Tethered

I know I can't be the only person that wants a VR version "Black & White".
This game seems very much like an RTS Survival. You meticulously collect "Spirit Energy" one at a time from dead enemies or at random. (Just think of it as sunshine in PvZ.) The first level requires 320 Spirit Energy or something like that. That's when you have to survive the night. I put up a defense tower that uses Stone resource as ammo.
This game is very well-made. The tutorial and everything is easy to read.
The tutorial takes 30-40 minutes. About 80% through the tutorial they said, "That's it, that's all you need to know." (or something along those lines.) So I quit to menu expecting Level 1 to be unlocked. NOPE!! LOL I had to do the tutorial TWICE. (FML)
I can comfortably play this game seated with motion controls. (They allow you to use Xbox controller too.)
It's definitely worth the pricepoint.
When the "Peeps" build a house. There's this sort of "Pixel Magic" that comes down from the sky. It's really cool. Ironically, it reminds me of the startup screen to BLACK & WHITE!! (shake a box with little pixel cubes inside.)
Only gripe is sometimes you'll tether a soldier unit to an enemy and they'll pickup a resource instead. So navigating the camera is crucial.
You also work with elements of clouds. Mix Rain with Snow and get a thunderstorm and drag clouds to enemies. You can take snow and freeze a river. Use a tornado and make Peeps teleport to their destination. It all adds a twist.
The game is really good. I've tried lots of other VR games and they just aren't up to par with Black & White. Tethered really scratches that itch.
I ended up with mass suicide because they were hungry. But I was so busy fighting monsters. So yeah lots of trial and error. Good thing it's a really relaxing game and it's hard to get angry.

Pro:
-Game is beautifully designed
-The peeps might be the most damn adorable things to ever exist
-Not to hard to get the hang of the game
-Lots of situational towers making you having to always change strategies
Con:
-Peeps don't go back to what they were doing after fighting a critter (requires so much pointless work during night time)
-Eggs end up turning bad too often, even if I put a sun/peep on it instantly
-Sucking in spirit energy sometimes takes too long causing you to fall behind on assigning tasks
This game is overall amazing. Besides these little inconveniences I think the game has a ton of potential and is probably one of the best visual VR games I've played (and I've played too many)

Beautiful VR strategy game! If you loved God games of yore like Black & White, Populous, Cultures, or some of the early Settlers games, you will feel at home. The controls are quite simple. (On HTC Vive) You use grips to move the world around and triggers/ thumbpad to "tether" your Norn-like peeps to resources and buildings. The weather plays an important part in controlling production, access, defense, and healing.
In order to complete each world, you need to gather Spirit Essence to wake the island's guardian. This requires reeling in floating orbs before they expire, which you will do whenever you are not managing your peep's orders. The game is somewhat slow-paced, but I found I had little down time as there was always something to attend to.
Game runs smoothly on my i7-6700k and GTX 970. There were a couple framerate issues on load or when the building triangles are swirling around the camera, but during normal play I did not have any stuttering or issues.
Overall a wonderful game and I am so happy Secret Sorcery brought this to PC!

Introduction
Quite a few years have passed since I last played a 3D God Game. Of course Black & White was the first subgenre representative, to teach me both the basics and even English, since in 2001 I wasn’t as proficient in it as I am now. Happy times and that game’s complexity and fun factor has yet to be replicated by another iteration or similar title. Not that many such games might exist on the Steam Store or outside of it. But the gaming’s equivalent to Nietzsche, must not rejoice just yet. God Games are not dead. Tethered wishes to prove that to us.
Developed by a promising Steam debutante, Secret Sorcery Limited, I have to agree that the inclusion of a Non-VR Tethered update in April (a few months after the initial launch) made this review possible. I consider Virtual Reality as more of an expensive fad, passing or not, than anything truly useful to me. I’m still a couple of years away from owning such a headset but any developer which tries to cater to “both Steam crowds”, deserves some recognition. Plus, their game is lots of fun but more on that below.
