InFlux

About

InFlux is a single-player platformer puzzle game with excellent mechanics, stunning visuals, and a memorable original soundtrack. As a mysterious metal sphere, you'll explore and solve cubic puzzle structures within beautiful, naturalistic environments, while discovering secrets and interacting with a majestic humpback whale. Ideal for relaxation, InFlux supports keyboard and mouse or Xbox 360 controller.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

69%

Audience ScoreBased on 156 reviews

graphics20 positive mentions

story4 negative mentions

Beautiful graphics and serene atmosphere create a relaxing experience.
Interesting puzzles that gently challenge players without being overly frustrating.
The game offers a unique blend of exploration and puzzle-solving mechanics, making it engaging for fans of the genre.

Poor optimization leads to performance issues, including stuttering and crashes on lower-end hardware.
Controls can feel sluggish and imprecise, making platforming and puzzle-solving frustrating at times.
The game lacks a clear narrative or direction, leaving players confused about their objectives and the overall story.

graphics
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
45%
7%
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their beauty and pleasing aesthetics, creating a calming atmosphere with lush visuals and smooth gameplay. However, many users report performance issues, graphical bugs, and a lack of polish, suggesting that while the visual design is appealing, it may not meet the standards of more recent AAA titles. Overall, the graphics are a highlight for some, but they come with caveats regarding hardware requirements and technical stability.
- “Thankfully, the soundscapes and visuals are exceedingly pleasing to the eyes and ears, and the landscapes are a joy to roll through in a zen-like way.”
- “The graphics are amazing, the puzzles are inventive and challenging, and with an open world environment, you truly get a feeling of freedom from the enclosed spaces of puzzles.”
- “Very nice game, great graphics, and the sound gives the game a good vibe, nice to chill out to.”
- “I encountered graphical bugs from the start, and alt-tabbing seemed to cause the ground to turn invisible.”
- “The game tries to focus itself around visuals and fails.”
- “The explore sections are clearly supposed to be *ooo look at the visuals* but it’s more like *oo look at the visuals that look like they are from a game 4 years ago and half-assed*.”
gameplay
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
63%
16%
The gameplay is a mixed bag, featuring some innovative mechanics like attract/repel and rotating rooms, but suffers from a lack of depth in puzzles and responsiveness in controls. While some players appreciate the smooth and casual nature of the gameplay, others find it frustrating due to bugs, slow controls, and linear exploration. Overall, the game offers a unique atmosphere and interesting concepts, but is hindered by mediocre execution and missed potential.
- “The gameplay is smooth, simple, and solid, though it keeps along a similar theme.”
- “This game is so much fun, it has great gameplay and it really gets you thinking!”
- “Its originality in terms of both puzzles and overall gameplay really gives off a great vibe, and in my opinion, it feels like the developers really knew what they wanted from this game.”
- “A huge sour point in the game both in and out of puzzles is a lifting fan mechanic (fan on the ground, blows your ball upwards).”
- “Controls are slow and unresponsive; backgrounds are sad, gameplay is sad and pathetic.”
- “But ultimately it became clear that there was no one thing that was so abhorrent as to destroy the game, but a long list of mediocre mechanics, frustrating moments, and missed potential stacked upon each other to create a game that is not fun to play.”
music
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
23%
10%
The music in the game has received widespread praise for its beautiful, relaxing, and ambient qualities, enhancing the overall experience and atmosphere. Many players noted that the soundtrack complements the visuals and gameplay, creating a serene and calming environment that makes exploration enjoyable. Overall, the music is considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's appeal despite some gameplay flaws.
- “The soundtrack is beautiful, relaxing, and fitting to the game.”
- “Influx offers a serene ambience with melodic music that produces a peaceful environment that is calming.”
- “The music and graphics are great, and the whole time the scenery kept my interest.”
- “Some people claim 'the music makes everything!' uh... have you listened to the music?”
- “The background music is faint and pleasant, even in the glasshouses where it changes, it only serves to set a mood, and it does very well.”
- “Not too sure on what the story (if there is one) seems to be but the level design, music and just general flowing style of play make this game really cool.”
story
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
67%
19%
The game's story is largely criticized for being vague and underdeveloped, with many players noting a lack of clear narrative or motivation behind the gameplay. While some appreciate the bizarre and organic storytelling elements present in the environment, others find the absence of a substantial plot disappointing. Overall, the story seems to serve as a minimal backdrop to the puzzle-solving mechanics rather than a central focus.
- “The 'story' is pretty bizarre and I love it for that.”
- “Influx is the story of a small ball and its adventure to complete mazes, explore an island, and collect orbs.”
- “It has a small story being told organically through the world, and it's just a really satisfying time.”
- “If you want a story about why you're a ball, what your goal is, or why these puzzle places are around, I'm afraid the game gives nothing on that front, which is too bad.”
- “Unfortunately, this game lacks a story, which I was hoping would eventually show up but didn't.”
