Schein
- October 9, 2014
- Zeppelin Studio
- 1h median play time
Get on Steam
Get on itch.io Store"Schein is a single-player puzzle platformer with great graphics, where you guide a father through a mystical swamp, using a magical light to reveal new dimensions, solve puzzles, and defeat beasts to find his missing son. Inspired by Limbo and Braid, Schein is known for its unique gameplay and captivating story."
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features a unique light mechanic that creates complex and engaging puzzles.
- The art style and atmosphere are visually appealing, contributing to an immersive experience.
- The soundtrack is enjoyable and enhances the overall gameplay experience.
- The platforming mechanics can be frustrating, with clunky controls and unfair difficulty spikes.
- Performance issues, such as lag and crashes, detract from the gameplay experience.
- The voice acting is poor and can be annoying, which negatively impacts the immersion.
- gameplay38 mentions
- 32 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 16 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Schein" is criticized for its repetitive and unpolished mechanics, with many players finding the puzzles to be simplistic and frustrating rather than challenging. While the core mechanic of using colored light to manipulate the game world shows potential, the execution suffers from clunky movement and a narrow visibility range, detracting from the overall experience. Despite some creative ideas and interesting dynamics in certain areas, the game ultimately fails to deliver a satisfying puzzle platforming experience.
“The core game mechanic of Schein is using colored light to make certain elements of the game world appear or disappear.”
“Schein has some good ideas; the lights mechanic, some puzzles are really challenging, the battle against the last boss has very interesting dynamics, and the system to go back through the areas of the map to solve the puzzles.”
“Creatively uses the game's light mechanics to blend the hand-drawn assets of the four worlds, as well as somehow incorporating a 3D model without it looking really out of place.”
“I was hoping for some cool brain twisters, but all the puzzles were barely puzzles at all and most of the gameplay seemed more about being as annoying as possible.”
“I don't regret picking this game up on sale for $1.34 to try it, but the repetitive and unpolished gameplay means that I can't recommend Schein.”
“Additionally, the visible area of the different lights - the main mechanic of the game - is infuriatingly narrow, meaning that even with the already slow movement of the player model, you'll be required to take things even more slowly.”
- graphics30 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 30 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are praised for their unique and creative art style, with many reviewers noting the beautiful and detailed visuals that enhance the overall atmosphere. While some animations may feel lacking and certain elements appear unpolished, the game's distinct aesthetic and level design across multiple dimensions are generally well-received, contributing to a captivating experience. However, a few critics suggest that the clarity of the graphics could benefit from a darker, mistier ambiance in certain areas.
“The graphics are beautiful and the idea is amazing.”
“I want to recommend this game; the graphics are amazing and the triplicate-art shows a level of devotion and attention to detail that most games don't have.”
“+ very unique and interesting graphics style, whole level design has 4 different dimensions, even though each of them are mostly re-skins, each looks great and a bit different; it feels very well done.”
“The graphics are cute and cartoon-like, but the game world is perhaps a bit too crisp and clear – I think it would have looked better if the unlit parts of the game world were a bit darker and misty.”
“The graphics and music are nothing like Bastion or Braid, but they are decent enough and fit very well with the atmosphere.”
“The comparisons between Braid and Limbo are obvious but fair (Braid style graphics with Limbo style ambiance), also throwing in a bit of Nihilumbra, but where it really stands out is the lamp mechanism it uses.”
- story28 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The story of the game centers around a father's quest to find his lost son in a mystical swamp, featuring a simple narrative with a few twists. While some players find the storyline interesting and engaging, many criticize it for lacking depth and originality, often describing it as shallow and reminiscent of other games. Overall, the narrative serves as a backdrop to the platforming and puzzle elements, but does not significantly enhance the gameplay experience.
“Schein is a great platformer, including puzzles, and an interesting story.”
“[i]schein[/i] tells the story of a desperate man, who ventures forth into the mystical swamp in search of his missing son.”
“There is also the underlying story which unravels as the game progresses.”
“The story is about a father looking for his lost son in a swamp, but it does not add much depth to the game.”
“The story is fairly shallow; I'm not going to say more about it.”
“The game ending, story-wise and gameplay-wise, is not original (it reminded me so much of another game that I cannot mention here).”
- music16 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its beautiful and atmospheric soundtrack, which enhances the overall experience. However, some players find the voice acting, particularly the character's grunts, to be annoying and detracting from the enjoyment. While the soundtrack is considered decent and fitting, it is not regarded as particularly remarkable compared to other titles.
“The atmospheric soundtrack is actually pretty good, but the voice acting is less so (especially the annoying grunts when dying).”
“+ beautiful soundtrack.”
“"schein" is a very good looking game with intense music and a beautiful and interesting landscape.”
“- the music isn't remarkable in any way”
“The graphics and music are nothing like Bastion or Braid, but they are decent enough and fit well with the atmosphere.”
- atmosphere14 mentions
- 86 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game features a unique and compelling atmosphere, enhanced by a strong atmospheric soundtrack, though the voice acting has received criticism. While the graphics and animations may not be top-tier, they effectively complement the overall mood, which includes a gloomy setting, engaging puzzles, and challenging platforming. Some players expressed a desire for more narrative depth, such as multiple endings, to further enrich the atmospheric experience.
“They create a unique atmosphere.”
“You'll find a nice gloomy atmosphere, good puzzles and hard platforming.”
“The animations aren't that great and yes, there are platformers with better graphics, but the mechanics are great and so is the overall atmosphere.”
- optimization10 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant optimization issues, particularly on Windows 8, leading to stuttering and difficult controls. Despite users finding fixes for other 2D games, these solutions do not resolve the performance problems for this title.
“Update: I found a fix for the performance issues that 2D games tend to have on Windows 8; it fixed the performance of all games... except this one.”
“Some weird performance.”
“Stuttering while in-game makes the controls difficult.”
“Be advised, Braid, Bridge, 8BitBoy, and Schein all have performance issues with Windows 8.”
“I found a fix for the performance issues that 2D games tend to have on Windows 8; it fixed the performance of all games... except this one.”
- grinding8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of "Schein" is criticized for being tedious and frustrating, with long platforming sequences that require precise timing but suffer from poor execution and pacing. Players found the experience to be a bothersome chore rather than an enjoyable challenge, overshadowing the game's promising concept.
“I really wanted to like Schein, but the excellent concept for this platformer was unfortunately overwhelmed by desperately poor voice acting, long and tedious platforming sequences with finicky tuning, and slow pacing overall.”
“This was an absolutely tedious and bothersome completion for me.”
“What could have been a lovely clever platformer was, unfortunately, turned into a series of long, inexplicably tedious jumping sequences that are all about split-second timing.”
