Pnevmo-Capsula

About

Pnevmo-Capsula is a single player casual platformer game with a kids theme. It was developed by Pnevmocapsula_dev and was released on October 4, 2021. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"Pnevmo-Capsula: Domiki" is a steampunk puzzle game set in a world where transistors were never invented and people travel only by rail. Players control a small mechanical cart, overcoming kilometers of this alternative world and interacting with authentic Soviet life elements. The game features an abundance of mechanisms, rails, antennas, and puzzles as the player searches for a way out in this unique steampunk setting.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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77%

Audience ScoreBased on 44 reviews

graphics4 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game features a beautifully designed world with impressive visuals and a captivating atmosphere, showcasing a unique Soviet atompunk aesthetic.
The music and sound design are fantastic, enhancing the overall experience and immersing players in the game's environment.
The puzzles, while simplistic, provide a satisfying challenge and contribute to the game's charm, making it a fun and relaxing experience.

The gameplay is repetitive and lacks depth, with only a few types of puzzles that can become tedious over time.
Controls are unintuitive and frustrating, with fixed camera angles that complicate navigation and interaction with the environment.
The game is very short, lasting only about 1-2 hours, which may leave players wanting more content and variety.

gameplay
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
60%
20%
The gameplay in *pnevmo-capsula: domiki* features unique mechanics and a captivating Soviet-era setting, but it suffers from frustrating design choices and technical limitations, such as unintuitive controls. While the world design is imaginative and atmospheric, the gameplay execution is inconsistent, often feeling derivative and lacking depth, which detracts from the overall experience. Despite some creative elements, many players find the gameplay ultimately unengaging and not fun.
- “The gameplay is very hermetic but not too complex at the same time; it's just a matter of making detours to activate triggers in another place so you can come back and keep going on your way.”
- “World design is fantastical and interesting, and gameplay design is unique.”
- “Very atmospheric and short (around 1 hour) game in alternative Soviet times with unique gameplay.”
- “My impression is that someone creative had a great time modeling landscapes and suspended train tracks and vertical switches and all sorts of unusual machines, after which they decided to tack on some gameplay to attract viewers, but had no knack for that part, only coming up with weak, derivative filler.”
- “The linear puzzle mechanics show a lot of potential and the Soviet-era setting is incredibly unique; but flaws in the puzzle design coupled with bizarre technical limitations (e.g. unintuitive controls, no control rebinding) made it frustrating to play after a while.”
- “It's impressive how much effort apparently went into modeling the environment (especially in comparison to how little effort apparently went into the gameplay).”
graphics
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
53%
20%
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their unique atompunk aesthetics and detailed world design, creating a visually appealing experience. However, many users noted significant issues with optimization, including broken Vsync and a lack of diverse graphics settings, which detracted from the overall visual experience. While the visuals are striking, they are often described as lacking depth and variety, leading to a mixed reception.
- “Amazing visuals.”
- “I really liked the puzzles and the aesthetics were top notch.”
- “Liked: very detailed world and atompunk aesthetics.”
- “Vsync is broken, capping to half framerate when on, and actually vsyncing when off. There’s no volume slider (music only) and no graphics options other than resolution and a vague 'post processing' tickbox.”
- “Graphics look nice but that's it; it lacks diversity, puzzles are simple, pacing of the game is very meh, very linear, and the story is just... there.”
- “While visually unique, there's nothing particularly interesting about the 'game' part of it, and even the visuals aren't fully realized due to poor optimization and a lack of graphics options.”
music
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
77%
8%
15%
The music in the game is widely praised for its fantastic quality, atmospheric and captivating sound design, and a pleasant future synth vibe that enhances the overall experience. Reviewers appreciate the unique and enjoyable soundtrack, which effectively establishes the game's mystery and complements its visuals. However, some users noted limitations in sound control options, such as the inability to adjust sound effects volume independently.
- “The atmosphere is captivating, the music is great, and the puzzles aren't too difficult.”
- “Music has a pleasant future synth vibe to it, and generally the aesthetics, combined with interesting, scope-revealing camera angles, provide a unique sense of the world the game tries to conjure up.”
- “The soundtrack is also very nice; I did not expect it to be so rich and atmospheric.”
