The Gallery - Episode 2: Heart of the Emberstone
- October 18, 2017
- Cloudhead Games Ltd.
- 4h median play time
Get on SteamIn The Gallery - Episode 2: Heart of the Emberstone, players continue their quest from the first episode, delving into a mysterious and long-abandoned fortress garden to rescue a loved one. Utilizing innovative motion control mechanics, this virtual reality adventure game challenges players to solve puzzles and uncover the truth behind the mythical Emberstone. With an engaging story and stunning visuals, Heart of the Emberstone delivers a captivating VR experience.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features stunning graphics and immersive environments that enhance the overall experience.
- The story is engaging and well-developed, with interesting characters and lore that keep players invested.
- The gameplay mechanics, including telekinesis and various puzzles, are innovative and add depth to the VR experience.
- The game suffers from frequent loading screens that disrupt immersion and pacing.
- Some puzzles can be tedious and require backtracking, which may frustrate players.
- The game is relatively short, with many players completing it in around 3-4 hours, leading to concerns about value for money.
- story222 mentions
- 39 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The story in this game has received mixed reviews, with many praising its depth, character development, and immersive world-building, particularly in comparison to the first episode. However, some players found the narrative convoluted or overly reliant on cutscenes and text, leading to moments of confusion and disengagement. Overall, while the storytelling is considered a highlight, it is often accompanied by pacing issues and a lack of interactive elements that some players desired.
“This game and story blew me away!”
“The story is front-and-center in Emberstone.”
“The story is deeply compelling, totally immersive just like the first and well worth the money.”
“The story itself is painfully bad and you have to sit through so many random cutscenes.”
“The story is still mostly opaque mumbo jumbo and I'm not quite sure I understand what my whole goal was.”
“The storyline is confusing and pointless.”
- gameplay100 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
Gameplay reviews highlight a mix of innovative mechanics and frustrating elements. While many players appreciate the immersive VR experience, smooth mechanics, and engaging puzzles, there are significant criticisms regarding backtracking, tedious trial-and-error puzzles, and a lack of depth in gameplay. Overall, the game is praised for its visuals and story, but some feel it falls short in delivering consistently enjoyable gameplay.
“The gameplay this time is more involved and new mechanics such as telekinesis are incredibly fun.”
“Heart of the Emberstone delivers though, and I loved it from start to finish. It was such a great game, with intuitive gameplay, puzzles that were not horribly hard but not stupidly easy either, in a dying world that felt real and you can really lose yourself in.”
“The gameplay mechanics pay homage to many other great games like The Lab, Waltz of the Wizard, as well as a few others.”
“There's a lot of backtracking and -- especially near the end of the game -- the puzzles fail horribly, based on the VR mechanics they are trying to execute not working well enough, and becoming a practice of tedium and punishing trial-and-error, hoping the systems 'work'.”
“While there are still some good environmental puzzles, they're few and far between, with the bulk of the gameplay being either walking between the two main puzzle rooms or 'solving' a ton of fairly mediocre dexterity-based puzzles, which are split between the perfection kind, where you have to fit shaped cogs onto their matching pegs within a time limit, like the perfection board game, or the operation kind, where you have to use your hand to guide an obnoxiously delayed sphere through an obstacle course.”
“But the gameplay just isn't there and is boring as hell.”
- graphics100 mentions
- 70 % positive mentions
- 27 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received widespread acclaim, with many reviewers praising the stunning visuals, immersive environments, and detailed art direction. While some users noted occasional performance issues and framerate drops, the overall consensus is that the graphics are top-notch, contributing significantly to the game's atmosphere and player experience. The combination of beautiful graphics, engaging puzzles, and effective sound design creates a compelling and immersive VR experience.
“The graphics were amazing!”
“The visuals are the best on any VR game I've seen, in my opinion.”
“Cloudhead Games really nailed the visuals and it can’t be overstated just how good everything looks.”
“There are unjustified framerate drops, when Half-Life: Alyx runs smoothly with all graphics maxed out.”
“I can run just about any VR game at medium settings at least, but this game runs at something like 30 fps even on the lowest graphics settings, and the game doesn't even look top tier; that was annoying but I pressed on anyway.”
“Graphically a downgrade from episode 1 with terrible performance and serious amounts of reprojection - regardless of settings - with heavy to max CPU workloads.”
- optimization25 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 48 % neutral mentions
- 24 % negative mentions
Overall, the optimization of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing significant performance issues such as framerate drops and stuttering, particularly on lower-end hardware. However, others noted that enabling specific settings like "always on reprojection" can improve performance, and many praised the game's impressive visuals despite the optimization challenges. There is hope for future patches to address these performance concerns, making it a potentially worthwhile experience for VR enthusiasts.
“The performance is amazing considering how good the game looks.”
“Even with its impressive visuals, this game is really well optimized for VR.”
“There was so much engaging content, with interesting characters, environments, and puzzles, and if the performance issues are fixed in the future, I would strongly recommend this game to anyone looking for a good VR adventure game.”
“Graphically a downgrade from episode 1 with terrible performance and serious amounts of reprojection - regardless of settings - with heavy to max CPU workloads.”
“The two major issues that killed my brand new PC are... it was stuttering like crazy and it crashed my computer three times.”
“Hopefully this will be fixed as for me the poor performance was very distracting.”
