I enjoyed it. It was interesting, colorfull and utterly unique. I love seeing games like this in the humble Bundle for so cheap. If someone wants to bitch about this game let them, this game is certainly not for everyone.
Proteus Review
Game Emblems
The Good
Unique and absorbing, Proteus succeeds in challenging the notion of which forms are acceptable for video games.
The Good
- Colourful, dreamlike visuals
- Utterly unique
- Procedural generation means no two playthroughs are the same.
The Bad
- Lack of traditional gaming goals limits its appeal.
Proteus is one of these games that you get lost in. It could well be described with that most patronising of monikers--an art game. There's no levelling up, no quests, no beating the AI, and no competing online. In Proteus, you simply exist. But to exist in Proteus is to exist in a world full of such surreal landscapes and beautiful melodies that it's an absolute joy to wander through.
The entirety of Proteus is the exploration of an island--a standard island in which trees, hills, and a small scattering of animals make up the sights and the sounds. As you make your way across this small piece of isolated land, the sun sets, the moon rises, and the weather changes. It doesn't sound like much, but the dependable forces of nature act upon your surroundings, creating rainstorms, snow showers, and exposing wildlife. It's a dramatic and touching effect that compels you to revisit the island multiple times. You're largely a passive spectator to Mother Nature as she weaves her magic, with the ability to move and look around your only means of interaction. There's no button to jump, pick up, pause, or punch. On occasion, animals react to your presence (usually by running away), but that's about as far as you can influence proceedings.
Despite the removal of such interactions, Proteus manages to conjure up some wonderfully memorable and engrossing moments. From the colorful sunsets to the more dramatic meteor showers, it's incredible how so much feeling can be wrung out of this heavily pixelated environment. These events are completely unpredictable thanks to a system of procedural generation that creates a totally different island, each time you play. Discussions with others who have played Proteus yield stories of events and images that you have never seen or thought could happen, adding an extra dimension of intrigue that encourages further playthroughs.
The soundtrack is also procedurally generated, but plays by slightly different rules than the visuals do. Rather than playing at random, sound effects are influenced by where you are in the world and which objects you're near. Stand on an empty beach or mountaintop, for instance, and you hear nothing but the sound of the wind (which may or may not be blowing). Walk towards a tree, and the falling of leaves acts as the trigger to one sound, while nearing a chicken or spiked rock produce other audio cues.
Each sound is abstract by design and bears little resemblance to what such things would sound like in the real world. Furthermore, each noise sounds as though an outdated electronic synthesiser has created it, which is a neat design choice that mimics the retro feel of the visuals. There's no doubting that the resulting audio outbursts are on the weird side of normal, but in the reality that Proteus tries so hard to create, they work admirably and possess bags of charm.
If you're looking for comparisons, then Dear Esther (and to a lesser extent, Journey) is probably the most obvious port of call. Proteus encourages you to simply enjoy the environment and take in what it offers at your own pace, rather than give you a challenge to best or task to perform. However, Proteus is even more open in its design than Dear Esther because there's no straightforward narrative. There are plenty of events to witness and things to see, but it's only the strength of your own curiosity that pulls you through. After you've experienced an entire cycle of weather and seasons (roughly thirty minutes of gameplay), you're left with the feeling that you've walked through an art installation rather than played a game, garnering something new and interesting each time you explore it.
Things do get a little old after you've gone through a number of cycles, but whatever the case, it's difficult to argue against the merits of experiencing Proteus at least once. You might just find something you like, something completely different, or something that emotionally affects you in ways you never thought possible from a video game. And that alone makes Proteus a winner.
249 comments
I just finished the game a few minutes ago, and my biggest grief with this review is that he failed to mention that the "game" can literally be finished in less than 30 minutes (my Steam playtime counter says "38 MINUTES PLAYED" and about 10 minutes of that was me messing around with config menus).
I'd consider that a pretty critical point for a review to cover. Heck, in the [Game Emblems] section for reviews (Art House, Great Soundtrack, Unique, etc.) Gamespot even has a little "Short" logo with a picture of a Gnome warning readers when a game is too short (which this game doesn't have listed above). If there was EVER a game that legitimately needed that little Gnome icon warning, then THIS WOULD BE IT!!!!
