ARTIFICIAL

If you’re looking for a game that takes immersion to the extreme with a side of constant tension, you’re probably going to be interested in what ARTIFICIAL has to offer. A game by Ondrej Angelovic, an independent developer, this ambitious project is one that is highly anticipated within pockets of the indie game community. Although the information on this title is still quite scarce, there’s some material to dive into in order to give you a scope of what to expect.

Story

Artificial is a first-person physics based puzzle game that has you situated in an underground colony on asteroid 2031 XT. This location is probably based on a future version of the human race that has conquered interstellar travel. If people are living in an asteroid, best believe that they know a whole lot about space travel. However, things aren’t all rosy in this world as something must have gone wrong in the colony. As a player, you’re tossed in the middle of events that gradually reveal more about this mysterious and dying world. This is certainly the type of story that is more of a “show” than “tell” experience. Therefore, you can expect to take advantage of the environmental storytelling occurring around you.

Gameplay

The game seems to be inspired by Portal 2 and Half Life 2. Those games have some DNA in this title thanks to the Portal-like puzzles that are present in its levels, and just like in Half Life 2 and Portal, there are also physics based mechanics that allow you to interact with objects to affect certain things around the world. In terms of core gameplay loops, ARTIFICIAL seems to be something set on allowing a player to find solutions to problems. There is very little handholding, so gamers that enjoy problem solving will feel right at home with the puzzles provided in ARTIFICIAL.

Features of ARTIFICIAL

The experience you’ll get from playing ARTIFICIAL seems satisfying from what we’ve seen so far. In this game, you’ll get to progress through 3-5 hours of an original story. Therefore, there’s a lot to see for a game made by one person. Besides, because it is a puzzle based game, the story length is really up to how fast you’re able to solve the intricate puzzles placed around its world.

The movement mechanics involve running, jumping, climbing and crawling through a wide variety of environments. Additionally, interacting with your surroundings makes figuring out puzzles a lot tougher than it seems. Almost any object you find can be interacted with, so learning what goes where will be important to succeeding in the ARTIFICIAL experience. You’ll need to maneuver around lasers, avoid turrets and sneak around enemies in order to progress.

Verdict

Artificial feels like the sort of game that will be enjoyable for anyone that loves problem solving or fixing puzzles.

Pros

• Great Puzzles
• Fun physics
• Nice graphics

Cons

• Relatively short story