Bottle: Pilgrim
- November 10, 2017
- Tonguç Bodur
- 2h median play time
Get on Steam"Bottle: Pilgrim" is a first-person exploration game where you navigate through surreal, symbolic landscapes. As a pilgrim, you search for answers to existential questions, interacting with objects and creatures that offer cryptic clues. The game features a distinct art style, with hand-drawn graphics and a serene atmosphere, encouraging contemplation and introspection.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features stunning graphics and beautiful landscapes that create an immersive experience.
- The emotional story of loss, regret, and redemption is compelling and well-delivered, enhancing the overall experience.
- The game includes charming collectibles and interludes that add depth to the narrative and encourage exploration.
- The voice acting is often criticized for being flat and lacking emotional depth, which detracts from the storytelling.
- Gameplay can feel tedious and slow, with some players finding the item collection and walking pace frustrating.
- There are technical issues such as framerate drops and glitches that can disrupt the experience.
- story152 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The story of *Bottle: Pilgrim Redux* is a poignant exploration of loss, regret, and redemption, centered around a man's journey reflecting on his struggles with alcoholism and personal relationships. While many players found the narrative emotionally impactful and beautifully intertwined with the game's visuals, some criticized the voice acting for lacking the necessary emotional depth, which detracted from the overall experience. Despite its shortcomings, the story's themes resonate with players, making it a memorable aspect of the game.
“However, this game does include a story, and it is a truly magnificent one, with its emotional and sad nature really enhancing the experience.”
“Just like the game description says - Bottle: Pilgrim Redux is a story of loss, regret, and redemption.”
“Take part in a man’s personal pilgrimage from the top of a mountain to the beach below as you explore loss, regret, and redemption in a beautiful world filled with emotion and a compelling story.”
“The story was bland and the actual playing was boring.”
“Unfortunately, the actor doing the narration is very flat and dull, and despite such a tragic storyline, the way it's delivered fails to bring out any sort of emotional response.”
“The story is ok, but it's not that deep and it somehow doesn't feel believable either.”
- graphics49 mentions
- 63 % positive mentions
- 31 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beauty and detail, enhancing the overall experience, especially in a narrative-driven context. However, some players noted issues such as repetitive environments, graphic errors, and performance problems that detracted from the visual enjoyment. While the visuals are often described as stunning, they can also be overwhelming or confusing at times, leading to mixed feelings about their overall impact on gameplay.
“From the first moments of the game, you can already notice and appreciate the gorgeous graphics that make this kind of game (where gameplay is not really relevant or present at all) a much more pleasant experience.”
“The visuals are stunning and beautiful, so get that F12 key ready on your keyboard because you just might find yourself pressing it a lot throughout the game.”
“Visuals are absolutely beautiful; gameplay is expected to be just a relaxing walking sim driven by a deep storyline.”
“First of all, the first quarter of this gameplay gave me a massive headache due to the graphics or lighting or something.”
“The levels are copy and paste visuals with no variety as you move through the game.”
“The out-of-the-box version of this engine is crap because the performance and the graphics are just bad.”
- emotional31 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its touching and often heartbreaking narrative, which resonates deeply with players, evoking strong feelings of loss and nostalgia. While the story is praised for its beauty and depth, some critiques focus on the flatness of the voice acting, which detracts from the emotional immersion. Overall, the game is recognized as a profound emotional journey, particularly effective in its interludes that enhance the storytelling experience.
“However, this game does include a story, and it is a truly magnificent one, with its emotional and sad nature really enhancing the experience.”
“It's a beautiful walk; serene at times, amusing, charming, and heartbreaking.”
“Bottle: Pilgrim Redux is an emotional journey and can be a painful topic for many who suffer from addiction, regret, or loss, but I thought the story’s progression handled it well.”
- music31 mentions
- 58 % positive mentions
- 32 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally described as calming and atmospheric, primarily featuring soft piano melodies that enhance the relaxing experience of exploring beautiful landscapes. However, some players found it repetitive and less memorable compared to the previous game's soundtrack, with occasional moments of silence that felt awkward. Overall, while the music contributes positively to the ambiance, opinions vary on its originality and engagement.
“A walk through enchanting landscapes, relaxing music, and an excellent storyteller.”
“The scenery is beautiful and the music is very calm, very relaxing.”
