Closure

About

Closure is a single-player horror platformer game with a good story, splendid gameplay, and ingenious graphics. Players manipulate lights to affect objects' reality while exploring a spider-like demon's journey through eerie, abandoned settings. The game features a great soundtrack, creating a dense, unsettling atmosphere. Note that the game contains grinding, which might not appeal to all players.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

83%

Audience ScoreBased on 269 reviews

gameplay40 positive mentions

grinding8 negative mentions

Closure features a unique and innovative mechanic where only illuminated objects exist, leading to creative and challenging puzzles.
The game's art style and atmosphere are beautifully crafted, creating a haunting and immersive experience.
The puzzles are well-designed with a gradual difficulty curve, providing a satisfying sense of achievement when solved.

The game suffers from technical issues, including crashes and graphical glitches that can hinder gameplay.
Some puzzles can be frustratingly difficult due to imprecise controls and the need for pixel-perfect placement.
The lack of a narrative and repetitive music can detract from the overall experience, making it feel monotonous at times.

gameplay
108 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
60%
3%
The gameplay is centered around a unique light and shadow mechanic that challenges players to think creatively, with puzzles that often require careful manipulation of light to reveal or obscure platforms and objects. While the core mechanic is well-executed and offers a fresh take on puzzle-solving, some players find the gameplay repetitive and lacking in variety, with controls that can feel imprecise at times. Overall, the game provides a compelling experience for puzzle enthusiasts, though it may frustrate those seeking a broader range of mechanics or smoother controls.
- “The core mechanic of light and shadow manipulation challenges you to think in unordinary ways until the very final.”
- “The gameplay is really impressive - something strange and quiet at the same time.”
- “The main mechanic of 'light solidifying reality' is absolutely genius, and it often took me quite the sit-down-and-think to wrap my head around some of these puzzles.”
- “Unfortunately, the game is a bit repetitive with no difficulty curve (or a light one) even though a new mechanic is introduced in each world.”
- “There's about 70+ levels, all of which simply revolve around one core mechanic.”
- “The surrounding mechanics are pretty dull, and the physics system makes solving some puzzles a huge chore.”
music
74 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
54%
4%
The music in the game is widely praised for its atmospheric and haunting qualities, effectively complementing the black-and-white visuals and enhancing the overall eerie experience. While many reviewers highlight the soundtrack's beauty and emotional depth, some note that it can become repetitive, particularly during extended gameplay sessions. Overall, the music is considered a significant strength of the game, contributing to its immersive and challenging puzzle-solving environment.
- “The soundtrack is amazing: very creepy, beautiful, and epic at different points of the game.”
- “The music is beautifully composed, bringing up different themes on each level while still retaining the eerie atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere and soundtrack were also excellent.”
- “Entire segments of the game also use the same song repeating on a loop; there's very little music variety.”
- “It's not that the music is bad, and there is different music for each of the worlds, but it does quickly get repetitive.”
- “The music's way too overblown for the game, and there's far too few different music tracks.”
graphics
70 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
60%
4%
The graphics of the game are characterized by a unique and striking black-and-white art style that many players find visually appealing, evoking a moody and atmospheric experience reminiscent of Tim Burton's work. However, some users report issues with graphical glitches, particularly related to compatibility with certain graphics cards, which can detract from the overall experience. While the minimalist aesthetic enhances the gameplay mechanics involving light and shadow, it can also lead to a repetitive visual experience over time.
- “The minimalist but intense aesthetic is incredible - also the music.”
- “Closure is a solid puzzle-platformer, hampered only slightly by its limited scope but aided by gorgeously stark visuals and moody score.”
- “The black-and-white graphics do more than create a pleasant atmosphere but enhance this mechanic.”
- “Unfortunately, the visuals and gameplay fail to make this a compelling game to play, and trap it within the realms of 'meh'.”
- “If you have the wrong graphics card, parts of the screen will be darker, which renders some of the puzzles unsolvable.”
- “Still not recommending the game because these graphical glitches might still be present on other computers, and that's still a massive issue for a game whose central mechanic revolves around light and shadow.”
atmosphere
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
42%
8%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its eerie, dark, and haunting qualities, enhanced by a beautifully composed soundtrack that complements the art style. Many reviewers highlight the game's ability to create a tense and immersive experience, though some note that the challenging puzzles can occasionally detract from this atmosphere. Overall, the combination of striking visuals and atmospheric music makes for a memorable and engaging experience, appealing to fans of dark and atmospheric games.
- “The eerie atmosphere is interesting, and I would love to see what this designer does if they choose to make a horror game.”
- “The excellent atmospheric music easily makes up for the rather simple sound effects and contributes greatly to the game's tense atmosphere.”
