Pollen

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"Pollen" is a single-player Science Fiction Adventure game that takes place on a research base located on Saturn's moon, Titan. Players are tasked with investigating the mysterious disappearance of a team member as a reserve employee of RAMA Industries. The game is known for its intriguing story, awesome graphics, and dense atmosphere, providing an immersive and suspenseful first-person exploration experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

Reviews

68%

Audience ScoreBased on 116 reviews

story34 positive mentions

optimization6 negative mentions

The game features a captivating atmosphere and impressive graphics, especially in VR, enhancing the immersive experience.
Exploration is rewarding, with many interactive objects and collectibles that contribute to the narrative, making players feel engaged in piecing together the story.
The game offers a unique storytelling approach, allowing players to uncover the mystery at their own pace without heavy-handed guidance.

The game is notably short, with many players completing it in just a few hours, leading to concerns about its value for the price.
There are significant technical issues, particularly with VR support, including crashes, poor controller responsiveness, and performance problems that detract from the experience.
The ending is often criticized for being unsatisfying and vague, leaving many questions unanswered and feeling rushed compared to the buildup throughout the game.

story
90 mentions
38 % positive mentions
59 % neutral mentions
3 % negative mentions
The game's story is primarily revealed through audio logs and notes, creating an intriguing but often disjointed narrative experience that some players found lacking in depth and clarity. While the atmosphere and sci-fi themes are praised, many reviewers noted that the story feels short and underdeveloped, leaving players with unanswered questions and a sense of confusion. Overall, the game offers an interesting premise but struggles with pacing and coherence, making it a mixed experience for those seeking a robust narrative.
- “Pollen blends a retro-futuristic game design with an intriguing story and immersive (sometimes a bit thriller-ish) atmosphere.”
- “Throughout the game, the player needs to collect audio tapes to uncover the story of the mysterious disappearance of the crew and solve puzzles to get access to more and more modules of the research station.”
- “The story is about finding clues and discovering what happened there.”
- “The story is equally as disjointed and it's more like you jump around the map to discover stuff about the characters with it having no bearing on the gameplay whatsoever.”
- “For most of the game, there’s no plot that you are participating in - only your quest to find clues and construct a sense of what went wrong on the base.”
- “The story is slow and not very clear.”
atmosphere
36 mentions
67 % positive mentions
25 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The atmosphere in P·o·l·l·e·n is widely praised for its immersive and eerie qualities, effectively blending retro-futuristic design with a compelling story. Players appreciate the attention to detail, sound design, and the game's ability to evoke feelings of suspense and exploration, making it a standout experience in the walking simulator genre. However, some reviewers noted that the atmosphere can become monotonous as gameplay progresses, leading to a decrease in tension.
- “P·o·l·l·e·n blends a retro-futuristic game design with an intriguing story and immersive (sometimes a bit thriller-ish) atmosphere.”
- “Pollen successfully creates a spooky atmosphere that can be lonely and depressing while at the same time adding a desire in the player to stay around and explore as much as possible.”
- “The atmosphere is amazing.”
- “Then you realize that literally nothing is going to happen, and all you have to do is find some keys, at which point all the suspense and atmosphere evaporate.”
- “It easily ended up generating an atmosphere which genuinely made me afraid of entering rooms.”
- “The whole atmosphere is set very well and you really feel being there and finding out what happened and trying to find out more.”
graphics
28 mentions
64 % positive mentions
25 % neutral mentions
11 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their high quality, attention to detail, and immersive retro-futuristic aesthetic, contributing significantly to the overall atmosphere. However, some players report performance issues, including frame rate drops and graphical artifacts, suggesting that optimization could be improved. Overall, while the visuals are a strong point, technical inconsistencies may detract from the experience for some users.
- “I don’t know how they created the visuals in the ending sequence, much less made them render correctly in stereoscopic 3D with only minor flaws, but it was breathtaking!”
- “In its favor, the game has gorgeous visuals, lots of detail in the world, some nice puzzles, an interesting and touching story, good character acting, and (I know not everyone agrees with me on this) a satisfying ending.”
- “Brilliantly done game, amazing graphics, unique and inventive puzzles, quirky yet interesting storyline, tons of objects to interact with, and unique gameplay mechanics, and an interesting alternate history take on the space race and Kennedy era.”
- “Graphically, it pushes all the right buttons, but it is somehow not very well optimized. I was getting 35fps in 3440x1440 and miraculously it stuck between 80 and 100fps when I lowered to 2560x1080 (there should not be such a huge difference).”
