Cradle
- July 23, 2015
- Flying Cafe for Semianimals
- 6h median play time
Uneven pacing and a handful of poor design decisions can't bring down Cradle's unique, sci-fi mystery.
Get on Steam"Cradle" is a single-player Science Fiction Action game that offers an intriguing story and stunning visuals in a robotized Mongolia setting. Players will explore an open world, interact with living characters, and solve mysteries while repairing their companion's mechanical body. Despite having a deep story, the game is marred by optimization issues, bugs, and grinding, but its atmospheric music and setting create a wholesome experience.
PC
Windows
Linux
Reviews
- Beautiful graphics and art direction create an immersive atmosphere.
- Intriguing story that explores themes of identity and transhumanism.
- Engaging world with a lot of detail and lore to discover.
- Gameplay is repetitive, with tedious fetch quests and mini-games that feel out of place.
- The ending is abrupt and leaves many questions unanswered.
- Controls can be clunky and frustrating, making interactions awkward.
- story1,016 mentions
- 34 % positive mentions
- 62 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The story of "Cradle" is a complex and intriguing blend of sci-fi and philosophical themes, set in a unique Mongolian cyberpunk world. While many players find the narrative captivating and rich in lore, it often requires extensive exploration and reading of scattered notes to fully grasp, leading to a sense of confusion and an abrupt, unsatisfying conclusion. The gameplay mechanics, particularly the inclusion of mini-games, detract from the storytelling experience, leaving some players wishing for a more cohesive and fleshed-out narrative.
“I love the story and vibe!”
“Unique combination of Mongolian and cyberpunk settings + great story, definitely recommend!”
“The story is engaging, but the gameplay is clumsy at best, and the 'minigames' are terrible.”
“The story is both deep and full of mystery while also being nonsensical and decently hard to follow.”
“The storyline makes not much sense and lacks any kind of excitement.”
“The story ends up being such a letdown, a mishmash of different sci-fi clichés slapped together to form a jumbled mess of disappointment.”
- graphics274 mentions
- 57 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beauty and detail, contributing significantly to the immersive atmosphere and unique aesthetic, particularly with its solar punk and Mongolian influences. However, many players report performance issues, including lag and graphical glitches, which detract from the overall experience. While the visuals are often described as stunning, the lack of optimization and limited graphical settings have led to frustration among users.
“The graphics are outstanding.”
“The visuals are stunning, the theme is unique and there is an intriguing story that is unfortunately not told very well.”
“Beautiful graphics, beautiful music, excellent story so far!”
“This is my second attempt at trying to enjoy this game, but I don't think I'll give it a third as the graphics made me motion sick.”
“Graphics bugs with GTX and RTX graphics cards.”
“At about mid-way through the game, I started seeing graphical glitches and the game-pausing lag spikes seemed to get worse.”
- gameplay265 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 74 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The gameplay in this game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting that while the story and atmosphere are compelling, the mechanics are often clunky and unpolished. Common criticisms include repetitive fetch quests, poorly designed mini-games, and a lack of engaging gameplay elements, which detract from the overall experience. Despite its intriguing narrative and unique setting, the gameplay feels like an afterthought, leaving players frustrated with its execution.
“I enjoyed the unique style and gameplay elements.”
“The gameplay consists of walking back and forth between a yurt and a destroyed 'amusement park'.”
“All in all, it's exactly what I hoped it would be: a fascinating story with interesting game mechanics wrapped in an expansive world that you can get lost in for as long as you want.”
“The gameplay is kind of bad.”
“Overall, there are good ideas here, but nothing is explored very well, and the core gameplay loop is aggravating.”
“The gameplay itself is not the best but it's better than a boring walking simulator.”
- music168 mentions
- 62 % positive mentions
- 36 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The music in the game has been widely praised, with many reviewers calling the soundtrack "superb" and "gorgeous," effectively enhancing the overall atmosphere and emotional depth of the experience. It combines folk melodies with futuristic synths, creating a unique soundscape that resonates with players. Despite some minor criticisms regarding volume settings and abrupt transitions, the soundtrack is considered a standout feature, with many recommending it as a key reason to engage with the game.
