In case you don't know by now, I love nature. Not in some obsessed hippy or activist way (plus I'm usually indoors more anyways), but its something I feel enthusiastic and inspired about. I love the various colors and lighting that appear within the daily or seasonal changes of nature, I love herbal drinks and teas, I love animals, I love how various past cultures have interpreted it in many different ways through mythology, and I even find comfort in simply seeing an earthly color scheme like stone colors and dark depths, browns, or lush greens. Plus, I just grew up along side that era in America where they were pushing hard to make natural science look cool whether it was through Bill Nye the Science Guy and constant infomercials for nature magazines, or less than subtle eco-nut influence within kids shows about bio-engineered shark heroes. So its no surprise that several years ago, I was quickly interested when IGN wrote a fascinating look into an upcoming nature themed Indie game known as Proteus. It was a game said to take you away from the tensions and expectations of a normal game, and just simulate an interesting artsy take on a virtual nature trip. Of course there's always the real world for nature, but honestly it sounded nice to have a small little tranquil game to just load up and relax with a world that simulated the best of nature... with likely some nice virtual twists as well. As time went on though, it turned out these weren't the only guys making a simplistic art experiences, and really games like this, Dear Esther, and Gone home weren't necessarily welcomed by everyone. While I didn't share the level of frustration with most gamers about the problems with "walking simulators", I did catch a tug of skepticism within Proteus. However when the PS3 and Vita versions go free on PS+, who am I to say no to the game? I'm now here with a review based off my experience with Proteus. Does it live up as an amazing artsy nature simulator that should be played, or would it be more fitting to let this one decompose outside instead?
First thing that needs to be addressed is the visuals, which were off to a bad start before the game was even playing right. I had to readjust the TV fitting for it for a bit for the PS3 version, which is usually good right out of the gate and I don't see why Proteus had to be the only game since Psychonauts to have me fighting with the size scale. Once the game actually started, it wasn't exactly any better. I got out of the water and onto the shores of an island where the trees were constantly clipping, and the framerate felt out of place until I realized it wasn't the framerate so much as it was motion as a whole worked in this game. Then I stumbled onto some giant hunk of brown slab just sitting on top of a hill. It was flat in a tombstone kind of way to be a rock, yet it was too tall and brown to be a tombstone, and of course it couldn't have been a tree stump. It was just some weird giant brown 3D slab placed at crooked angle on the hill... and that was that. This wasn't the only graphical mystery within this strange pixel vomit art style. As I went along I saw what looked like a giant brown building that had been sliced off and had no features... or I guess it was supposed to be a tree, but was so perfectly square and just missing the other half like it was vaporized, so it looked more like the base of a large featureless building if it were drawn by an elementary school kid. Later on I saw some things that might have been cylinders structures, stumps, or even graves of some form, but I still can't tell for sure, and whatever it was it jerks on the vibration of the controller whenever you pass them. Somewhere down the line I also saw what looked like a rabbit, but colored like a pig, then there was some kind of big white blob that has a strange croak sound and floating magic bits round it almost like it were some sort of pixie frog. It would jump to unnatural lengths as well, almost like it were being shot out of a small cannon. Seriously, this is just as weird to explain as it must be to read. The art style is so poorly detailed it pretty much renders half the game as something you have to interpret, and not in a cool way, but rather just annoying and sloppy. On top of all that I could also complain that the sunset is off color and actually ugly to look at (How can you screw up a sunset in a whimsical nature game!?), the windy effect is a strange leaf spinning thing that had me thinking it was an honest glitch for the first few times I saw it, and once you notice the moon is nothing but a solid white disc your realize that the rest of the world has also been one whole solid color with few things that scale or tone well to bring out a sense of detail or shading. The result is a game that feels like its just opposing itself. The uneasy motion, the unnatural and ugly coloring, lack of details, it all results in something far too unnatural to appreciate or admire. I've been told by some to look at it more like an alien world, and that would explain some of the abstract things, but it still feels sloppy and out of place for the tranquil and explorative nature of the game. On top of that, some things are extremely clear and familiar to make out. You can't use alien squirrel things as an excuse when you've got bees, trees, and owls everywhere and clear to make out. Its harder to see where the game does wrong in a screenshot, but as a person actually playing it... its just not a pretty game and was a terrible art style to go with for this kind of theme.