So, since Gamespot failed to point out even the most basic observation about this game, I'll warn all you guys right now. THIS GAME IS ____ING SHORT!!!
Get it on the humble indie bundle. I bought it along with 5 other legit indie games for 6 bucks. This game aint much, but its definitely worth a buck or two. I sea no problem if you get it that way. Otherwise, 10 bucks is kinda a waste of money for this game.
I just have two things to share with all of you.. first I want to ask: how many games/interactive arts/screensavers/demos have you done in the past ahn, entire time of your life? the vast majority here has none, not a single hour of work to compare to, and thats saying enough. have you ever thought how childish it is to judge and condemn the work of another person, and even more so considering when not only gamespot gave it a 80 but also the metacritic is at 80? this game deserves this score, piss you or not.
@dkojof Wow, so if you buy a house, and the building falls over your head, you can't complain because you have never made a building before or never saw a engineering class, or if the building don't have doors and windows you can't complain because an architect said "it's art" ? You don't have to be an engineer to know that a house need to have windows and doors, or be a doctor to know that when a patient dies it's a bad thing. And don't trust everything you see on internet, if everyone says that a bag of crap is a bag of roses, don't trust it. If you are paying for something, you have the right to judge it, and warn others people. I bought it, and it's not a game, not beautiful, and not good.
So if the program interact with you it can be considered a game huh? hm, so i was just playing this amazing game right now. You see, i was putting some numbers in my calculator and it interacted with me and showed me some new numbers! WOW! What a unique experience, no goals, just put some numbers and symbols, and it will show you completely different numbers. Now that's a really piece of retro and magnificent art! Come on, that's not a game, its a screen saver, just like the labyrinth screen saver from the windows 98!
1 Like The comments are just people who don't get the appeal of the game railing on it because they don't like it and feel that nobody else should. Pathetic.
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2 Like Judging from the bulk of the comments below, this is why video games can never be art -- it has nothing to do with the capacity of the media, just the capacity for the audience to get it.
The only bone of contention I think is that it's marketed as a game, and NOT as interactive art. But that's because the medium and the means of control are game-like. I think that calling it a game might have been a mistake, but gamers are an obvious audience (well, gamers who can appreciate art).
And the reviewer liked something and you don't so he should be fired??? Really???
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@Hidayato99 @GrahamZ Don't be so narcissistic that you assume that everyone in the world must like what you like.
@cubd1 Cool. You figured out the game. Now grow up a bit, and you will appreciate what you've figured out, and you will probably like the game. :)
1 Like Wow, 1980's Graphics with with with with Hell NOTHING! How retarded to give this an 8.0 GameSpot guys must be smoking something other than pot.
what is wrong with gamespot? is there any game review instead of gamespot guys? I need a good quality review and not this
5 Like It is not a game, technically it's a bag full of sh**.
It gets 8/10 while Crysis 3 gets 7.5... wow let's celebrate the retarded Gamespot's logic tonight!
1 Like John Robertson needs to be immediately fired from Gamespot. How can this Commodore-esque game get an 8 while Crysis 3 gets 7.5? It's like going to a modern art exhibit with hippie drug addicts who stare with awe at a canvas which has several paint colours simply thrown at it. What a disgrace. Shame on John Robertson and shame on Gamespot for publishing this tripe.
I'll be honest, I like it. Kind of reminds me of "Flower" by ThatGameCompany. But then again, with all due respect to the developers, it doesn't deserve an 8.
I really don't get it... how is this a fun game? It's nowhere near Journey; more like Dear Esther except just blobs resembling nature and no story whatsoever.
i think this is more of a screensaver than a video game......really really weird stuff.. hope i'm wrong though
7 Like The Good
Colourful, dreamlike visuals
**************************
Really.. just really.. it looks like somthing i would have playd on my C64.. this is not a good thing..
All this so called retro stuff is just getting silly now..