Story
The plot is quite simple: you’re a nameless, but not faceless (because of the stone totems) deity with full control over the lives of Peeps. They are a cute race of bipedal creatures in need of guidance from a superior being. That’s where you step in and shall fill that spiritual void while ensuring their survival and eventually, their prosperity. The game’s very title deserves some further attention. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “tether” means: “a line (as of rope or chain) by which an animal is fastened so as to restrict its range of movement”. We may consider the Peeps as animals in the same sense in which humans are also part of the same taxonomic rank. Don’t debate me over evolutionary biology, okay?
So you get play God with a race of sentient beings. That’s all fine and dandy until you find yourself restricted by the game world and the movement mechanics. You see, Peeps live in an idyllic realm of floating islands and despite the fact that you’re an all-powerful spirit, you can only zoom in on them while hopping from one cloud to another. So you have fixed viewpoints over a limited space and the tethering part fits into place, like a glove. You instruct your Peep subjects by “linking” them to their next task or designated profession, using only your mouse peripheral. Tethered contains thirteen levels nicely noted in Roman numerals. Sadly, they lack sufficient variety to stand out from each other. They’re all combinations of smaller or slightly larger floating islands containing the same basic resources you require, in order to assemble the same templates for various buildings.
Graphics
Tethered is powered by Unreal Engine 4 assets along with custom ones which the dev team, clearly spent sufficient time creating and tweaking to a quality standard. The performance in the Non-VR version I could test out, was as advertised. Stable and constant 60 frames per second at 4K resolution. I couldn’t complain about a single issue relating to the visuals or overall performance. Tethered looks great and ran without a hitch. Quite surprising, given my past experience with UE4-powered indie titles. Frame rate was more of a lottery than guaranteed stability, at 4K or even 2K res. That’s how you spot the difference between an indie game developed by a single enthusiast and a title on which an entire team has worked and had the means (time and budget) to iron out any potential optimization issues.
Audio
Another pleasant surprise was the inclusion of Celtic Music in the soundtrack. It was both relaxing and fitted the mood and game setting. Peeps are as peaceful and easygoing as Tolkien’s hobbits, so I found the music selection to be a perfect representation of this. Sound effects were in place, but voice acting is missing altogether. Truth be told, not much need for it since the Peeps speak in their own little gibberish and we have no narrator or “voices of reason” like in Black & White. I really miss those two crazy avatars for Good and Evil…
Gameplay
Tethered had the right ideas going for it, but perhaps the execution has some flaws in its design. I have to repeat my complaint on the severely limited game worlds which shift from one level to another, yet they feel pretty much the same, with just asset redecoration over far too small floating islands. Cute or not, the Peeps have only a handful of roles and they all seem to be of the same indistinct gender, with just skin tone, setting them apart from one another. They require basic resources such as food or timber, yet they have no shelter or exhibit the need to rest. The only threat to their existence, apart from hunger, seems to be the inclusion of critters which appear at night and which the Peeps need to fight and defeat. So after you’ve played 2 or 3 stages in Tethered, you’ve pretty much experienced all that that game has to throw at you, in terms of challenge or building diversity.
The game’s main goal is to reach a certain Spirit Energy threshold, in order to unlock new levels. This type of energy is represented in-game by glowing cyan orbs which you attract towards yourself with a right-click. Consider it the reward you constantly receive for taking care of your little worshipers. The totem which stands as a testament to your power over Peeps, will also show how much Spirit Energy you have accumulated along with how much you still require before progressing to a new world. Speaking of which, there is no real sense of achievement or progress. Black & White had an increasingly larger creature which would act on your behalf and Spore would allow you to take control over a species’ destiny from its microorganism stage and all the way to spacefaring status. Tethered seems limited by its gameplay in equal measure as by it game design. Perhaps more updates or some (free) DLC can fix this?
Verdict
It’s a decent God Game, don’t get me wrong. It’s also not showcasing violence or themes that might be inappropriate to children. It just had potential for so much more, if it embraced an open world design and that genre’s specific mechanics. You don’t feel the power or freedom of a deity in Tethered, while caring for clones of the same cute little creatures gets repetitive rather fast. Even as it stands I don’t consider it overpriced, but if you do, just wait for a Steam Sale. I’ll be eagerly waiting to see what Tethered can achieve in the future.
