Vessel

Nice little puzzle-platformer. I enjoyed playing the first few levels. Well thought out, standard learn-as-you-progress in the game.
Unfortunately, after only a few levels, I became increasingly frustrated by not being able to physically do whatever task was needed to pass an area. I'm an old-school gamer, I enjoyed figuring out the first puzzles, but then ultimately the game just became either too obtuse (requiring looking up walkthrough cheats), or too much speed and dexterity to win. Couple that with an occasional "things don't work because you clicked one pixel off" and you have a platformer that is unforgiving and not fun to grind through.
I still give Vessel a thumbs-up since most people will likely enjoy at least some of the first content. Sadly, I feel I was just starting to get into the game before it became too difficult. Luckily I picked this one up on sale cheap.

straight to the verdict
It's rather well made and enjoyable puzzle game featuring mechanics not oft seen in other games. You should preferably play this with a controller although mouse + keyboard are also possible.
¿What is this game? ¿What do you do in it?
Vessel is a 2-D side scrolling puzzle game featuring fluid physics.
Set in a steampunkish universe you play as a genius inventor who needs to remedy the mischief caused by his own greatest invention: man-sized fluid creatures (called fluros) that have behave intelligently enough to have become integral parts of industrial labor. Recently they have ascended beyond there mere servant status though and started to evolve new forms on their own, even acquiring a rudimentary form of sentience.
The worldbuilding and story are neatly done provide context to your unique abilities and the situations that you'll encounter throughout the world.
The puzzles I would describe as of the experimental lockbox kind meaning you'll need to discover the right kind of interaction between various creatures, switches and your own toolkit to advance. You do this by simply experimenting and taking note of the interactions in the given room. Somehow you need to chain them together and exploit them. There's also some lightweight plattforming here and there. Puzzles can be reset at any time, there's frequent check points and rarely time pressure or super precise input required all of which makes for a relaxed moment to moment gaming experience. Notably Vessel makes ample use of physics, specifically fluid dynamics. To give you an idea what that means: in a particular puzzle you might have to lure a fire creature to a nearby ledge, then spray it with water at the right time to generate steam and finally suck the steam into a nearby turbine to activate a generator. The path that water and steam take is computed dynamically depending on physical parameters like volume, velocity, obstacles, etc. as opposed to being prerendered (how most games would do it out of convenience).
strong points
* puzzles are generally well crafted and encourage you to experiment with the surroundings until you find the proper mechanism. The difficulty curve increases steadily as more and more tools are introduced. While there's generally 1-2 intended ways of solving a particular puzzle you might occasionally stumble into a non-intended, emergent solution.
* the physics engine behaves quite well which enables the exploitation of spraying liquids, filling containers, etc. This was a crucial thing to get right and the devs did it.
* the artistic presentation (art style, sound & music, etc) is pleasant and fits the game's mood and narrative
weak points
* no ingame help or hints if you are stuck with a particular puzzle. If you can't figure out the solution to a puzzle you'll have to use external resources like a guide. I got seriously stuck maybe 5-7 times during my playthrough, mostly towards the end as the puzzles solutions become more intricate. The game follows a mostly linear progression but with interim sections where sets of puzzles must be completed but the player gets to pick the order. On those sections there's typically some leeway so only 5/6 might be necessary to complete a particular world. An ingame help or guidance system of sort would have really been appreciated. In the Zelda series you'll meet with people giving off hints or even have a sidekick chiming in when you are stuck but there's no such thing here.
* inefficient solutions still work but are less satisfying: sometimes you might get stuck on a puzzle and find a time consuming way to meet the condition anyways. An example might best illustrate this. Consider a particular puzzle in which you need to crush a water creature in just the right spot so that its water flows into the grate below and fills some container. If you don't figure out the right way you might alternatively try to splash around water at different angles over and over in the hopes that eventually enough droplets end up in the container. That too solves the puzzle but it's certainly tedious and not satisfying. I've had multiple occasions where I eventually progressed but thought to myself Huh, that couldn't have been the correct way. There's no way to know after the fact though.
* upgrade system is largely useless. There's different unlockable upgrades in the form of nozzles that let you spray liquids at different rates or in different arcs and so forth but they're mostly gimmicks. Some actually do let you occasionally overcome obstacles in novel ways but the trick is that unless I tell you, you won't know which ones do that and which are useless. Upgrades are locked in permanently and cannot be swapped out. Nevertheless you can beat the entire game comfortably with just the default loadout. As a concomitant the exploration and secret hunting required to unlock the upgrades is also largely moot.
in summary
Overall, despite some frustrations, Vessel is a game that I'm glad that I dug it out of my library.
Steam Deck experience
Pretty much flawless. Haven't noticed any problems and the default keybindings work well enough.

