Parallels Cross
- March 30, 2016
Discover the surreal experiments that took all of the mansion dwellers to another place. Can you save your son from being a prisoner of the void?
Mac OS
PC
Linux
Reviews
- Puzzles are solvable without being frustrating, providing a casual and enjoyable gameplay experience.
- The graphics are visually appealing and hold up well, contributing to the game's overall atmosphere.
- The game offers a nice balance of easy and challenging puzzles, making it suitable for casual players and puzzle enthusiasts alike.
- The game is quite short, with many players completing it in around 1.5 to 3 hours, which may not justify the full price.
- Some puzzles can be finicky and tedious, leading to frustration rather than enjoyment.
- The story and objectives are considered thin and formulaic, lacking depth and engagement.
- graphics6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The graphics are generally praised for their beauty and effectiveness in enhancing the game's atmosphere, with a score of 7/10 reflecting their quality. However, the animation work is noted as a weak point, detracting from the overall visual experience. The inclusion of a helpful map mechanic further enhances the gameplay by preventing unnecessary backtracking.
“Fun interactive adventure and puzzle game, with beautiful visuals and a creepy premise.”
“The graphics are really pretty, and they included a mechanic where the map will have a check mark for when you have completed that portion of the map (keeps you from needlessly revisiting locations).”
“The game was relaxing with nice graphics, an interesting setting, and puzzles that were non-trivial and mostly meaningful for the setting.”
“The graphics hold up very well, but the animation work leaves much to be desired.”
“Graphically, it's pretty, but the puzzles aren't terribly hard, and I enjoy the map system that tells me where I've completed so I'm not wandering in circles.”
- story5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The game's story is described as simple and somewhat thin, yet coherent enough to motivate players through puzzles and exploration. While it may not be deeply complex, it effectively supports the gameplay and contributes to the overall experience, earning a positive reception.
“The puzzles aren't difficult, but it's got a good background story to it.”
“Story, objectives, and reasons are a bit thin, but still, it's a short beautiful game.”
“If anything, it is just to help move you along with a fairly simple story.”
“The story, objectives, and reasons are a bit thin, but still, it's a short beautiful game.”
“The story is relatively simple, but coherent enough to motivate solving the puzzles and exploring the setting.”
- gameplay3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a casual point-and-click style that some players enjoy, but it suffers from clunky puzzle mechanics and incomplete elements, leading to a lack of satisfaction. While the graphics are praised and the map feature helps track progress, issues with dialogue grammar and unfinished puzzles detract from the overall experience.
“I love the casual point-and-click gameplay.”
“The graphics are really pretty, and they included a mechanic where the map will have a check mark for when you have completed that portion of the map, which keeps you from needlessly revisiting locations.”
“The puzzle mechanics are clunky; you don't even use one of the 'rooms' to beat the game (it's like they forgot to finish adding in a puzzle). Some of the grammar in the dialogue is off, and overall, it was not a particularly satisfying game.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, with illogical pacing that detracts from the narrative urgency. Many express dissatisfaction with the repetitive and dull puzzles, leading some to skip them entirely to progress through the game.
“It's dull; the pacing makes no sense. I know where my son is, but instead of chasing after him, I'm forced to spend potentially hours solving an out-of-the-blue number sequence puzzle that has no relation to his mysterious disappearance. The puzzles are extremely tedious, and for the first time ever in any of their games, I found myself skipping puzzles just to get through it.”