1 Like @Caldrin I agree. If he considers this "dreamlike", then he doesn't have much detail, imagination or depth to his dreams.
if it was 1980 i would have gone WOOOOOOOOOOOOW but no not now...not trying to criticize the graphics but this ain't a damn game...oh i'm sorry it's CARD POSTAL MAKING game and a way to burn daily life time!you can barely review this...ok i think i got it : you open your eyes as you are standing above water so i assume you play as Jesus Christ!who else can walk on water?you walk around while listening to music (which is very good for relaxation if you wanna go to sleep) you walk around and explore the pixel land and see all kind of pixelated creatures ( which you should use your imagination to understand what they are ) until it's night time.then you go in a circle of some glowing orbs and you travel 3 months ahead ( to the next season of the year! ) do this 3 more time and then when it gets night for 4th time you release you are being sucked toward the sky( i guess god calls back his son to home!) and then the back to main menu...do you call that a game?sure i give credit to their music and time and effort they put to program changes of music as you walk around to certain spots and graphics kinda look cute but as a Game....Over rated!!!if it was a 20 minute animation i would have give it 10 out of 10 but as a game i give it 2.0 just for music and interesting programing...other aspect of the game barely courage you to go thought it one more time and there aren't much interesting stuff in it ...and most importantly there is no damn explanation or text that tell you Who or What are you?Where are you?What are you suppose to do and Why?What's with the trees that you run into and teleport?What's with Time Travel?(which is actually good or other wise it would have took 365 days of game to end it!imagine if it wasn't there...that would have been some awesome troll joke to play on your friends like hey man i give you 100$ if you play this game and end it in one go!!there is no enemies,no text,no goal nothing just spend your time for 1 year of game time!!)even Atari 2600 games back in 1980 had score system so atleast you would do something to get a high score!this one...and i can't believe they are charging money for it (10$ i guess ) but let's example a good free game...how about something with similar graphics and music? CAVE STORY that's right! platformer-shooter. it has awesome 8 bit music with 8 bit graphics great story line with more than one ending and FREE.that game is barely 5 MB it was good enough that they remastered it and ported it to 3DS and named it Cave Story +...
P.S: lone survivor have same graphics almost! or mine craft but let's not compare this with them!the lesson here is not any developer can make a golden game out of retro graphics!
I played the game with high hopes on entering a magic world like they said it was. I never found such world. The strong colors, and the random sounds can be really anoying. And the "Exploration" seems like a bad joke to me, the island is too short, the environment variety its low, and the flora and fauna repettitive. If you want to explore, buy minecraft instead, and you will find the relaxing effect intended in this game.
Well, I bought this "game." I don't think it's trying to be something it's not - but hey, I like Art and I like getting stoned, sign me up.
Lets compare: gamespot gave Asuras Wrath 5.5 WTF?? because it wasnt really a game. This gets an 8.0 and really IS NOT a game? Gamespot and IGN suck at rating videogames. ANGRY JOE ALL THE WAY!!!
I really enjoy scenic, ambient games. If this came out on Xbox Indie I'd pick it up for a few bucks. Without having played it, I don't see the experience lasting very long. Fez was brilliant because you could lose yourself in the ambient sound and world along with plenty of interaction and puzzles to solve. I really like this style of game and hopefully they continue to expand this game.
2 Like This thing is nothing more than what would have been a "tech demo" in 2005. Mock ups like this were used to display rendering technologies and such. I gave this game to my 5 and 6 year olds, and they each enjoyed it for about an hour and then that's it. It's definitely not worth the $10.
For Gamespot to "review" it so highly just shows that everyone is being overly sensitive to anything called art. Is Proteus art? Sure, I'll agree to that. Is it worth your money or being rated as a game? Not at all.
2 Like @cckcmain Anything indie is suddenly " unique and artistic and if you don't get it then you're an elitist ". It shocks me how lots of people are becoming more oblivious and less objective just to please a demographic. In my opinion it's simple. Arrange some criteria and review the game objectively rather rating it on how it " managed to conjure up some wonderfully memorable and engrossing moments" and " it's incredible how so much feelings can be wrung up" . We want good gaming review basis, not your feelings.
Doesn't really hold much appeal considering there isn't anything to do other than explore and with just exploration alone can this really be considered a game or just a virtual world? either way it doesn't interest me.
1 Like There is a genre called "Experimental" idiots. If you don't like it then don't comment. Simple.
2 Like @atahanbozkurt You, clearly, don't know what the word "comment" means.
You, clearly, aren't tolerant towards other people's opinions, when they differ from yours.
