Ephemerid: A Musical Adventure

About

"Ephemerid: A Musical Adventure" is a rhythm game and point-and-click adventure that tells the story of a paper mayfly, set to a rock guitar soundtrack with classical elements. The game features handcrafted paper, glass, and paint visuals and challenges that harmonize with the music. It has been recognized with numerous awards and nominations, including the 2015 IGF Award for Excellence in Audio. Lean back, relax, and enjoy this musical fairy tale.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

Ephemerid: A Musical Adventure screenshot

91%

Audience ScoreBased on 140 reviews

music93 positive mentions

The game features stunning visuals with a beautiful storybook-like paper collage aesthetic and an amazing soundtrack that enhances the emotional experience.
The gameplay is engaging and unique, combining rhythm-based mechanics with point-and-click elements, making it a charming and enjoyable adventure.
Despite its short length, the game delivers a powerful and touching narrative that resonates with players, often evoking strong emotions.

The game is quite short, typically taking around 45 minutes to an hour to complete, which may leave some players wanting more content.
The gameplay can become repetitive, with some mechanics feeling overly simplistic and not challenging enough for seasoned gamers.
The controls are better suited for touch screens, making the experience less enjoyable when played with a mouse on a PC.

music
191 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
48%
3%
The music in "Ephemerid: A Musical Adventure" is widely praised for its beautiful, immersive quality, often described as a standout feature that enhances the game's charming visuals and storytelling. Reviewers highlight the soundtrack's emotional depth and variety, with many noting its rock opera elements and relaxing nature, making it a memorable experience. While some players found the gameplay simplistic or repetitive, the overall consensus is that the music significantly elevates the game's appeal, making it a worthwhile purchase, especially when bundled with the soundtrack.
- “The music is full of emotion and fits the mood of what is happening.”
- “This game is a visual masterpiece with an amazing rock soundtrack to top it all off.”
- “The music conveys all the meaning in this one.”
- “I found the music lackluster for a game titled 'A Musical Adventure'.”
- “The music itself is kinda lackluster.”
- “It's just an hour long experience not giving any arcade challenge like other music games - you can watch lets play on youtube and you won't miss much.”
story
70 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
63%
4%
The game's story is presented in a captivating, fairytale-like manner, utilizing a beautiful paper collage aesthetic and an enchanting soundtrack to enhance the emotional experience. Despite its simplicity and lack of dialogue, the narrative effectively conveys a touching journey about love and loss, often leaving players moved by its heartfelt themes. Overall, the combination of stunning visuals, engaging music, and a meaningful storyline creates a memorable and immersive experience, making it highly recommended for fans of interactive storytelling.
- “The story is very simple yet captivating, and it beautifully unfolds without the need for dialogue.”
- “The story itself is very moving, and I've found myself feeling the same emotions as the mayfly throughout my playthroughs.”
- “Without words, the story is told visually of two dragonflies in a world of fantasy, magic, danger, and sadness, making for a touching experience.”
- “The story itself is very unclear - until the very end I didn't know what it was really about - on one hand butterflies symbolizing the passing of winter - blooming flowers - then abandonment; on the other a mystical cult - there will be as many interpretations as there are players.”
- “It's a simple point and clicking game, an interactive story, it resembles paper cut animation, yet it is enough to tangle you until the very end.”
- “The story is cute to say the least, the art style with a paper work theme is beautiful, the gameplay is simple and can be challenging, especially if you want to get a 'perfect' achievement.”
graphics
45 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58%
36%
7%
The game's graphics are widely praised for their stunning storybook-like papercraft aesthetic, which creates a charming and immersive visual experience. Many reviewers highlight the beautiful artwork and how it complements the game's soothing soundtrack, enhancing the overall atmosphere. While some note that the visuals are simple, they effectively convey the game's narrative and contribute to its appeal, particularly for touch screen devices.
- “The game is presented through a gorgeous storybook-like paper collage aesthetic and is accompanied by an equally gorgeous soundtrack.”