Strong Points
+ Steam Achievements & Trading Cards.
+ Beautiful graphics and relaxing soundtrack.
+ Cute and light-hearted themes, perfect for younger gamers as well.
+ Virtual Reality headset support along with Non-VR gameplay options.
Weak Points
- Lack of customization or peep/building diversity from one level to the next one.
- Limitations on in-game perspective and movement.
- Gameplay is simplistic and gets repetitive fast.
Rating 70/100
This review was submitted for Imperial Reviews and The Inner Circle Games Networkthrough the generous contribution of Peter Faden.

A solid, polished resource management game with VR support and cuteness off the charts!
Each level consists of a small island which starts off all brown and barren. A blue egg drops from the sky and out pops a Peep, a little elfin guy with baby eyes ready to do your bidding. The first thing you do is tell him to unlock the Totem, which is the main focus point of the game where you reap Spirit Energy, promote Peeps into tradesmen and heroes, and where your Peeps go to drop off the resources they collect. Before long another egg lands and you send your first Peep to sit on it and hatch another Peep. As your team of Peeps grows larger the trick is to keep them all busy performing tasks.
"Tether" refers to the way you have to select a Peep and drag the focus point to a place or item on the island to send him there and put him to work collecting resources, building/upgrading things and fighting Critters at night. There's a day/night cycle so during daylight you focus on building, resource gathering and preparing defences for the night, during which you spend most of the time ordering your Peeps to fight the Critters that appear from everywhere and try to eat your resources.
The name of the game is to be constantly observant, as small artifacts appear which you use to unlock new abilities and buildings that help you to keep pace with the increasing difficulty of the events. As the level progresses, Spirit Energy appears briefly as a cloud of floating blue dots when Peeps pray or other events occur. The majority of this Spirit Energy appears at night as a result of your Peeps killing the Critters. You have to keep your eye out for it at all times and collect it as soon as you see it - it's easy to be distracted and miss it, especially during the day. There's a certain amount of Spirit Energy you have to collect in order to beat the level, so it's the most important currency in the game.
There are five types of resource: wood, stone, ore, food and crystal. The first three are used for constructing buildings which in turn boost your resources and Peeps in various ways. Food keeps your Peeps alive, obviously. Crystals are the solid version of Spirit Energy, so it's very important to collect it as soon as it appears. The buildings all require different combinations of resources, so you have to manage your workforce in order to collect the resources that you need most. Before long you have Peeps wandering all over the place and you need your wits about you to follow who is doing what. Not-so-organised chaos with me in charge, I can tell you.
The final game mechanic is the weather elements, which you can use on resource fields and Peeps to boost them one way or another, or else you can use one weather cloud on another to produce rainbows and lightning to serve various purposes. And that's the whole game more or less covered. Thirteen different islands and a set of game mechanics that's effective but compact.
There's no storyline at all, which is surprising for a game that's built around cute little characters. Personally I don't mind at all because nothing irritates me more than a half-arsed story shoehorned into a game just because they feel they have to do it. Stories should be done properly or not at all, so in this case not at all is fine by me.
Sound & Vision
The visuals are gorgeous, it has to be said. Great use of colour and glowing objects that really pop. The background music has a celtic vibe that makes me think of leprechauns, it suits the mood perfectly. On the down side, I played without VR and to look around I had to select various clouds to change my viewpoint from a limited number of fixed positions. It kind of does the job, but I often found myself straining to see what was going on in the distance and having to keep switching viewpoints constantly, adding to the confusion. It just feels awkward. I've watched the store page video and it's clear to see that this game was made for VR, you can zoom in and out and glide your view to exactly where you want it, it looks far easier and more natural that way.
I should point out that these images you see here are taken from the store page and they show close-up shots of the game with lovely scenery and the faces of Peeps. These images are entirely impossible to produce without VR. I've only ever seen these scenes from further away, which puts me at a disadvantage because there are small objects such as artifacts and faces carved into rocks that are very difficult to spot without the ability to zoom in.
