FRACT OSC
- April 22, 2014
- Phosfiend Systems
- 3h median play time
Fract is lonely, but it's also the best seat in the house
Get on SteamFRACT OSC is a musical exploration game where you decipher an abandoned world built on sound. By solving puzzles and shaping sound, you restore the world and unlock tools to create your own music in the FRACT studio, which can be saved, exported, and shared. The game features stunning visuals and an evolving score.
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game's surreal atmosphere and neon visuals create an immersive experience that enhances puzzle-solving.
- The puzzles strike a good balance in difficulty, providing a satisfying challenge without being overly frustrating.
- The incorporation of a music studio allows players to create their own music, adding a unique layer of enjoyment to the game.
- The lack of clear direction and guidance can lead to confusion and frustration, making it difficult for players to know where to go or what to do next.
- Some puzzles can feel obscure or overly simplistic, leading to a sense of repetitiveness.
- The game may suffer from performance issues on lower-end systems, causing audio glitches and stuttering.
- music547 mentions
- 24 % positive mentions
- 75 % neutral mentions
- 1 % negative mentions
The music in "Fract osc" is widely praised for its immersive and adaptive qualities, enhancing the gameplay experience as players solve puzzles that contribute to a dynamic soundtrack. The game features a unique integration of music creation, allowing players to unlock and utilize a synthesizer to compose their own tracks, making it particularly appealing to fans of electronic music. While some players found the puzzles less challenging, the overall atmosphere, visuals, and sound design create a captivating environment that resonates with both music enthusiasts and puzzle lovers alike.
“The music is wonderful, I love how it adapts and changes as I solve the puzzles.”
“The music builds gradually as you solve a puzzle and seeing the area that you just traversed light up and make a great song continues to be rewarding every time.”
“Fract osc is a musical puzzle game that engages you in 3-dimensional puzzle solving, with the end goal of being able to unlock various synth engines to play around with and create your own music.”
“However, I cannot recommend this game either as a puzzle game nor as a game based on music.”
“Music has nothing to do with the puzzles; it just plays nearly-random noise based on your input.”
“The shtick is the musical aspect of the puzzles, but it's not really musical puzzles; it's puzzles that happen to play some music.”
- graphics108 mentions
- 55 % positive mentions
- 43 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are characterized by a minimalist, neon aesthetic reminiscent of Tron, featuring simple, untextured polygons that create a visually stunning and immersive environment. While many players praise the beautiful visuals and their integration with the music, some report graphical glitches and inconsistencies that detract from the experience. Overall, the combination of striking visuals and a captivating soundtrack enhances the gameplay, making it a unique and engaging exploration of sound and light.
“The visuals, puzzles, and music are well designed, and together they make a great and immersive game.”
“The aesthetic is simple - textureless polygons and bold neon primaries are pretty much the only graphics - but the way it gently coaxes you towards creating something beautiful and unique, until the world around you erupts into an ecstatic epiphany, an explosion of life and light and music...”
“Jaw-dropping visuals, mind-blowing music, all of that stuff.”
“Ambitious, but boring and potentially buggy - I got graphical glitches and audio crackles.”
“Despite the minimalistic visuals, it's easy to find yourself in areas that place a strain on the game, bringing the smooth framerate to a choppy crawl.”
“It's not unplayable but did experience stuttering graphics, which can be a bit troublesome when traversing areas with narrow ledges.”
- gameplay48 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 73 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Fract osc is a unique blend of music, puzzles, and exploration, offering a fresh sound-based experience that challenges players to discover mechanics on their own. While some users found the initial learning curve frustrating and the gameplay somewhat short, many appreciated the originality and elegance of the puzzle design, which integrates music production elements seamlessly. Overall, the game is praised for its captivating aesthetics and innovative mechanics, though it may not appeal to everyone due to its niche focus and occasional lack of guidance.
“Fract osc is pretty niche-based and can have a moderate learning curve in the beginning, but should you stick through, you are in for a fresh kind of sound-based gameplay experience.”
“The gameplay is just challenging enough to provide that sense of accomplishment.”
“Music, exploration, and problem-solving all work together to deliver unique gameplay.”
“It is slow-paced, often quite hard to figure out the puzzle mechanics, what to do, and where to continue in general.”
“It gives you little assistance with moving forward, and the game expects you to figure out how its mechanics work on your own.”
“Tl;dr: gameplay and exploration are bland and repetitive, game is ridiculously short.”
- atmosphere40 mentions
- 65 % positive mentions
- 28 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its surreal and immersive qualities, enhanced by stunning visuals and a captivating soundtrack that evolves as players progress. Many reviewers highlight the enchanting, tron-like environment filled with vibrant colors and dynamic music, creating a relaxing yet engaging experience. However, some players note that the repetitive audio can detract from the overall enjoyment, despite the strong atmospheric design.
“I love the atmosphere and look of this game; the puzzles are fun and varied, and it felt great watching the world literally light up and feel more alive as you completed more puzzles. It just drops you in the world to figure out things for yourself, which lends to a very immersive experience.”