- “Every aspect of the game adds to this terrifyingly bleak atmosphere that kept me in just the right mood to sit quietly and stew through the brain-benders that the game provides.”
- “Please note that the atmosphere is very strange and gloomy in this game, which you may or may not like.”
- “It's just too bad that the puzzle design takes you right out of that atmosphere.”
- “The puzzles can sometimes pull focus away from the atmosphere.”
story
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
71%
9%
The game's story is largely minimal and abstract, relying on visual storytelling and environmental cues rather than traditional narrative elements like dialogue or text. Players often find the plot vague and open to interpretation, with hints of character backstories that require piecing together through gameplay. While the eerie atmosphere and unique design contribute to the overall experience, many reviewers feel that the lack of a pronounced storyline detracts from the game's potential depth.
- “The soundtrack really sets the mood of this creepy drawn world, and in a way, this game paints a story without words.”
- “The game features no spoken word or story text, just puzzle after puzzle, which I think complements the overall eerie feel of the game.”
- “The story, while never in your face, kept me interested in trying to figure out what was going on.”
- “You have to keep dying over and over and over to figure out the solution to each puzzle—very painstaking and slow, without any narrative 'reward' (any story points) to provide incentive to keep playing.”
- “The game's story is very subtle, obscure, and completely up to interpretation as there is not even an official stance.”
- “Nothing in the way of plot or dialogue exists, only the repetitive environmental soundtracks.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, particularly due to repetitive puzzles and the need to restart lengthy levels after minor mistakes. While some appreciate the unique experience the game offers, the frequent repetition and challenging mechanics can detract from overall enjoyment, making the grinding feel excessive.
- “It can occasionally feel tedious and frustrating (because of some difficult levels), but generally its unique experience compensates for any such negatives.”
- “These aggravating stages were always the longer stages where if you made even one mistake you'd have to start over and redo numerous steps that quickly become tedious.”
- “The puzzles are already tedious enough without the game forcing you to play them over and over again to figure out everything about them.”
stability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is inconsistent, with many users reporting significant technical glitches, particularly on lower-powered systems, which may be linked to framerate issues. While some players experienced a smoother performance on higher-end PCs, the presence of persistent graphical glitches remains a major concern, especially given the game's reliance on light and shadow mechanics. Overall, the game's stability issues detract from its intriguing concept.
- “Interesting concept for a game, but too many technical glitches.”
- “I experienced quite a lot of physics-based glitches when I was playing on my low-powered ultrabook, which might be a result of framerate issues.”
- “Still not recommending the game because these graphical glitches might still be present on other computers, and that's still a massive issue for a game whose central mechanic revolves around light and shadow.”
replayability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
20%
60%
The game's replayability is mixed; while some players appreciate the opportunity to uncover missed secrets and enjoy the developer commentary, others find it lacking due to its long initial runtime and the nature of its puzzle platformer design. Overall, it offers a decent replay value for those seeking a deeper experience, but may not appeal to everyone.
- “With Closure, Eyebrow Interactive proves that a game built around a single gameplay mechanic can offer not only an absorbing experience, but a replayable one as well.”
- “It does have replay value as you can play again to find more - and solve - the secrets you either missed the first time through or avoided due to the challenge.”
- “- low replayability value”
- “The game's initial runtime is long enough that it's not too upsetting that the replayability isn't great (and it's a puzzle platformer, so that's not unexpected).”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The optimization of the game is criticized for its terrible performance, requiring users to adjust their system settings or launch the game through its execution file to improve gameplay. However, some players report solid technical performance on specific systems, such as Ubuntu Linux 16.04, when using high-performance graphics settings.
- “Added to the interesting gameplay is a great soundtrack that changes tempo based on the player situation, some really nice animations with an odd style of non-textual story, and solid technical performance on my Ubuntu Linux 16.04 system.”
- “Finally, I changed my computer's default graphics processor to 'high performance NVIDIA processor'.”
- “Terrible performance.”
- “So basically the options are opening the game through its execution file every time you want to play it or change the settings of your computer and deal with performance issues.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Closure is noted for its intellectual engagement rather than deep emotional resonance, falling short of the emotional impact found in games like Braid or Limbo, but still offers a worthwhile experience for those seeking thought-provoking gameplay.
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is praised for its dark humor and imagery, drawing comparisons to other titles like Limbo and The Binding of Isaac, which also feature a blend of engaging music and a similar comedic tone.
- “Between this, Limbo, and Binding of Isaac, you will have a nice set of games with great music and dark humor/imagery.”