- “For high graphics, the game is very demanding, so that should be optimized more.”
- “Well, the thing is that even if I put every graphical option at the lowest value possible, it still stutters like crazy to the point where it's almost unplayable.”
optimization
17 mentions
24 % positive mentions
41 % neutral mentions
35 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing smooth performance at high graphical settings, while others report significant stuttering, low frame rates, and long loading times. Despite its immersive qualities and impressive graphics, many users feel that the game is poorly optimized, leading to frustrating performance issues even on capable systems. Overall, while it has potential, the optimization problems detract from the overall experience.
- “It actually works fine without any technical issues on my system with good performance at max graphical settings and 200% supersampling.”
- “Apart from minor glitches, the game runs smoothly at 60fps.”
- “For high graphics, the game is very demanding, so it should be optimized more.”
- “They should have really optimized this port.”
- “It has terrible optimization: while I play 60+ fps, it feels like 20 fps.”
- “But performance-wise the game is a complete mess.”
gameplay
15 mentions
27 % positive mentions
53 % neutral mentions
20 % negative mentions
The gameplay in "Pollen" is unconventional, lacking traditional mechanics and a clear plot, which may alienate some players. While it features detailed objects and unique puzzles, the absence of core gameplay elements leads to a convoluted experience rather than a challenging one. Despite these criticisms, some players appreciate the smooth controls and intriguing narrative, finding the gameplay engaging in its own right.
- “Gameplay is amazing and although there is no shooting or any threat at all, it kept me somehow intertwined with the plot.”
- “Brilliantly done game, amazing graphics, unique and inventive puzzles, quirky yet interesting storyline, tons of objects to interact with, and unique gameplay mechanics, along with an interesting alternate history take on the space race and Kennedy era.”
- “Now, in terms of game mechanics, it felt very smooth on a keyboard and mouse.”
- “In fact, pollen has barely any traditional gameplay mechanics.”
- “Without a traditional plot or traditional game mechanics, pollen will probably be extremely strange for many gamers.”
- “I'd say the game tries too hard to be non-trivial, without having a core mechanic, which just results in gameplay being convoluted rather than challenging.”
stability
5 mentions
60 % positive mentions
-40 % neutral mentions
80 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's stability is mixed; while it generally runs smoothly at 60fps with only minor glitches, VR gameplay suffers from significant issues such as crashes and movement glitches. Some users reported specific hardware conflicts affecting controls, but others found the experience largely bug-free.
- “The game is remarkably bug-free, providing a smooth experience overall.”
- “I encountered no major issues, making for a stable gameplay experience.”
- “The stability of the game is impressive, allowing me to focus on enjoying the content without interruptions.”
- “Playing in VR, the game was too buggy to enjoy.”
- “Crashes, movement glitches, falling through floors, and horrible load times outweighed the interesting exploration and engaging, if familiar, story.”
- “Slightly buggy but not bad.”
music
5 mentions
60 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
40 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its immersive quality and high production value, enhancing the overall experience. However, some users feel that certain musical elements lack relevance to the game's narrative, with a few describing specific segments as disappointing or distracting.
- “The music, the story, and everything is so immersive.”
- “Good soundtrack.”
- “The audio voices, music, and other sounds throughout the game are done very well.”
- “The problem is that most of them don't actually give you any insight into the game's story - they're music tapes, or other useless crap.”
- “Followed by 'the end.' it started as a let down that felt out of place and quickly became an annoying fifteen minutes of my life watching a bad fractal music video unfold.”
emotional
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game evokes strong emotions, with players experiencing a mix of discomfort and engagement due to its touching story and well-developed characters. While the visuals and puzzles are praised, the emotional impact is notably intense, leading to varied reactions among players.
- “In its favor, the game has gorgeous visuals, lots of detail in the world, some nice puzzles, an interesting and touching story, good character acting, and (I know not everyone agrees with me on this) a satisfying ending.”
replayability
2 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Overall, the game has limited replayability, with many users noting that it lacks significant incentives to play again beyond completing achievements, and some feel it is overpriced for the experience offered.
- “It is fun but overpriced with no replay value.”
- “Not really much of replay value unless you want to do all the achievements.”
humor
1 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is often found in the audio logs and written documents, which provide intriguing insights while also delivering moments of levity that enhance the overall experience.
- “I was curious to learn what happened at the base, and the audio logs and written documents were intriguing and at times humorous.”