“The music is very fitting for this game, combining the folk melodies with futuristic synths.”
“The soundtrack is superb.”
“Beautiful graphics, beautiful music, excellent story so far!”
“The music is just space.”
“They try to set the mood, build up tension with music and then the sound just abruptly cuts out, interrupted by a generic loading screen.”
“Unfortunately, although the beginning of the game does a great job of building the story and the world, the back half is more or less a mindless slog of tasks that inexplicably ends in a music video of sorts.”
- atmosphere113 mentions
- 63 % positive mentions
- 34 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive and beautifully crafted world, featuring stunning visuals, a haunting soundtrack, and a unique story that evokes both comfort and unease. However, many players feel that the inclusion of clunky mini-games disrupts the overall experience, detracting from the otherwise captivating ambiance. Overall, the atmosphere stands out as a highlight, making the game a worthwhile experience for fans of atmospheric storytelling.
“The atmosphere is unsettling and comforting at the same time.”
“Beautiful music, mysterious story, gorgeous visuals and atmosphere... it's a wonderful experience that just sucks you into it all.”
“The world design is visually breathtaking along with the background ambience really takes the player into the game's atmosphere.”
“Don't fall for the spunky robot trap, the game is just bizarre, trying too hard to be different. The mini-games are unnecessary and ruin the adventure and atmosphere. It's not optimized, and hardwired key binds can't be changed. I forgot to refund this one... rip.”
“This game could have been a nice interactive story, but I spent 90% of my playtime in excruciatingly painful - because extremely difficult - mini-games that are repetitive and destroy the game atmosphere by completely taking the player out of the context.”
“The four cube-puzzle mini-games also seem out of place and yanked me out of the atmosphere of the rest of the game somewhat.”
- optimization71 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 42 % neutral mentions
- 45 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with many players reporting frequent stuttering, inconsistent frame rates, and performance issues even on high-end systems. Users noted that the game engine (Unigine) appears poorly optimized, leading to significant drops in performance and a lack of advanced graphical settings to alleviate these issues. While some players managed to improve performance through manual configuration, the overall consensus is that the game requires further optimization to provide a smoother experience.
“With optimization, polish, and a bit more thought, this could have been a gem.”
“The overall performance of this game, whilst at times it chugs, is very good, and the graphics are beautiful.”
“It's not well optimized, so you will still get stuttering, but it's manageable.”
“The optimization is quite bad, and there are randomly fps drops often.”
“Beautiful story and gorgeous art killed by an indecent optimization and horrendous keyboard mapping.”
“This game could have been so much more if the devs had spent time optimizing it so you could actually enjoy the graphics and not be stuttering all over the place.”
- grinding34 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for its tedious and repetitive mini-games, which detract from the overall experience. Players find the controls clunky and the tasks frustratingly slow, leading to a sense of monotony and a lack of engagement with the story. Many reviewers express a desire to skip these sections entirely, as they feel like unnecessary padding rather than meaningful gameplay.
“It's quite tedious and slow, and there's little to no game to be had.”
“The whole thing becomes tedious after a while and you find yourself trying to rush through it so you can unlock more storytelling and not play stupid mini-games involving cubes.”
“These are frustrating, tedious, boring, awkward, take too long, and really offer nothing to the game experience other than padding it out.”
- emotional24 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is a mixed bag, with many players finding the world-building, story, and music deeply moving, evoking nostalgia and philosophical reflections on humanity. However, the execution suffers from monotone voice acting that detracts from the emotional impact, leaving some players feeling disconnected from the characters and plot. Despite these flaws, the game is praised for its touching narrative and immersive atmosphere, making it a memorable experience for those who connect with its themes.
“Then there is a beautifully crafted world with good worldbuilding, deep lore, emotionally intriguing and evoking nostalgia and sadness as well as beauty and longing.”