“A fantastic atmospheric experience that uses sound and light in some almost magical ways.”
“The atmosphere it creates is one that enchanted me from the beginning to the end.”
“But what's the point in exploring and sucking up the atmosphere of this strange landscape when everything looks the same?”
“Rather, the puzzles of the game are overshadowed by the overall atmosphere.”
“You are seemingly teleported into a tron-esque world with neon colors amid a gloomy atmosphere.”
- story30 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 80 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The game's story is largely abstract and minimal, with many players noting the absence of a traditional narrative or backstory. Instead, the experience revolves around exploration and puzzle-solving within a visually stunning landscape, where the environment itself conveys a sense of story through its design and atmosphere. While some players appreciate this unique approach, others express a desire for a more defined narrative to complement the beautiful setting.
“However, if you manage to slow down, become patient, and accept the fact that figuring out the visual language is part of the game, you become rewarded with a story whose plot is the landscape you unexplainably exist in.”
“There isn't any grand backstory, plot, or anything like that to discover, and yet it was a pleasure to be there in this place.”
“The puzzles are challenging and beautifully done musical scores that bring a deep sense of story to a wordless world.”
“There is no story.”
“If I had to say there was something lacking, it would be the loss of (at least I don't think there is) a story or underlying message.”
“Everything is highly abstract: there is no backstory, no characters to meet, no text to read, just a completely desolate alien landscape to explore and try to make sense of.”
- optimization13 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing significant performance issues, including stuttering and frame drops, particularly on lower-end systems. While the developers have made efforts to optimize the game, many users still report needing to adjust settings to maintain smooth gameplay. Overall, while the game is playable, its performance can detract from the experience, especially in graphically demanding scenarios.
“Everything culminates together in one big, arresting performance that you yourself created just by playing the game.”
“It looks very nice, though I have to say it might not run very well on low-end systems (the devs have done a lot of optimization though); the audio and music fit the atmosphere perfectly, and completing a puzzle feels very rewarding because of the interaction between sound and world.”
“Minor performance issues do exist, such as the occasional sudden chugging as it loads an area of the world in the distance, though considering the high system requirements of the synthesizer, I'm surprised it runs smoothly on my ancient Intel Core 2 Duo.”
“I'm running it on a new gaming PC that runs all the 2016 blockbuster games at silky smooth 60fps - yet I can't figure out how to fix the performance issues in this game!”
“I had to set drawing distance to minimum to avoid a heavy drop in fps and stuttering (read forum posts about detailed requirements).”
“It's not unplayable but I did experience stuttering graphics, which can be a bit troublesome when traversing areas with narrow ledges.”
- stability6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including frequent bugs, graphical glitches, and audio crackles that can disrupt gameplay and immersion. Users report crashes during startup and exits, as well as frustrating audio problems that may be game-breaking for some players.
“When I used fullscreen, the game was very buggy.”
“Freezes on loads, hangs up on startups, crashes on exits.”
“However, the game is plagued by audio glitches and crackling sounds.”
- replayability5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is considered low for completionists, as it offers limited content beyond the initial playthrough. However, some players find enjoyment in revisiting the game for its quirky elements and the in-game music maker, which adds a degree of replay value for those interested in experimenting with it.
“The game has some replay value - in fact, I'm feeling the urge to go and replay after posting this review - keep in mind it's been a few months since I played last.”
“Replay value: low for completion, high to infinite for the studio.”
“This quirky puzzle game is pretty satisfying the first time, and mildly amusing a second time, but beyond that it has little if any replay value.”
“It doesn't have much replayability other than to mess with the in-game music maker.”
“Also, there isn't much replayability outside of the synth, but the synth does kind of make up for that by itself.”
- emotional4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players report that the game evokes strong emotions, creating a sense of aliveness and immersion through its exploration mechanics. The lack of guidance fosters a feeling of freedom, contributing to a deep and meaningful experience that resonates with players on an emotional level.
“Moreover, it made me feel things.”
“Playing Fract made me feel alive in a way I haven’t experienced in a very long time.”
“For me, it was a very deep and emotional experience, and that was only the beginning!”
- humor3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the humor in the game to be a significant draw, often returning to it despite frustrations. The comedic elements, including nonsensical sounds and unexpected moments, contribute to a lighthearted experience that resonates with many users.
“It's funny; no matter how furious I get at the game, I always end up coming back.”
“I don't just say this to be a funny little troll or to hate on a game that many people enjoy.”
“The character just makes funny noises that have nothing to do with the game at all.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious and uninspired, detracting from the overall experience despite the impressive visuals.
“I really wanted to like this, but apart from the awesome visuals, the grinding feels repetitive and uninspired.”
“The grinding mechanics are so tedious that it takes away from the overall enjoyment of the game.”
“I found the grinding to be excessively time-consuming, making it hard to stay engaged with the gameplay.”