One thing I want to mention in this section is the dying. When things get away from you and you start to lose control, your Peeps start to starve and go into "Dismay" mode. They all start making this sound like a room full of baby ghosts, that's the only way I can describe it, and they they all start jumping off the edge of the island. I'm a grown man and I found it very disturbing. I'm serious. It's creepy.
Difficulty
On the face of it, the gameplay mechanics are fairly straightforward. It looks like it should be easy, but it's not. You really need to keep your wits about you and employ some serious multitasking skills. Even on the early levels you're already dealing with upwards of a dozen Peeps wandering all over the place. In theory you should try to minimise their walking distances by making them do things that are nearby, but that's easier said than done. It's like "hey, I need some stone, let's send any peeps I can get hold of" and then I end up with Peeps walking further than they need to, just because I can't keep tabs on it all with the island swarming with Peeps. Then they start making that awful keening sound and I know my goose is cooked.
So don't be fooled by the cuteness, there's plenty of challenge here.
Steam
Achievements, Trading Cards and Leaderboards but no Steam Cloud. Linux support wouldn't go amiss either.
Value
The graphics, quality and overall polish of the game can't be faulted. If you're the type of gamer who likes to 'master' a game, become an expert at a specific type of gameplay and compete against others then it might be worth shelling out the rather hefty price tag. If I had a VR headset then yes, I think I would be tempted to pay full price. However, as a non-VR player who prefers discovering fresh content throughout a game, I would only consider this with a heavy discount because it quickly becomes 'samey'.
Verdict
Tethered is very well put together and is an enjoyable experience up to a point. The problem is that it lacks scope and variety. It does keep you busy and there's a lot to think about but once you've played the tutorial level you've seen nearly all of what the game has to offer. Nothing new or surprising ever emerges, it's just repeating the same thing with increasing intensity and trying to improve your scores. If you're into leaderboards then this is the game for you, otherwise you're likely to get bored pretty soon.
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Very fun VR game, sadly probably one the only I would consider a full game release. Ya, short time playing so far, but thats VR.
Point being there are tons of islands and I have only touch 2 of them so far! Great God Game and as mentioned a full game, kudos to the devs on this one! If you like the genre BUY IT NOW! that's if you have VR of course ;) Oh this is on Vive, OCR is being supported it seems by the devs, look to the forums, but for Vive it was easy as pie ;)
Things I liked...
1. The creatures are cute as a button!
2. Graphics are very nice
3. Sound and music are just great!
4. Game play is solid and I love building up my villages on the islands
5. Weather control is fun stuff !
6. Feeling like a god is pretty cool in this game , even the little guys look at you when you get close
7. There is combat for your little ones (night monsters)
8. Allot of building options
9. Allot of promotional options for your peeps.
10. Just overall a great experiance.
What I didn't really care for....
1. Movement controls are a bit wonky for me
2. Popups to explain things are nice, some pop up thou and sometimes i would have diffculty removing them. Finally got it thou, just wasn't explained well.
3. Save , but they are coming with something on that.
4. Fast pace, I mean it's like any real time god game, but in this, being VR, have some sort of "Slow" god power would be nice, I thought about pause, but that would break the emmerision. But great news on this one too , like save they are adding a time control update soon so sweet! :)
Summary:
Loved it , recommend it, will play allot more in future!

9/10
Finally, a VR strategy game that I want to play! I enjoyed the Black & White games in their time, and I'd strongly encourage other fans of the series (or any similar) to give Tethered a try.
The movement controls seemed a bit strange at first, but felt very smooth and natural after only a few minutes of messing around. Otherwise, this game is beautiful and well-polished...easily one of the best looking games on the Vive at the moment, and the "peeps" are absolutely adorable! The game runs smoothly on my i7-3770k/gtx 980 system, with no apparent glitches or dropped frames.
One minor issue for me was that the hand assignment (right/left) seems to be reversed from the Vive controllers' expectations. It threw me off at first, but swapping the controllers physically was a simple enough workaround.