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"Aethernaut is a single-player, open-world, first-person puzzle game set in a steampunk universe with approximately 7 hours of playtime. Players are tasked with solving puzzles while making story choices based on philosophical questions from Cornell, a guiding scientist. As players progress, they uncover their past and confront an unseen entity, questioning their trust and identity."

Aethernaut screenshot
Aethernaut screenshot
Aethernaut screenshot
Aethernaut screenshot
Aethernaut screenshot
Aethernaut screenshot
Aethernaut screenshot
Aethernaut screenshot
Aethernaut screenshot
Aethernaut screenshot
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54%
Audience ScoreBased on 56 reviews
story8 positive mentions
gameplay8 negative mentions

  • Fantastic puzzles that incorporate unique mechanics like teleporting, time travel, and dimension-switching, providing satisfying 'aha' moments.
  • The game features an interesting story and an amazing soundtrack that enhances the overall experience.
  • Despite its technical issues, the game shows impressive ambition and creativity, especially considering it was developed mostly by a solo developer.
  • Severe performance issues, including low framerate and numerous bugs, significantly detract from the gameplay experience.
  • Inconsistent lighting and poor graphics quality, along with unclear tutorials, make it difficult for players to fully engage with the puzzles.
  • Many puzzles can be frustratingly unsolvable due to bugs, and the lack of a reset option for individual puzzles can lead to unwinnable situations.
  • gameplay
    36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Gameplay reviews highlight a mix of innovative puzzle mechanics and significant design flaws. While some players appreciate the intriguing concepts like light manipulation and time travel, many criticize the lack of clarity in puzzle mechanics and tutorials, leading to confusion and frustration. Overall, the gameplay experience is marred by poorly explained mechanics and inconsistent interactions, detracting from the potential enjoyment of the game.

    • “This game has some of the most interesting puzzle mechanics I've ever seen.”
    • “Even the basic light mechanics in the very early game interact to open up a lot of possibilities when solving puzzles.”
    • “Once more mechanics like the portals or time cubes are added into the mix, even crazier possibilities open up.”
    • “Honestly, it was super tedious and boring to understand the mechanics of this type of puzzle, which, as far as I can tell, plagues the last one-third of the game.”
    • “However, the voice acting quality really does ruin some of that immersion, and the lack of clarity in puzzle mechanics takes this from a well-done puzzle game to more of a poorly made knockoff.”
    • “To elaborate on the 'lack of clarity' in the puzzle mechanics, I never seem to know the end point of a puzzle until I get there, so sometimes I get stuck trying to open a door that isn't even relevant to the solution.”
  • story
    30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story, centered around a gay couple's journey to adopt a child, has been described as intriguing but ultimately disappointing, with many players feeling it drags on and is poorly executed. While the narrative unfolds as players progress through puzzles, the voice acting is criticized, and some players express frustration with the story's relevance and pacing. Overall, the story has potential but suffers from execution issues that detract from the gameplay experience.

    • “It also explains the story as you complete the puzzles, so the more of the game you complete, the more you understand the backstory of the characters involved.”
    • “But on that playthrough, I got bored and frustrated with the puzzles, but the story was building a nice intrigue, so I told myself I would come back and find the ending.”
    • “The story was intriguing enough, fit the mood, and never interrupted gameplay.”
    • “The storyline is bland.”
    • “So I would say that the story let me down; that was the nail in the thumbs down coffin.”
    • “Voiceovers and story elements need work.”
  • graphics
    22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game received mixed reviews, with many users criticizing them as sub-par and poorly optimized, leading to frequent lag and performance issues. Some players noted a unique aesthetic reminiscent of steampunk, which they found captivating despite the rough visuals. Overall, while there are glimpses of potential, the graphics are generally considered disappointing, especially in comparison to other puzzle games.

    • “Though the game has its fair share of glitches as there were only a few people coding it, the graphics and audio design matched the atmosphere of the game very well.”
    • “I'm not sure how to describe the world's aesthetic, a sort of low-energy steampunk 1960 with glowing energy bits or something, but it's very unique and fairly captivating.”
    • “Great graphics, though they did almost max out the GPU utilization on my 512GB Steam Deck.”
    • “Very bad graphics overall.”
    • “But ultimately what caused me to stop playing is the incredibly poor optimization that causes frequent lag (despite its ugly graphics) and caused my CPU to at one point give an overheating warning.”
    • “I would constantly be playing at an FPS of around 20-40 in most of these areas, messing with various graphics settings to try and make it better to no avail.”
  • stability
    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game exhibits a variety of stability issues, including numerous out-of-bounds glitches and minor texture problems, which some players found distracting but not game-breaking. Despite these bugs, many users appreciated the overall experience, noting that the graphics and audio effectively complemented the game's atmosphere. Overall, while the game is considered buggy, it remains enjoyable for most players.

    • “Many out-of-bounds glitches, most of them happened randomly to me.”
    • “Very buggy game.”
    • “Though the game has its fair share of glitches, there was nothing really game-breaking.”
  • atmosphere
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its impressive art direction and effective integration of graphics and audio design, creating a captivating experience. Despite some technical glitches, the unique ambiance and engaging puzzles contribute to an overall compelling atmosphere that keeps players invested.

    • “It also has pretty good art direction and an amazing atmosphere.”
    • “Though the game has its fair share of glitches, the graphics and audio design matched the atmosphere of the game very well.”
    • “Overall, this game is incredibly janky, but the unique atmosphere and captivating puzzles kept me hooked.”
  • optimization
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with players reporting frequent lag and performance issues that can lead to overheating, even on lower graphics settings. Many reviewers suggest that these optimization problems significantly detract from the overall experience, with some indicating that better hardware might alleviate these issues. Overall, the game's performance is seen as its major drawback, impacting ratings and enjoyment.

    • “But ultimately what caused me to stop playing is the incredibly poor optimization that causes frequent lag (despite its ugly graphics) and caused my CPU to at one point give an overheating warning.”
    • “The one major drawback of this game, however, would be its performance (this is just my experience, maybe a better PC can run it better).”
    • “Firstly, the performance was very subpar.”
  • grinding
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be increasingly tedious, particularly after the introduction of the time portal mechanic, which lacks clear tutorials and leads to frustratingly complex puzzles. Many reviewers note that the last third of the game is plagued by clunky and unclear mechanics, making the experience feel more like a chore than enjoyable gameplay.

    • “It was fun until the time portal was introduced; then puzzles became so tedious and there was no clear explanation that, for example, you can spawn a dozen copies of yourself to do some tasks.”
    • “Honestly, it was super tedious and boring to understand the mechanics of this type of puzzle, which, as far as I can tell, plagues the last one third of the game.”
    • “Puzzles are often clunky, unclear, or tedious.”
  • music
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is widely praised for its amazing soundtrack, featuring chill tunes and cool background music that enhance the overall experience.

    • “The background music is pretty cool too.”
    • “Music is chill.”
    • “Amazing soundtrack.”
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7h Median play time
7h Average play time
7-7h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs
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