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| it looks alright at times.... I guess |
With that in mind I don't want to accuse the entire game of looking bad... even if I just generalized it as such. The water sparkles, the sunset (when you are focused only on the sun) is decent, there's a subtle effect where staring at the sun screws with your contrast just enough to remind you that you shouldn't stare at the sun, and some of the interesting combinations that can happen by chance, like an owl flying to a tree surrounded by odd star bits, can create stunning scenes some of which later on borderline on a mystical surreal charm. Oh and speaking of which, night time and the fall season in itself are just gorgeous for the way its handles lighting, and they also account for the one time color shades start to blend together more beautifully. There's also a nice little surprise or two that may grab your interest with visuals, but I wont spoil them here. I'll also note that with the visuals, part of the style is the musical sound. Everything has a sound to it which stays a little more consistently wonderful than the visuals. You have rabbits and frogs hopping to a nice tune, flowers play a little song until you scare them, crabs crawl by with a strange heavy drumming, and at times the general ambiance is just nice. Some have described this game as more of a dynamic music project than anything else, and while I wouldn't say that's a big selling or focus point for the game, I can see where they would get that sort of conclusion from. There are still some less flattering sounds to be heard, and occasionally they feel a bit out of sync, but they make up the minority. I would say the sound is generally pleasing and a big part of complimenting what redeeming art aesthetics this game may have underneath its troubled style.
Of course what would a game be without gameplay though. Proteus has always advertised minimal in that department, but its still got to have some purpose and input, so its time to go over whatever it has. You start off each time in the ocean facing an island that randomly generates just a bit over each time. Your tasked with simply exploring. Jump onto the island, and just walk around and witness things around you making sounds as you get up close. The way of progressing the game is by waiting for the middle of night to come, and then find a circle of stars that appear. Once you enter within it, the seasons change to the next and you do the same all over again. So basically you're exploring for at least a few minutes, and when you are able to there is a gateway opening to allow you to pass on to the next season. It always starts with Spring, and ends with Winter. Each environment has something to change, and new tunes and events open up with it. This can all be accomplished in around 40 minutes without even rushing, and always ends in a really stupid scripted way that kind of hurts the winter season, but I wont exactly spoil it. During your time in each season your input is pretty limited. You can walk, sit (moves the camera down until you move again), take pictures that save as a "postcard", and then there's this weird slow blink fade that causes you to quit to the menu without warning. Yeah... that's about it, and there isn't even a jump, sprint, or "use" button. You just walk, grab pictures, and can sit down. Also that blink bit... yeah that's just stupid. It was frustrating to have my very 1st playthrough wrecked because, without warning (its not in the help/controls reading), there's a hidden quit button and no saved progress available. Why is that even a thing!? The pause menu is just as perfectly capable of taking you back. Anyways with that gripe out of the way, you get the basic gesture that there really isn't much to this game. I'm talking with more experience on the PS3 side, but the vita version adds a function of a useless touch screen sprite and some kind of "motion cam" that doesn't explain itself, but apart from that its the same game. I would say the Vita version deserves more credit as the visuals look more natural on a smaller screen for some reason, and the game feels natural as an on the go experience, though you also wont be able to go idle unless you're ready to keep the machine awake. The postcard function can be carried over, at least by 3, in cloud save but there is no other integration between the machines. Getting back to the meat of the experience though; I found myself walking around, sitting in front of stuff just hoping something would somehow happen. Instead the game is just strict about being about absolutely nothing. Again, you can't even jump, and there's an excessive amount of unused buttons. You just walk, look, listen, and when you see the star circle bits proceed to the next season. This creates a game that is just too dull and simple for its own good. However if you ever want to go back into any piece, there is one awesome quality to taking pictures/postcards where it also works almost as a save game. You go into your gallery and can just load a picture and its like your actually touching a postcard and going there. I have to admit, that is simply amazing, and the loading is next to non-existent.
I know its an unconventional game but while I can support Gone Home, Journey, this just isn't fun. This is just so uninspiring your almost hooked onto it just to see if you can "break" it into doing something interesting. For example I found myself leaving the game idle and with my character "sitting" (the only action) in front of a poorly detailed mini-house to see if anything would ever happen.... it didn't, at least for the time I was there, though according to fan forums there is.... some weird secret involving snakes. I would be glad such secrets exist somewhere, but in the multiple play throughs I've done and the things that I've tried I could never make anything happen that felt like a full blown secret. The game is mechanically bankrupt, and with it goes half the interest, and when its not interesting you don't feel compelled to stick around for what few tricks it may have hidden. Its not bad because some expect traditional gameplay, but its also just immersion breaking to know that this world, all the trees, all the structures, all the animals, etc are just there to be watched and you can't do anything else to effect, influence, experiment, or make an impact on this world. Actually the game can't even let you become a spectator right, as some things don't even have a decent life of their own. The daily routine will switch things up a bit and bugs move, but if you watch a frog it just sits there doing nothing until you walk up to it, which then it just hops until you stop chasing it, where then it'll resume being a static sprite desperate for actual programming. So yeah, if you want a naturally flowing immersive ecosystem world, go pick up Skyrim instead. Proteus treats you not as a player, but as a guy looking through a museum display window that holds a mediocre replica.