- “I've already mentioned the inability to rebind controls and the lack of a 'back' button, but there's also no native ability to escape fullscreen when changing your resolution, and you can adjust the music volume but have zero control over the sound effects volume without changing it in your operating system's volume mixer.”
- “Vsync is broken, capping to half framerate when on, and actually vsyncing when off. There’s no volume slider for music only and no graphics options other than resolution and a vague 'post processing' tickbox.”
atmosphere
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
83%
50%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its captivating and immersive qualities, effectively capturing a retrofuturistic Soviet reality through detailed visuals and a rich, calming soundtrack. Players appreciate the unique gameplay and the overall ambiance, which enhances the experience despite the game's short duration.
- “The atmosphere is captivating, the music is great, and the puzzles aren't too difficult.”
- “It's an atmospheric game set in a parallel Soviet reality, recreating the little details and the overall feeling of retrofuturistic Soviet style really well.”
- “The soundtrack is also very nice; I did not expect it to be so rich and atmospheric.”
- “The steampunk atmosphere feels out of place in what is supposed to be an alternative Soviet reality.”
- “The game fails to create a cohesive atmosphere, leaving players feeling disconnected from the world.”
- “Despite the intriguing setting, the atmosphere lacks depth and fails to immerse players in the experience.”
story
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
75%
The game's story is minimal and largely conveyed through environmental details and letters, requiring players to engage deeply with the world to piece together the narrative. While there is a foundational story, it is often overshadowed by a lack of character development and a linear gameplay experience, leading to a perception that the story is underwhelming. Overall, players feel that the storytelling is present but not compelling, with many elements feeling disconnected or insufficiently explored.
- “There is an actual story to the game as well; you just need to take the time and read all the articles to understand what is going on in the world.”
- “You do get some world-building through the letters you deliver.”
- “There are no characters and no real story, but you do get some world building through the letters you deliver.”
- “The story is also all in the environment, though I don't know how much of it actually tells us what's going on.”
- “Graphics look nice but that's it; it lacks diversity, puzzles are simple, pacing of the game is very meh, very linear, and the story is just... there.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized for appearing to rely on deceptive practices, with numerous reviews suggesting that many accounts are used to promote the game through fake reviews, particularly for low-quality asset flips and scams. Additionally, the presence of in-game advertisements and propaganda elements has raised concerns about the overall integrity of the game's monetization approach.
- “They're all written in either Russian or broken English, appear at almost exactly the same time, very shortly after the game launched on Steam, all have a direct Steam purchase of the game, and the accounts are used consistently to write fake reviews for asset flips and other cash grabs/scams.”
- “It's funny to read some ads, newspapers, those documents that you are carrying.”
- “Propaganda posters (based on real Soviet posters), newspapers with ads, even place names are all parts of the big picture.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's visuals are distinctive but suffer from poor optimization, which limits their full potential, and there is a notable absence of graphics options to enhance performance.
- “While visually unique, there's nothing particularly interesting about the game part of it, and even the visuals aren't fully realized due to poor optimization and a lack of graphics options.”
- “The game suffers from severe performance issues, making it nearly unplayable on lower-end systems.”
- “Despite its potential, the optimization is so poor that it detracts from the overall experience, with frequent frame drops and long loading times.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game somewhat tedious, particularly due to repetitive tasks like navigating electric gate puzzles and backtracking after falling. However, the visually appealing backgrounds help mitigate some of the frustration associated with this grind.
- “The electric gate puzzles are the game's weak point, partly because of how quickly they become tedious to navigate and partly because they try to implement an artificial sense of difficulty.”
- “There is some room for improvement, though: it can be a bit tedious at times when you accidentally fall and need to go back to the same place again to turn off a switch.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is hit-or-miss; while some players find amusement in the quirky ads and documents scattered throughout, others feel that the developers' attempts at humor, particularly in relation to poorly implemented controls, fall flat and come off as more of a prank than genuine comedy.
- “It's funny to read some ads, newspapers, and those documents that you are carrying.”