The Almost Gone
- June 25, 2020
- Happy Volcano
- 3h median play time
The Almost Gone is an occasionally enjoyable puzzle game, with a unique way of presenting levels. However, its high price and inability to adequately tackle heavy narrative themes leave it lost in the sea of mobile game ports.
Get on Steam"The Almost Gone" is a narrative-driven puzzle game where players explore meticulously crafted dioramas to uncover the story of a life cut short. By revealing objects and memories, players piece together the poignant truths that led to their fate, in a contemporary tale written by award-winning author Joost Vandecasteele. With its immersive storytelling and atmospheric visuals, the game offers a hauntingly beautiful experience.
iPad
iPhone
Mac OS
Nintendo Switch
PC
Phone
Windows
Android
Mobile Platform
Tablet
Reviews
- Beautiful visuals and art style that create an engaging atmosphere.
- Clever and satisfying puzzles that are easy to navigate and solve.
- An emotional and intriguing story that explores heavy themes, encouraging players to piece together the narrative.
- The story feels vague and lacks a satisfying conclusion, leaving many questions unanswered.
- Gameplay can be tedious due to backtracking and unclear navigation, making it frustrating at times.
- Some achievements require unnecessary time spent idling, which detracts from the overall experience.
- story194 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The story of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it dark and tragic but lacking in depth and resolution, particularly regarding the abrupt ending. While some appreciate the unique storytelling method through puzzles and dioramas, others criticize it for being vague, disjointed, and failing to effectively convey its themes. Overall, the narrative is seen as a compelling yet flawed aspect of the game, leaving players with a sense of confusion and dissatisfaction.
“The story was amazing!”
“The story itself is tragic - I love how it unravels piece by piece with room to draw your own conclusion without straying too far from the main plot.”
“The details of the story can be easily missed, but a more observant and curious player will discover a beautiful and somber tale about life, death, and loneliness.”
“The story feels like it is lacking a bit, especially the ending.”
“The main problem of this game is that the story (and its ending) fail to deliver a proper match for its tone, making this one simply a waste of time.”
“The game part of this title is fine and can be recommended, but the storyline is pretty poorly written and very little of the 'heavy' material actually hits with any emotional impact because of how clumsily and even surrealistically it is presented.”
- graphics62 mentions
- 56 % positive mentions
- 39 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received widespread praise for their beautiful, clean, and stylized design, often described as captivating and atmospheric. Many reviewers appreciated the unique art style, which effectively complements the game's themes and puzzles, although some noted occasional issues with clarity and user interface. Overall, the visuals contribute significantly to the game's eerie yet charming aesthetic, enhancing the player's experience despite some minor frustrations.
“Beautiful and simple graphics with a gorgeous color palette paired with an eerie mood perfectly describes the confusion we are supposed to be feeling as Emily searches through the remains of her hostile upbringing.”
“The graphics are lovely, and the soundtrack is pleasingly atmospheric.”
“Absolutely love the graphics, it is stunning in a minimalistic way.”
“There's a deliberate low-detail high-contrast art style at work, and while I appreciate the dramatic effect and emotional suggestions - the living spaces being washed out and colorless, then suddenly being plunged into shadow - it makes the game very frustrating to play in places.”
“Gameplay: some of the scene rotations can be a little janky (I use a keyboard and mouse), and it's not always 100% clear what you're looking at due to the stylized graphics, but taken as a whole the puzzles are intuitive and straightforward.”
“I can ultimately recommend the game, but purely for the puzzles and graphical style... the less said about the 'story' the better.”
- gameplay47 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 55 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The gameplay is primarily a point-and-click experience featuring intuitive puzzles that tie into the narrative, though it suffers from clunky mechanics and occasional confusion due to unexplained elements. While the rotation mechanic adds an immersive layer, it is underutilized, and the overall gameplay can feel slow and tedious, particularly with maze-like levels and the search for easily missed items. Despite its beautiful graphics and engaging themes, many players found the gameplay lacking in depth and satisfaction, especially given its short duration and ambiguous ending.
“The gameplay: you navigate a series of isometric dioramas, solving puzzles as you explore the protagonist's mental state and family history.”
“The puzzle gameplay ties in with the narration very well, since solving a puzzle also means understanding a bit more about what is going on.”
“Explores interesting themes through engaging gameplay and puzzles that are intuitive for the most part but do require you to pay attention to detail and every bit of text you get.”
“On top of that, the gameplay length is synthetically prolonged by maze-like levels and tediously searching for easy-to-miss items.”
“Puzzles with no creative mechanics just make the game really boring.”
“While the puzzle mechanics were interesting and varied, it sucked that you couldn't zoom in (leaving it hard to find some clues) and the ending feels far too ambiguous - what should've been open-ended felt more like they didn't have a good way to wrap up the story, and you're ultimately left unsatisfied.”