“Music in this game is perfect for the calm of mind and the story is good.”
“Music was piano type music and rather boring; personally, I never paid a whole lot of attention to it.”
“As far as music goes, the generic sad piano music is okay, but the levels progress so slowly that it becomes repetitive and annoying quickly.”
“Music: 3/10 - slow, boring piano chords that don't actually fit with the story or scenery.”
- gameplay18 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The gameplay is primarily a relaxing walking simulator focused on exploration and visual appreciation, with minimal interactive elements such as collecting items. While the graphics are praised for their beauty, many players feel that the gameplay lacks depth and connection to the story, making it more of a leisurely experience than an engaging one. Overall, it appeals to those who prioritize narrative and aesthetics over traditional gameplay mechanics.
“I listened to YouTube videos throughout instead of the audio in the game, just enjoying the visuals and gameplay.”
“Visuals are absolutely beautiful, gameplay as expected to be just a relaxing walking sim driven by a deep storyline.”
“Gameplay is basically just a relaxing walk in nature with calming piano music, but sometimes you have to collect batteries to progress, or the drawings for achievements.”
“Gameplay is basically just 'relaxing walk in nature with calming piano music', but sometimes you have to collect batteries to progress, or the drawings for achievements.”
“First of all, the first quarter of this gameplay gave me a massive head/eye-ache due to the graphics or lighting or something.”
“The story is sort of interesting but definitely doesn't feel linked to the gameplay or locations in any way.”
- atmosphere10 mentions
- 70 % positive mentions
- 10 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is generally praised for its beautiful landscapes and fitting environmental themes that enhance the narrative, though some players noted that the music does not match the quality of the previous installment and that certain moments felt awkward without it. While many found the atmosphere to be immersive and enjoyable, a few criticized it as empty or boring, suggesting that it could detract from the overall experience. Overall, the game offers a visually appealing and atmospheric journey, despite some mixed feelings about its sound design and pacing.
“The atmosphere was beautiful, and I enjoy a collecting things game.”
“I was very surprised by Bottle: Pilgrim Redux's beautiful landscapes and atmospheric game chapters that fit the narrator's moods and different stages in his life - snow, storm, sunset, beach, mountains, and more.”
“Though it started out with a slightly weird atmosphere and ambience, it really grew on me eventually with unusual locations and a generally pleasant feeling.”
“Atmosphere was pretty empty and colorless.”
“Exactly what I expected, but since the atmosphere was boring, it made this game more of a chore to complete.”
- optimization10 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The optimization of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing significant performance issues, particularly in snowy areas where frame rates drop drastically. However, the redux version has improved performance and resolved many previous issues, leading to a smoother experience overall. Despite these improvements, some users still report needing to lower graphics settings to maintain playable frame rates, indicating that optimization remains a concern for certain segments of the game.
“Update for redux version: I just played through the redux version and it is much better, the snowy area has been fixed, the performance is good and the branches are now shown so you don't have to search for them for hours, very good!”
“[b]As for optimization, there are no problems; the game runs butter smooth with no hiccups whatsoever.”
“Much better than the first bottle game, interesting storyline, better performance but the snowy area is catastrophic!”
“The performance just collapses there without any reason.”
“You can't go over medium shadow; otherwise, the performance collapses on a Core i5 CPU.”
“I was around 70-80fps for most of the game - the entire game is poorly optimized in my opinion; but there was this part where I had to turn everything from 'ultra' to 'low' just to stay above 20fps, and even then I couldn't always stay above it.”
- grinding6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, particularly during certain segments like the third interlude, which involves excessive item searching. While the overall story and presentation are appreciated, the repetitive nature of the grinding detracts from the experience for many.
“It's pretty tedious at some parts.”
“This means you have to look in every nook and cranny to make sure you don't miss anything, and that can become very tedious.”
“The only downside, in my opinion, was the third interlude which was mainly an extremely tedious item search.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game has limited replayability due to its short story, which does not encourage players to revisit the experience.
“The story is also rather short and doesn't really have replay value.”
- humor1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is enhanced by the inclusion of 'interludes' that feature the narrator's memories, which range from endearing and funny to heartbreaking, effectively complementing the main story.
“I really liked the inclusion of 'interludes'... touching little snippets of the narrator's memories – some endearing or funny, others heartbreaking – to support the main chapters of the story; it was quite effective.”