@skr10 @atahanbozkurt This comment was made to people which saying it is not a game. My mistake to generalize the target.
wow, so i was playing a game my entering life, when i put some numbers in my calculator, it interact with me and show some new numbers! wow! Pure fun and art.
hm, so i was playing a game just about now and i didn't noticed it. You know, when i put some numbers in my calculator, it interacted with me and show me some new numbers! WOW! So much fun and art with the calculator game.
@KhalidosanIt is not about opinions. I know what is a game and what is not though I am a developer. So thing is, you don't need a win-lose situation. These win-lose games first created with economic concerns. Scenario was people buys coin, playing game until losing and developers making more money. Atari salon games was not for the user experience. So... after we escape from that coin-game system, games became more interactive toys. More than win-lose. Like SimCity. Whatever. As result Proteus is interactive. So it is a game.
@atahanbozkurt @skr10 So you can offend other people and their opinions as long as they are a select group and disagree with you. You realize you just made it sound worse right... ?
Why is everyone so butthurt about this?
Proteus does actually have a "goal". It may not feel like it, but certain things only progress if you go to certain areas.
And to everyone saying this shouldn't have a review because it isn't a "game", well, get over yourselves. You're worse than elitists that fob you off and go "you just don't get it".
Robertson gave this an 8 because he liked it. That 8 isn't an aggregate or an average based on an individual gameplay + graphics + sound score. It's based on his view and how the game felt.
He liked it. He liked it as much as anything else he's given an 8, so he gave it an 8. That's what everyone does on Gamespot.
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6 Like @robotquest The problem is that a reviewer should be more objective and professional. It's like rating oranges higher than apples, because he prefers oranges. It doesn't help anybody.
Instead of using Gamespot as a means to promote his own tastes, he should be focusing on the readers and helping them make an informed decision.
1 Like @shanethewolf @robotquest Comparing apples to oranges? Really? You do realize that is an analogy which actually goes against what you just said. The term "comparing apples to oranges" means that they are entirely different things that can't be compared. So if you can't compare them then how do you rate them? The only way you can: based on your preference. Why do I play Halo over COD? Because I prefer Halo. Game reviews is all about preference, if there was no preference in game reviews then game reviews wouldn't exist, it would be a simple formula. The only games that would get good reviews would be the ones that follow an established formula, not player preference.
Sorry, but I don't really understand your point. But it seems by your logic, you would rate Halo high and COD low, which would suggest to readers that COD are poor games. Now imagine if thousands of readers trusted your judgement: they would all avoid playing COD and miss out on what could've been their favourite series of games.
1 Like @shanethewolf The idea that reviewing any form of media can be completely objective is ridiculous. Plenty of of things have been panned by their contemporary critics only to be discovered for different merits by later ones. Criticism of media and art can have standards and benchmarks, but in reality, it's almost completely subjective.
Why do some people only like "Western" style RPGs and despise JRPGs? Both have their merits, and both have certain camps feel that they accomplish certain artistic and/or gaming goals, yet some people can't stand one or the other. It doesn't automatically make them disingenuous, but it shows that enjoyment of media is, in fact, largely subjective.
The reviewer can't just have a pros and cons list and somehow come up with a formula that somehow assigns a score. Iirc, that's what GS used to do, and in the end, it was stupid. Why? Because the proportions of importance assigned to the graphics/sound/presentation/replay/etc were completely SUBJECTIVE.
@shanethewolf@Ohaidere the almost completely ridiculous and outdated.
Here's a thought. Find a reviewer who's taste you admire and trust their opinion. Any reviewer catering to some inscrutable, shifting idea of objectivity is already someone you should be questioning. Reviewers are who you trust to champion new games. Why would you want to hear their opinions if they didn't? why don't you just go on playing the same old shit you always play? Assassin's Creed 18, here we fucking come.
@Ohaidere @shanethewolf Of course, no review can be completely objective, nor should it be, but there has to be SOME objectivity involved, especially when you're working for a popular site like this where the readers' money is at stake.
It just seems unprofessional to base a review on taste alone and undermines the rating system as a mere whim. It's like rating one game higher than another because it has more blue in it and that's the reviewer's favourite colour.
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Proteus
Not Following
- Publisher(s): Twisted Tree
- Developer(s): Ed Key and David Kanaga
- Genre: Adventure
- Release:
Proteus Navigation