Now despite all my complaints on unengaging the game usually is, the game has its moments where it still manages to show you something that feels good. There's that time when I walked up a mountain and had the sound fade out to just the whispers of the wind and the site of darkening clouds that caught me in awe for a moment. There was a time where I was shifting seasons to Autumn and landed during rainy weather and in front of two bright pumpkin colored tress that looked amazing. There was another time when I moved along a mountain that lead up into the cloud lines and went on flat at that point, it looked like I was walking on a sea of clouds into the setting sun. There was one bit where the lighting changed around the woods and suddenly there was a jade colored fox poking his head out of trees, and disappearing only to show up at another. Like some playful little hide & seek game I ran around circles distracted by this sudden event, but the lighting died then things just kind of continued without warning as a mundane empty pixel world. Moments like this were interesting, but don't stick with you long enough to really mean much. A lot of times the game just feels like it just lets you down or really limits itself to being just a tease. The best example of this would be another woodland event. During the autumn time when things start to amp up their weirdness just a little (like the jade fox, and some odd star things floating around), I was walking along at night when suddenly the trees all lit up. Really bright lights glowed along the ground and trees as the music shifted gears, it was as if the area had become a ballroom. My mind actually drifted a little bit to an old Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale about a story of flowers throwing their own enchanted party, and I was wondering what would happen in the game when suddenly.... the mystery just died. Nothing happened. Something magical looked like it was about to spark yet it just defused, like a flame going out before it can warm you. To some degree I think the intent may have been that quick reaction of wonder, but all I know for sure is that I left out of that moment feeling like I just spoke with a con artist more so than witnessed digital magic. I don't go through life exactly expecting everything to have an answer or fulfilling end to it, but this is a video game charging $10 that is lacking in almost every category and yet advertising a wondrous nature sandbox. I feel like we're kind of owed a little bit more than crushed teases like this. My time might have been better spent re-reading that fairy tale. All those reactions and side-thoughts within this autumn tree light moment really summarizes the way I probably feel about the whole game in the end.
Overall:
Text version:
Pros:
+Sometimes the art, music, and scenery combine for something nice
+Postcard and randomized island generation ensure lasting value if your interested
Cons:
-Art style is a bit messy and feels ugly for the theme
-Look but don't touch gameplay
-Few surprises that often boil down to wasted teases
-short length with a sour ending
Proteus isn't exactly a terrible game despite getting the lowest score I can give it. However its just that its never exactly my idea of fun, and I can't see much of a point to it or giving any recommendation to it, unless you stumble across it for free in which I say try it and see if you can find what I'm not. The graphics usually don't feel good half the time and in fact contrast to the theme in a negative way, the gameplay is as shallow as a kiddie pool with water that froze over and refuses to let you even get in, and the game just isn't engaging long enough to feel anything. I can't call it terrible for any particular reason, but just as so I can't see it as something worth spending much time or any money on. Some people really have walked away enjoying this, and maybe they can tell you why it was worth it. For those that are into it, the postcard system and level of randomization is just right to keep you invested and really loving it. I'm grateful that such a game exists, and I hope others like it more than I did, but its just doesn't feel like it did things right. At times there's some beacon of potential and hope to be found, and some sense that something special may happen. There were times I cracked a smile or felt a stir of delight and wonder, and there's something just cool about seeing an Owl in this game that inspires you to continue moving forward and exploring. Part of me keeps going back and looking for that special discovery that keeps this game more in my favor. For that reason I've endured multiplayer playthroughs, I care enough to write this review, and I still don't feel like I'm through with the game. However each time that beacon of hope shines through, or whispers of potential secrets form, the moment either dies prematurely or was never worth feeling excited about to begin with, and the joy as a whole feels very short term before my mind just zones out due to boredom.
When my 1st trophy came in as a strangely edited passage from the Tao Te Ching, I knew the game had some care and I know its supposed to be a game meant for someone like me, but its a struggle to justify that because Its far too limiting of a game to enjoy it like you would want to. Instead maybe that passage among other reminders is a sign that maybe there are more worthwhile things that do this game's job way better. Maybe I'm better off reading a fairy tale, re-analyzing the Tao Te Ching, looking at landscape art on deviantart, playing Skyrim, or of course going out into the real outdoors for an authentic nature walk. Proteus just feels like your walking circles in your backyard rather than doing any of that stuff. You walk in circles expecting something exciting to happen, but instead the best you'll get is seeing a squirrel, or pretending you can whistle with the birds. At least you wont get bug bites in Proteus, but outside of that its a sadly disappointing game that I'm having a hard time recommending or enjoying. If your still willing to give it a try, then I'd like to remind you DON'T BLINK!!!
