![]() This could suggest you need to pick up an object or it might be a visual representation of something you need to interact with. The “Narrative Hint” mode is a great option to enable from the get-go, allowing you to hold a button and see a small icon that hints at the next step you need to take. Thankfully, The Plane Effect offers two assist modes. It didn’t take long before I decided to start using the assist modes to avoid wasting time. From the midway point, the size of the environments and the number of puzzle steps needed to progress increase. At its worst, The Plane Effect combines large environments with arbitrary puzzles, devolving into immersion-destroying trial and error gameplay. Other times, it feels like scenes drag on, as you repeat the same basic puzzle or avoid the same hazards (a section inside a giant worm and another navigating maze-like dock were the biggest offenders). These are the moments The Plane Effect shines, as you move briskly from one creative scene to the next, never sure of what you’ll see next. Make no mistake, there are times the visuals and audio create an enjoyable blend of exploration, puzzling, and progression. This results in an experience that feels both inflexible in design and padded out, and The Plane Effect was one of the rare games that I walked away from sure that I had played it for twice as long as the stats revealed. Given the streamlined design, you often can’t pick up other key items prematurely, adding a considerable amount of backtracking in larger areas. Given the interaction icons are vague and the distant perspective makes identifying objects difficult, it’s often hard to figure out what you’ve picked up and what it could be used for (and many interactions make little sense anyway). Unfortunately, many of the more surreal interactions feel arbitrary and, as a result, are often solved through trial and error. The use of lighting and colour, interaction icons, a few notes, and environmental clues will all guide you forward. However, the bulk of the experience revolves around puzzles that boil down to finding the right item, to use on the right object, in the correct order (and sometimes with the correct timing). There’s imprecise platforming that can lead to repeated climbs, sequences that require you to dodge fast-moving hazards while fighting the sluggish movement, and twitchy sections that have you driving a vehicle, dinghy, or minecart. There are, of course, action-oriented diversions but these are all too often frustrating rather than fun. There’s no inventory to manage, no cluttered journal full of details, and – if you pick the default “normal” setting – very little guidance outside of some smartly designed audio and visual cues. The game progresses linearly, moving from scene to scene, most named after scientific concepts or cosmic phenomena. You move the protagonist around from an isometric perspective (with minimal camera control), keep an eye out for collectable and interactive objects, then puzzle your way past obstacles in your path. The core gameplay is – mechanically speaking – simple. Befitting the dystopian sci-fi themes, you work towards a finale that is a mix of closure and despair, so don’t go in expecting a coherent narrative or conclusive ending. The protagonist is clearly a family man, desperate to get home to his wife and child, but several encounters with ghostly apparitions, panning shots of clearly artificial locations, and increasingly surreal sequences will leave you wondering if anything he experiences is real, symbolic of his fears, or some lucid dream while he’s passed out in front of his PC. ![]() This intriguing setup is all you get before a mundane trip – which starts with puzzles revolving around recovering a ticket for the metro and summoning a taxi – takes a turn for the weird, goes off the rails, and the rest of the story is left open for interpretation. After a brief puzzle that requires tossing a seemingly insignificant paper plane, he emerges into a sci-fi cityscape to begin the journey home. There’s an ominous-looking maelstrom in the sky outside, and the office door is locked. The problem is the basic gameplay feels clunky and the puzzles – much like the classic genre they emulate – are inflexible, often illogical, and force plenty of backtracking.Īfter a long day in the office, lost in the glow of his monitor, the protagonist gets up from his desk to find the place deserted. There’s no direct storytelling, but the succession of increasingly weird encounters and cutscenes make for a compelling experience. The Plane Effect – developed by Innovina and StudioKiku, published by PQube – is a surreal, audio-visual experience that plays like a streamlined point-and-click adventure.
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