- “Beautiful game with mesmerizing music and dazzling origami-like visuals.”
- “The papercraft artwork exactly fits the play style of the game, the soundtrack is awesome, the story the game portrays, and the whole experience of playing it is great.”
- “Artwork is simple but it's enough for this game.”
- “- artwork is fairly bland.”
- “Art style was well done, but I just didn't find anything about the music, gameplay, or story that was compelling.”
gameplay
41 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
66%
7%
The gameplay is primarily rhythm-based and involves simple point-and-click mechanics, which some players find enjoyable and fitting for the game's musical theme. However, opinions are mixed; while many appreciate the fluidity and visual design, others criticize the repetitiveness and lack of depth, with some noting frustrating controls. Overall, the experience is described as charming and engaging, albeit short, with a strong emphasis on music and visuals.
- “The rhythm-based point-and-click gameplay constantly shakes things up and never gets stale throughout the whole experience.”
- “The gameplay is simple, but enjoyable and fitting for the game.”
- “The music is excellent, the visuals are beautiful, and the gameplay is clean and polished.”
- “Il gioco è molto semplice, possiamo dire che non c'è gameplay..e il poco che c'è è ripetitivo e spesso noioso.”
- “A very good and short (took one hour to beat) musical ride marred by bad gameplay components (tiring mouse controls that require constant clicking or dragging), this game is worth experiencing.”
- “40 minutes of 'gameplay' and frustrating mouse control.”
emotional
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is profoundly impactful, with many players reporting deep connections to its touching story and characters, often leading to tears and intense feelings. Despite its simplicity and lack of failure states, the game delivers a heartwarming experience through beautiful music and a meaningful narrative, making it a standout choice for those seeking an emotionally resonant journey. Overall, it is celebrated for its ability to evoke strong emotions and create lasting memories.
- “It's very simple to play, and there's no failure state, but the journey and story it tells, which can be played through in a little over an hour, is absolutely wonderful and touching.”
- “But the most powerful element to me was the touching story - I even cried like a little child at the end...”
- “The minigames themselves are almost beside the point; it's the way they are presented to you that makes this game something wonderful: beautiful music, a papercraft world, and a touching story.”
replayability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The game offers moderate replayability, primarily through easily replayable levels, achievements, and a secret bonus stage, despite its short playtime of about an hour. While some players appreciate the ability to change song speeds and aim for perfect scores, others feel that the lack of failure mechanics limits the overall replay value. Overall, it garners a score of 8 for replayability.
- “The story of the game lasts around an hour, but has a lot of replayability.”
- “The levels are easily replayable and you can even change the speed of the songs.”
- “Also, it shouldn't take you more than an hour to an hour-and-a-half to complete the first time around, but there is some replay value with the achievements and finding the secret level.”
- “As I said in the beginning, you can’t really die or lose, ever, and as such the game has limited replay value.”
- “You can only get an extra stage if you get every single note without missing a beat; that’s all the replay value this game has, and I can’t be bothered.”
- “However, with the achievements and an unlockable bonus stage, there's a bit of replay value here.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its captivating music and unique visual style, which combines simple graphics with everyday elements to create a fairy-tale ambiance. However, some players have reported experiencing dizziness and headaches, limiting their playtime despite the overall stunning presentation.
- “The atmosphere and riveting music drew me right in.”
- “Stunning game... amazing music and atmosphere... but wow... couldn't play it for long as it made me dizzy and gave me a headache.”
- “I liked the graphics the most - simple paper cut-outs, decorated with buttons and other simple elements of everyday life create a great fairy-tale atmosphere.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The optimization of the game is rated highly, with users reporting a flawless performance and no lag, contributing to an immersive experience akin to a well-crafted performance art piece.
- “Performance: 10/10 (perfect, no lags, etc.)”