- music27 mentions
- 37 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The music in the game is described as atmospheric and haunting, effectively contributing to the overall mood and aesthetic. However, opinions are mixed; while some find it beautiful and immersive, others feel it can become overwhelming or unpleasant over extended play. Overall, the soundtrack enhances the experience but may not appeal to everyone, with some players opting to mute it due to discomfort.
“This is a moody point-and-click puzzle game that has beautiful aesthetics and music.”
“The details, the music, the scattered timelines that slowly reveal the background was honestly beautiful.”
“Interesting puzzles and a beautiful ambient soundtrack to complete the experience.”
“However, the story writing is so poor that the background music continuously playing just disturbs the experience even more, becoming more stressful.”
“The story is boring, and the soundtrack ('best with headphones') is terrible.”
“To be blunt, the music lends to the atmosphere of the game but it is very unpleasant to listen to for any length of time.”
- atmosphere22 mentions
- 45 % positive mentions
- 41 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is consistently praised for its mysterious and eerie qualities, effectively enhanced by its visuals and sound design. While many players appreciate the tension and discomfort it evokes, some note that the story's darker elements may not align with initial expectations. Overall, the atmosphere is described as captivating and integral to the game's experience, despite some critiques regarding its clarity and audio discomfort.
“The developers did a great job creating a mysterious atmosphere that keeps you guessing what happened.”
“The atmosphere it creates with its visuals and music is perfect, and while the style of the game makes it pleasing to look at, the game is also effective at making the player feel varying degrees of discomfort, at least in my experience, which was definitely intentional.”
“Great atmospheric puzzle game with a haunting narrative.”
“It's a nice puzzle game, but be warned, the story and atmosphere is way darker than what the screenshots suggest it to be.”
“The creators of the game did a great job in sustaining a tense and eerie atmosphere, although it was disappointing that the ending doesn't explain much about the story.”
“The ambience of this game always left me with anxiety and just a creepy atmosphere.”
- emotional14 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its engaging narrative and deep character backstories, particularly the poignant experiences of Emily's parents. However, some players find the emotional weight to be overwhelming and lacking in resolution, leading to frustration and a sense of disconnect from the story. While the game successfully evokes strong feelings, its execution can feel muddled and surreal, impacting the overall emotional impact for some players.
“An excellent game, and one I'd wholeheartedly recommend to anyone looking for a narrative puzzle game with a lot of emotional depth.”
“This game is very emotional and the backstories of Emily's parents are really heartbreaking, especially seeing what happens to her mother.”
“It is a sign of a skilled storyteller when the story is vague enough that you can't quite wrap your head around all of the details of the plot, but then the emotional quality is striking and undeniable.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, often due to maze-like levels and the need for extensive backtracking to locate easily missed items. This repetitive gameplay can detract from the overall experience, making certain passages feel monotonous.
“On top of that, gameplay length is synthetically prolonged by maze-like levels and tediously searching for easy-to-miss items.”
“A certain passage of the game is a bit tedious to go through since it requires walking around in a monotonous and repetitive environment for a while.”
“The puzzles weren't hard, but the backtracking was tedious.”
- replayability3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is considered limited, with some users noting that it avoids the pitfalls of artificially extending playtime through achievements. However, many agree that it lacks significant replay value, making it less enticing for multiple playthroughs.
“At least it's not one of those obnoxious 'play this 2-hour game without any replay value for 40 hours' achievements.”
“There is no major replay value.”
Critic Reviews
The Almost Gone Review – Snapshots of tragedy
I recommend The Almost Gone for anyone who’s looking for an engaging story with puzzles that will make you think without being difficult enough to frustrate. It’s not long, and I came away wishing it had lasted a little longer to explain away some of the last mysteries; but life never gives you easy answers, and neither does this game. My recommendation is for the mobile versions, as the graphics and the tap-and-swipe controls are clearly optimised for it. It’s a reasonable price on both mobile and PC though, so take your pick of platform.
80%All is not as it seems --- The Almost Gone review
The Almost Gone is a relaxing point-and-click exploration game with puzzle solving elements. The story unfolds through investigating the environment, so be sure to pay attention if you want to get answers. It won't blow your mind with the story or gameplay, and it doesn't take long to complete, but it's still worth checking out.
75%The Almost Gone review – A house divided
The Almost Gone is like a fleeting memory; it's the tragic tale of abuse and loss, captured in a series of blurry vignettes. Its puzzle mechanics, although fairly simple, are refined, even if they aren't explored to their fullest. The two-hour story sits at the forefront of the experience and never overstays its welcome. In fact, The Almost Gone would likely benefit from an extra hour, but what we got is plenty good on its own.
70%
