Aethernaut
- March 15, 2022
- Dragon Slumber
- 7h median play time
Get on Steam"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."
Mac OS
PC
Steam Deck
Windows
Linux
Reviews
- The game features fantastic and clever puzzles that provide satisfying 'aha' moments, utilizing unique mechanics like teleporting, time travel, and dimension-switching.
- The soundtrack is amazing and complements the game's atmosphere well, enhancing the overall experience.
- Despite its flaws, the game shows impressive ambition and effort for a mostly solo-developed title, with an interesting story that unfolds as players progress through the puzzles.
- The game suffers from severe technical issues, including low framerate, numerous bugs, and inconsistent lighting, which significantly detracts from the gameplay experience.
- Many puzzles are poorly designed or overly complicated, leading to frustration and a lack of satisfaction when solving them, often requiring players to rely on the automatic 'Solve Puzzle' feature.
- The tutorials are unclear and insufficient, making it difficult for players to grasp the mechanics, which can lead to confusion and tedious gameplay.
- gameplay18 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 22 % negative mentions
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 instructions and inconsistent mechanics, leading to frustration and a tedious experience. Overall, the game presents a promising foundation but suffers from poor execution and insufficient tutorials.
“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.”
“It uses some simple interchangeable mechanics that really add a lot of depth.”
“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.”
- story15 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The game's story is described as intriguing yet poorly executed, with a focus on a gay couple's journey to adopt a child, which some players found unengaging or irrelevant. While the narrative unfolds as players progress through puzzles, many felt that the voice acting and overall storytelling were lacking, leading to a mixed reception where the story's potential was overshadowed by gameplay frustrations. Overall, the narrative has moments of interest but ultimately fails to resonate with all players.
“The story was intriguing enough, fit the mood, and never interrupted gameplay.”
“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 storyline is bland.”
“I would say that the story let me down; that was the nail in the thumbs down coffin.”
“Voiceovers and story elements need work.”
- graphics11 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 45 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many users criticizing the overall quality as very poor and poorly optimized, leading to frequent lag and performance issues. However, some players appreciate the unique aesthetic, likening it to a low-energy steampunk style, and acknowledge that despite its flaws, the visuals and audio design contribute positively to the game's atmosphere. Overall, while the graphics may not meet high standards, they show potential, especially considering the limitations of a small development team.
“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.”
- stability6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game exhibits a variety of stability issues, including random out-of-bounds glitches and minor texture problems, though none are deemed game-breaking. While the presence of bugs is acknowledged, players generally find the overall experience enjoyable and engaging, with the graphics and audio design effectively complementing the gameplay.
“Many out-of-bounds glitches, most of them happened randomly to me.”
“Though the game has its fair share of glitches, the graphics and audio design matched the atmosphere of the game very well.”
“Very buggy game.”
- atmosphere4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its impressive art direction and effective audio design, which together create a captivating experience. Despite some technical glitches, the unique ambiance and engaging puzzles contribute significantly to the overall enjoyment.
“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.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with players reporting frequent lag and performance issues, even on lower graphics settings. Many users experienced overheating warnings on their CPUs, indicating significant optimization problems that detract from the overall experience. Overall, the game's performance is seen as a major drawback, impacting its potential rating.
“Overall, I'd rate this game a 6.7/10, and if the performance issues were fixed, maybe around a 7.5/10.”
“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.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, particularly after the introduction of the time portal, which complicates puzzles without clear tutorials. Many reviewers note that the lack of guidance and the clunky mechanics contribute to a boring experience, especially in the game's final third.
“The game becomes progressively tedious, with no clear tutorials and broken achievements.”
“It was fun until the time portal was introduced; then the puzzles became so tedious, and there was no clear explanation that 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.”
- music3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is highly praised, featuring an amazing soundtrack that enhances the overall experience with its chill and cool background tunes.
“The soundtrack is amazing.”
“The music is chill.”
“The background music is pretty cool too.”