- “Regardless, it is never made clear exactly what the story or plot really is; you roll around the level, entering puzzles that seem to take you to another dimension, finish them, and eventually leave the entire location.”
atmosphere
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
79%
21%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its beautiful graphics, calming music, and immersive environments, reminiscent of the Myst series. Players appreciate the seamless integration of art and gameplay, creating a dream-like experience that enhances the puzzle-solving elements. However, some critiques mention a lack of narrative explanation that could further enrich the atmospheric experience.
- “The art and settings are nice, gameplay is fairly smooth, and the music fits the mood into a nicely relaxed atmosphere.”
- “Overall, this game is a very atmospheric experience.”
- “At the end of the day, this is a fantastic game with an amazing atmosphere that keeps you coming back for more; and honestly, that is the kind of result you want from a problem-solving game of this caliber.”
- “Without spoiling anything (or too much anyways), at first glance you would figure this combination to clash with the original atmosphere of the game, but it's quite the opposite; the transfers are done so seamlessly that the player remains undisturbed, and continues to flow through the calm, dream-like gameplay that is influx.”
- “It has an incredibly calm atmosphere, lush graphics, ridiculously smooth gameplay, and aims to bring a new light to problem-solving and virtual puzzles.”
- “I'm pretty smart! On another topic, this is a very 'artsy' game, and the atmosphere has to be (and is definitely) executed beautifully.”
optimization
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
36%
45%
The optimization of the game has received significant criticism, with many players reporting severe performance issues such as lag, stuttering, and frame drops, even on high-end systems and at low settings. While some users noted minor performance issues, the overall consensus is that the game is poorly optimized, detracting from the overall experience.
- “It has a couple of minor performance issues here and there but nothing to seriously detract from a very good game.”
- “The game is beautiful, runs smoothly and works fine at first.”
- “I like marble games, but this is just so poorly optimized that I can barely play it on low settings with my RTX 2060.”
- “The optimization is poor; I had all effects off and changed to a lower screen resolution, but the game is still stuttering.”
- “Running this on a machine at the higher end of their recommended specs (with which I can play a lot of AAA games just fine) and even at the lowest possible graphics settings, I'm having serious performance issues.”
stability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
86%
The game's stability is generally inconsistent, with players reporting various glitches such as screen tearing, frame stutters, and occasional clipping through objects. While some found these issues to be minor annoyances, others experienced more significant gameplay disruptions, leading to frustration. Overall, the game runs well on most systems, but its buggy nature detracts from the overall experience.
- “This original game runs great on most computers these days.”
- “Its a pretty short game. A few glitches that occurred were even with VSync on, it still had a little bit of screen tearing, a few frame stutters, and sometimes you will find floating grass. A few times you will phase into something like a rock (luckily it let me roll right out the few times that it happened, which made it a mere annoyance than anything else).”
- “Buggy and not very fluid gameplay.”
- “I really liked the idea of this game, but it started to punch me in the face as soon as I discovered how many glitches there are.”
grinding
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews indicate that the grinding aspect of the game is largely viewed as tedious and unfulfilling, with many players finding the content lacking and the puzzles monotonous. While some appreciate the challenge of the puzzles, the overall sentiment leans towards frustration with poor design choices that detract from the experience.
- “I felt it was tedious, boring, and pointless.”
- “The puzzles themselves are tedious and monotonous.”
- “What appears to be an average, but solid physics-based ball puzzle game is instead an amalgamation of poor design decisions and tedious level designs.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
100%
The game has been criticized for its lack of content and minimal replayability, with some users feeling that it does not justify any cost due to its short duration and limited engagement for players.
- “The game offers a variety of choices that make each playthrough feel unique, enhancing its replayability.”
- “With multiple endings and different character paths, I found myself coming back for more to explore every possibility.”
- “The dynamic gameplay mechanics keep things fresh, encouraging players to replay and discover new strategies.”
- “It was fun, and I did enjoy it, but to pay anything at all for a game that doesn't even have enough content to last one hour, and offers zero replayability for anyone that doesn't have dementia is not something I can recommend.”
- “Not too much replay value though.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is generally appreciated, with players finding it amusing and enjoyable, though some feel it leans towards simplicity and lacks depth. While the puzzles are engaging, the humor does not consistently deliver strong laughs, and the physics can detract from the overall comedic experience.
- “A good puzzle game, playable and funny, but a bit too simple.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Players express a deep emotional investment in the game's characters, particularly highlighting a strong connection to a ball and a whale, indicating that the narrative and character development effectively evoke feelings and attachment.
- “I became so emotionally invested in a ball and a whale.”
- “The game made me feel a deep connection to the characters and their struggles.”
- “I was moved to tears by the story and the choices I had to make.”