- music24 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received praise for its beauty and ability to enhance the overall atmosphere, with many reviewers highlighting the work of composer Jeremy Soule. However, some players found the repetitive loading screen music intrusive and disruptive to the gameplay experience. Overall, while the soundtrack is generally well-regarded, the frequent loading interruptions detracted from the immersion for some players.
“Love the music and the graphics, the creatures and the design of the artifacts.”
“Tells an interesting story with an antagonist you really loathe, and the world is brought to life with gorgeous visuals and music by the utterly brilliant Jeremy Soule.”
“The music, the atmosphere, the characters... all of them so far have been great.”
“Another gripe I have is that it felt like I had to wait through a 10+ second long loading screen every other room I entered into, and in a game where you are required to frequently move back and forth between areas in order to solve puzzles, it gets super aggravating, especially having to hear the loading music every time.”
“- The loading screens were pretty intrusive, and frequent, and the same music plays each time.”
“Is it bad that I wanted him to grab me and everything go dark, to then, instead of an immersion-breaking loading screen with the same music and bright orange in front of you, just stay black when he grabs you, with maybe a few dots pulsing so you know it hasn't crashed.”
- atmosphere14 mentions
- 57 % positive mentions
- 21 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its impressive graphics, engaging sound design, and immersive environments that invite exploration and interaction. Players appreciate the rich storytelling and the emotional weight conveyed through the game's artistic elements, although some note that backtracking can detract from the overall experience. Overall, the atmosphere is described as polished and captivating, effectively drawing players into its world.
“Yes, if you're the kind of person, like me, that enjoys staring at environments, taking in the atmosphere and wants to read every book and find all audio logs.”
“The atmosphere does a good job of making you feel small in comparison to the enormous statues and elements within the game.”
“This game has a very good narrative, it creates an excellent atmosphere and it feels very polished.”
“While this episode feels a little less 'open' in terms of environment and atmosphere (the majority of the game is spent running back and forth between a very small handful of locations), there are several awe-inspiring scenes that make you feel truly engaged.”
“A bit more myst than 80's movie this time, but still dripping with personality and atmosphere.”
“I'd still wait for a sale, unless you just really want to support the devs. As before, the story, atmosphere, music, voice acting, animation, etc. are on point!”
- grinding7 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players frequently describe the grinding aspect of the game as tedious and frustrating, with repetitive puzzles and excessive backtracking that detract from the overall experience. Many feel that the game pads playtime with drawn-out challenges and similar environments, leading to a sense of monotony and dissatisfaction, especially as the conclusion fails to provide a meaningful resolution.
“The last puzzles feel just tedious as if they were to pad play time.”
“Constant backtracking through loading screens, frustratingly obtuse puzzles, and environments that feel boringly similar and empty (despite increased fidelity) all contribute to a grinding sensation that is capped by an ending that leaves things more or less where they were at the end of episode 1.”
“Alas, it's short for the price like the first installment, I was getting reprojection on the default high setting with an 4790k 1080ti 32gb ram, the puzzles felt drawn out and a bit tedious, almost like they were trying their best to increase the playtime wherever possible.”
- replayability7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
Overall, the game is criticized for its lack of replayability, with many players noting that the short playtime and predictable puzzles diminish the incentive to replay. Users express disappointment in the game's mechanics and objectives, suggesting that improvements are needed to enhance future episodes' replay value.
“Not especially replayable as, well, once you know the puzzles, you know the puzzles.”
“I hope the devs will take my criticism to heart and release a patch for episode 2's locomotion and focus more on replayable content in episode 3.”
“The game is very short and has absolutely 0.00% replay value.”
“This is about 5 hours of play that generally won't have a lot of replay value.”
“It's not fun, controls are not well implemented, objectives are often unclear, and there's zero replayability.”
“Not especially replayable as, well, once you know the puzzles you know the puzzles.”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is described as a mix of cringy and cheesy, with some players finding it melodramatic or nonsensical. While the character motion and voice acting are appreciated, the gameplay lacks innovation, leading to moments that can be unintentionally funny, especially in how players interact with the game. Overall, it elicits a range of reactions, from annoyance to laughter, particularly in the context of exaggerated movements and interactions.
“I know it's just a coincidence, but I find it funny that your character is named Alex.”
“The story was either nonsense or hilariously melodramatic, which added a unique charm to the experience.”
“My son was laughing at the way I was moving while playing this game, with my grand arm gestures and the way I was holding one of the many tablets that supplement the story.”
- stability3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -67 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
The game's stability is mixed, with some users reporting significant bugs that hinder gameplay, such as issues with interacting with puzzles and equipment. However, others note that it runs smoothly overall, offering a variety of graphical options to enhance performance.
“Runs great with lots of graphical options to scale.”
“The game maintains a steady frame rate even during intense action sequences.”
“I haven't experienced any crashes or bugs, which makes for a smooth gaming experience.”
“The game was buggy and I couldn't finish it.”
“There were some minor glitches, such as being unable to interact with the hex puzzles or insert a tape into the recorder.”
- emotional3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is criticized for relying heavily on holographic characters that deliver excessive exposition about their feelings, resulting in a lack of depth and engagement. While these characters show attachment to their project, their past recordings fail to create a compelling emotional connection for players.
“The characters are emotionally attached to the project, and it is noticeable.”
“All these holograms perform ridiculous exposition all the time in order to try and explain to you their emotional state.”
- character development1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviewers note that the game significantly enhances character development compared to its predecessor, offering a more extensive and engaging narrative that deepens the story and character arcs.
“Just finished it, and I have to say it's much longer than the first and really expands the story and character development.”