Vessel in 2024.
So here we are Vessel a game from 2012 now around 12 years old at this point. A game forgotten by most and beloved by the few that remember...
So I'm sure you're wondering, how does this old classic hold up to modern day games and is it still worth your time and money? Personally I believe so, I have completed Vessel 4 times, 2 of which were 100% runs. And somehow i have still managed to have fun every single play through. Not because Vessel has some sort of "infinite replayability" but simply just because the game was genuinely fun...
So how does the game play of Vessel hold up nowadays?
So let's start with the basics.
The controls
Vessel's control are a little awkward sometimes.
Not that the control scheme is bad, The movement is just a little goofy. Your character jumps and falls very fast but luckily it's not exactly a platformer.
Turning valves can be tricky with WASD but it's much easier on a joystick. But shooting fluids is easier with a mouse as compared to a joystick.
Personally I say just use whatever control scheme you're most familiar with. I've played with both and I'll say the game fine with either.
The puzzles
the puzzles are clever and fun but not too deep.
This is not a puzzle game like "Baba is you" or "can of wormholes". If you are expecting some sort of crazy 4th wall breaking puzzles this is not the game for you.
Vessel is a very traditional puzzle game the puzzles stay in the room that they are in and you have everything you need within that room.
This is not a bad thing though it makes for a very nice casual puzzle experience!
The puzzles basically consist of a combination fluid simulation and creature behavior manipulation, And working with the machines around you. In order to push buttons and open doors to progress further. With some fun tools at your disposal in order to work with liquids and to make creatures out of them. It's a bunch of simple actions combining to make a massive reaction!
The lore
I won't get in into any spoilers! But the story is a bit schizophrenic at best...
And completely incomprehensible at worst...
It's not that the story is explained poorly. It's that they barely explain any of the story!
And this is not like "Rain world" where you can find the entire story but it's so incredibly well hidden that you probably never will.
In vessel they just literally never tell you half the story. You barely know anything about the world you're thrown into...
You kinda know a tiny bit about the character you're playing? You have no idea what the purpose is of the places you're visiting. You have no clue what the rest of the world is like. And you have no idea what happens after the end...
So if you're into worldbuilding Vessel probably will be a little disappointing...
But the lore it does tell you is pretty good! Personally I think your character writing down journal pages is pretty cool. Plus it's got good artwork too. And what they do go explain they do in great detail. It actually feels like reading an inventor's journal!
The art style
Vessel has a beautiful yet simple art style. That really nails the steampunk vibe!
And it sticks with it never once did I feel like Vessel's art style slipped.
The creatures are beautiful and simple their movements really incentivized their actions and behaviors,
Without being so over the top that it detracts from the experience.
And the environments are captivating without being overwhelming. With just enough things moving in the background to keep them feeling alive yet not distracting.
Sure if you really look closely you're gonna see some really strange texturing... And there's a lot of models that just cut off abruptly... But unless you're actively looking out for that kind of stuff you're not gonna see it.
The music and audio
in my opinion the audio design of Vessel is very good.
The music tracks are solid and the sound effects really give it all a pop!
Plus interesting enough vessel has adaptive music! With the music shifting and adding more accompaniments mid swing to accompany things in the game. Which is pretty impressive considering it was made in 2012!
Although it does show its cracks and sometimes it glitches a little but not too often...
Miscellaneous points
sadly the Vessel community is pretty much dead. As Vessel never had any mods made for it, and never had a sequel... The last time the steam community page had much activity was sometime around 2015-2018? And I have not seen a singular fan game. Though there has been a new YouTube video or two covering vessel, Something tells me it isn't gonna have a resurgence anytime soon...
So if you ever end up wanting more you're going to be left longing...
the conclusion
well that was a mess of a ramble...
so here's just a brief rating of the different points i went over...
The controls 6/10
The puzzles 9/10
The lore 5/10
The art style 10/10
The audio design 8/10
overall score 8/10
A clever and fun puzzle game, That's unique enough to keep it interesting even after all these years.
Anyways if you actually made it to the end of this you should probably just buy the game... It's only 5 bucks it's pretty fun. And it's a unique little chunk of history. So thanks for coming to my Ted talk!...

An interesting puzzle platformer with some nice art and environments that I remember enjoying enough to replay it for the extra challenges and general achievements I missed.
The game can be a bit finicky to work with at first as the creatures created are unstable but it was something I got used to during the playthrough and I don't remember it being a problem for me by the end of the game.

I’ve owned for Vessel for years and I keep coming back for a play through every single time and for the current price of course I’d say buy it because this game is a fun experience, especially on Steam Deck (proton experimental recommend for full screen res)

This is probably my favourite small indie game. The sprite-work and soundscape are appealing and great at keeping the player engaged. I found the narrative to be engaging and the short journal entries paced well enough that I was excited to read them every time they popped up. There have been next to no bugs throughout my three playthroughs so the game feels well crafted. The platforming does feel a little janky but not to the point where it ever seriously messed up my gameplay. Finally, the puzzles themselves are well crafted. I will say that some of the puzzles lack that Ah-ha! moment that I see mentioned elsewhere in the reviews, but I found the execution and the satisfaction of solving each puzzle was enjoyable in it's own right and made me enjoy nearly every puzzle in this game. I Highly recommend if you're into solving puzzle, steam-punk visuals and/or scientific inquiry.

An absolute masterpiece of a platform puzzle game. Superb Music by Jon Hopkins. The only bad thing about this game was there was no sequel!