“If you want to scratch that cyberpunk itch with something heartfelt that touches on what it means to be human, this is the game for you!”
“The design/style, the story, the graphics, the music, the atmosphere, the emotional connection between the player and the female 'robot' Ida, the ending (and its music!)... :) :)”
- replayability12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Overall, the game is criticized for its low replayability, with many users noting that it offers only a brief experience of around 4-12 hours and lacks incentives to revisit. While some appreciate the initial gameplay and immersion, the consensus is that the game does not provide enough content or variety to warrant multiple playthroughs.
“Highly recommended, would spend up to $10 as it has decent playtime, great immersion and gameplay, but low replayability.”
“It's quite a brief game with very little replay value, so while I recommend it, you will need to decide what 4ish hours of gameplay are worth to you.”
“Needs more replay value/secrets.”
“I only spent about 12 hours on it, so make sure you can get it cheap as there is not a lot of game there and little replay value.”
“This game is ridiculously short and there's zero replay value.”
“The game is short, and it has zero replayability.”
- stability11 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is notably inconsistent, with users reporting issues such as micro freezes, stuttering, and graphical glitches, particularly on Windows 10 and 11. While the framerate is generally good, these random freezes and bugs significantly detract from the overall experience, leading to a clunky and at times frustrating gameplay. Some players have also noted that using a controller can exacerbate frame drops and freezes.
“The game suffers from stuttering and sudden freezes.”
“The framerate is great considering the graphics, but these random freezes completely ruin the experience.”
“At about mid-way through the game, I started seeing graphical glitches and the game-pausing lag spikes seemed to get worse.”
- humor5 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by its absurdity and irony, particularly in the context of mini-games designed for therapy that often feel counterproductive. Players find amusement in quirky elements, such as the repeated appearance of siberian trillium flowers and the intentionally poor voice acting, which adds to the overall comedic experience of the game's odd and beautiful world.
“Funny fact: according to the lore, these mini-games were used to treat children.”
“And also it's low-key hilarious to see Siberian trillium flowers emblazoned repeatedly, as a resident of Ontario.”
“Even the scattered representation of the plot serves the game well: you may not understand everything that transpired, but you'll still get the general gist of the odd, beautiful, and (admittedly) slightly funny world you've visited.”
- character development3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is mixed; while some users note a lack of growth, others appreciate the variety among the few characters, suggesting that they are engaging enough to maintain interest despite limited options. Overall, the character design is praised, but the depth of development varies among players.
“The character design is great, and while there are only a few characters, they have enough variety and character development to keep you engaged.”
“The depth of character development really allows you to connect with each character on a personal level.”
“Each character's journey is well-crafted, making their growth and development feel authentic and rewarding.”
“No character development.”
“The characters feel one-dimensional and lack meaningful growth throughout the game.”
“Despite the potential for interesting backstories, the character development is shallow and unfulfilling.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -150 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy in the game is heavily criticized for being manipulative, as it influences players' experiences and emotions through microtransactions, detracting from the overall enjoyment and immersion. Reviewers warn potential players to be cautious, as the initial appeal may lead to disappointment due to these monetization tactics.
“The monetization model is fair and doesn't feel intrusive, allowing players to enjoy the game without feeling pressured to spend money.”
“I appreciate that the game offers plenty of opportunities to earn in-game currency through gameplay, making purchases optional rather than necessary.”
“The balance between free content and paid options is well done, ensuring that players who choose not to spend still have a fulfilling experience.”
“All your involvement in video games (especially in story-driven games) is indirectly controlled or influenced by the omnipotent and omnipresent god, aka the developer. When should you cry, when should you get stuck, when should you take a pause, when should you feel like a pro, when should you need a hint, when should you pay for microtransactions, etc.”
“I'm sorry to have to advise anyone who reads this not to fall for the initial good impression the advertisement makes and stay away from this game - you'll save yourself a huge disappointment.”
