Broken Lens
- July 22, 2024
- Team RUN
Get on Steam"Broken Lens" is a calming game inspired by the classic "spot the differences" game, where you play as a little robot with a sight problem. You explore works of art, moving the point of view and zooming in to find and eliminate differences between your two visual sensors. The game features adorable creatures and environments, and encourages you to take your time and explore at your own pace. Collecting lost pages helps you learn more about the world, making for a rich and peaceful gaming experience.
Mac OS
PC
Steam Deck
Windows
Linux
Reviews
- The game features a charming art style and relaxing soundtrack that enhances the overall experience.
- It offers a good balance of challenge and accessibility, allowing players to progress casually or strive for 100% completion.
- The hint system is well-designed, allowing players to customize the difficulty and still enjoy the satisfaction of spotting differences.
- Some differences are extremely subtle or hidden behind foreground objects, leading to frustration during gameplay.
- The game can suffer from performance issues, such as lag and poor optimization, which detracts from the experience.
- The story elements can be convoluted, especially with the use of a non-English language for lore, making it difficult for some players to fully engage.
- story37 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The game's story is described as a deeply buried yet touching narrative that unfolds through visuals and collectible pages, offering a bittersweet and emotional experience. While some players found the story intriguing, they noted its complexity and the challenge of understanding it without knowledge of French. Overall, the combination of cute art, music, and a heartfelt storyline enhances the gameplay, making it memorable despite its hidden nature.
“The music and art are nice, the story being told is sad but beautiful.”
“The artwork and the storytelling through them is beautiful, and as you progress through the game you get to see wholesome and epic scenes with cute yet mysterious creatures.”
“It's such a sweet, cute, cozy game that's challenging at times but overall, very fun and relaxing with an emotional story.”
“A straightforward spot the difference game with a very deeply buried story.”
“It's not worth your time and effort to get a story.”
“A hidden object game with an interesting but confusing story that tries to tie everything together.”
- music18 mentions
- 83 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its relaxing and immersive qualities, enhancing the overall cozy and soothing atmosphere. Reviewers highlight the soundtrack as beautifully composed, fitting the game's themes perfectly, and contributing to a captivating experience. The combination of pleasant music and charming visuals creates a serene environment, making it an ideal choice for relaxation.
“It's hard to mention everyone in the credits but I would just love to thank everyone who came together to make this game and personally I would like to say thank you to yomoeh for making one of the most immersive soundtracks I've had the pleasure of listening to in a while, combined with the gorgeous art, it got every intended tone and mood across perfectly.”
“The art and soundtrack are gorgeous from start to finish.”
“A really cozy, chill game with a relaxing soundtrack and really pleasant art direction.”
- gameplay14 mentions
- 57 % positive mentions
- 21 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The gameplay is a blend of relaxing and challenging elements, featuring a spot-the-difference mechanic that starts off easy but becomes increasingly complex as players progress. While the game is well-polished with a soothing atmosphere and charming aesthetics, it shifts from enjoyable photo-hunt gameplay to more tedious pixel-hunting in later levels. Overall, players appreciate the engaging core mechanics, hint system, and the addition of a lore book, making for a cozy yet challenging experience.
“Really nice game: cozy, soothing, peaceful (there are some more intense scenes but nothing crazy), well polished gameplay, relaxing OST, and a great hint system you can even min-max to an extent.”
“Gameplay gets surprisingly challenging as the game progresses.”
“The main spot-the-difference game is entertaining with a good split-screen mechanic, and is relatively easy at first, but it quickly becomes much more complex due to increasing detail in the images, shrinking sizes of some differences, and the complexities of parallax - the difference between two images may be hidden behind other items in the foreground, and only visible from a very particular angle.”
“The gameplay is difficult.”
“As for the gameplay, one would think that finding differences would be easy.”
“The first few levels have proper photo-hunt gameplay and then it quickly devolves into pixel-hunting.”
- graphics13 mentions
- 69 % positive mentions
- 23 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their charming and cozy art style, which complements the gameplay and storytelling beautifully. Players appreciate the vibrant color palette and the ability to convey narrative through visuals, creating a relaxing and enjoyable aesthetic. However, some users express frustration with the gameplay experience, feeling that it detracts from the overall enjoyment of the appealing graphics.
“The artwork and the storytelling through them is beautiful, and as you progress through the game you get to see wholesome and epic scenes with cute yet so mysterious creatures.”
“Loved the art style, the music, and the entire presentation!”
“The art style, game sounds/score, and twitch integration feature all make for a wonderful game that's bound to become an instant classic.”
“Not relaxing at all this way, which is a shame because I really like the art style and the first few levels.”
- emotional8 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game evokes strong emotions through its touching narrative and beautiful artwork, culminating in a heart-wrenching final level that resonates deeply with players. Users appreciate the blend of a cozy atmosphere with challenging gameplay, highlighting its ability to elicit tears and create a wholesome experience suitable for both adults and children. Overall, the emotional depth of the story enhances the game's charm and relatability.
“I'm not exaggerating, that last world got to me and made me cry.”
“The artwork and the storytelling through them is beautiful, and as you progress through the game you get to see wholesome and epic scenes with cute yet so mysterious creatures.”
“It's such a sweet, cute, cozy game that's challenging at times but overall, very fun and relaxing with an emotional story.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience; while the notes and secrets are intriguing, the process of collecting everything can become tedious and less enjoyable, especially if one aims for 100% completion. Keeping an eye out for secrets can alleviate some of the tedium, but overall, it may not be worth the effort for all players.
“It can feel a bit tedious to do so.”
“I suggest not trying to 100% it, as it's quite tedious to find everything, and not very fun in my opinion.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -300 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game offers solid replayability, particularly for fans of spot-the-differences and mini-puzzles, as players can revisit levels to achieve 100% completion and unlock all achievements.
“If you're a fan of spot-the-differences games, you enjoy mini-puzzles, and you don't mind some replayability (well, that's only if you want to get all of the achievements), then this game is worth checking out.”
“The game lacks significant changes in gameplay, making it feel repetitive after the first playthrough.”
“Once you've completed the main story, there's little incentive to replay, as the side quests feel uninspired and the outcomes are predictable.”
“While the initial experience is enjoyable, the lack of varied content means that replaying the game feels more like a chore than a choice.”
