and a satisfying sense of accomplishment when I figured out a puzzle with so little assistance.
then the other 10% of the time was infuriating and I had to either bash my head against a wall for an hour trying seemingly the same 3 things over and over again or i just said fuck it to my pride and looked up a solution.
that being said, it was still a really fun experience overall and the story was compelling and dark. I definitely recommend doing a lil research after you finish to understand the story better, especially reading the 3yr anniversary post in the news section from the creators bc there was a lot of cool little details that I missed and it was so cool to see the level of detail with which everything had been thought out!
definitely recommend :3
Steam User 5
Amazing storytelling. The amount of feelings this game can transmit in 4 hours just confirms video games are another form of art
Steam User 5
Beautiful short game. As a game, a good "metroidvania-style" with very good level design and very clear paths, with the three playable characters having their strong points (Playing as the knight is incredibly satisfactory even if his moves are somewhat limited) and I was able to beat it without too much effort. It really really feels like the ending could use a final boss, although it's understandable why it isn't done as such. The soundtrack is absolutely outstanding, the kind of that makes your heart race and get you goose bumps.
The only other thing that I must point out is that some of the story can be a little confusing because (SPOILERS AHEAD) The son/Knight and The Man/Father look VERY alike and can be confused with the same person, as in The Man being a bit younger before the events happen. It's only at the end when it's clear that they are two different people.
Steam User 6
No, but also yes. There are a lot of dark themes in Inmost, but that doesn't mean it's not a fantastic story about love and pain. My ONE(1) complaint is that there's no way to change the key binds and that to dodge you have to hit control... but otherwise its fucking great, little confusing until the end, but great nonetheless
Steam User 4
It's a decent story if not a little disjointed and hard to follow at times. Ultimately this is heavily story based and the gameplay is extremely average. If you're interested in a story about mental health and grief and are okay with metaphors then you'll probably enjoy this on a sale.