Weakless

Weakless's muddled execution soils the seeds it sowed with its captivating concept. The friendly dynamic between lead characters Blind and Deaf is underdeveloped, courtesy of undercooked mechanics and puzzles.

58%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

grinding, character development

68% User Score Based on 34 reviews

Critic Score 60%Based on 4 reviews

Platforms

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About

Weakless is a single player action game. It was developed by Punk Notion and was released on March 4, 2020. It received neutral reviews from critics and mostly positive reviews from players.

Weakless is a puzzle-based game featuring two characters, one who is deaf and the other who is blind, who must work together to navigate a beautiful organic fantasy world. Controlling one character at a time, players will experience the unique perspective of each character's disability and how they complement each other's abilities. The game emphasizes the beauty of true friendship and the power of supporting each other.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

68%

Audience ScoreBased on 34 reviews

story8 positive mentions

grinding6 negative mentions

The game features beautiful graphics and a unique art style that enhances the overall experience.
The gameplay mechanics involving the blind and deaf characters are interesting and add a unique twist to puzzle-solving.
The game provides a relaxing atmosphere with a lovely soundtrack, making it enjoyable for casual play.

The narrative is weak and vague, lacking depth and clarity, which detracts from player engagement.
The game is very short, typically lasting only 2-4 hours, which may not justify its price for some players.
Puzzles are often too easy and repetitive, with minimal challenge, leading to a lack of replay value.

story
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
61%
18%
The story in the game is often criticized for its vagueness and lack of explicit narrative, relying heavily on environmental storytelling and visuals that can leave players confused about their goals. While some find the art and character design charming, many reviewers feel that the overall plot is bland and fails to engage, resulting in a lack of replay value. Despite a few touching moments, the narrative's simplicity and reliance on interpretation detract from the overall experience, making it less memorable.
- “Weakless is a beautiful tale about two weavlings who help each other save the world together. The story in the game is like being in a narrative storybook without any dialogue. The developers try to tell the tale with a cute use of art and drawings on walls throughout for you to piece together the story. There is still something about this tale that you can't help but fall in love with the main characters and want them to reach their goal.”
- “The gameplay is great, mechanics are like butter, and the story is so well-told without using any dialogue.”
- “A wonderful story about two unlikely heroes discovering the reason for the corrupted sap in the life tree.”
- “The story is... well, there's an attempt to have a plot, but without dialogue and with only the occasional painting and weird electronic monitors from a previous civilization (I assume... remember, the game is really vague and obtuse) there's little in the way of an explicit narrative or background lore, which kinda sucks because it means you're just exploring and solving puzzles without really knowing or caring why.”
- “So, the game is still fun to play and has a lot to recommend it, but it is really let down by the absence of plot and background lore... environmental storytelling can only take you so far.”
- “With the lack of a cognitive plot/story, you find yourself confused most of the time and constantly asking yourself, why am I even doing this?”
gameplay
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
50%
11%
The gameplay features a unique mechanic where players switch between a tall, blind creature and a short, deaf creature, each with distinct abilities that contribute to puzzle-solving. While the mechanics are initially enjoyable and visually appealing, they become repetitive over time, with limited complexity and minimal impact from the characters' disabilities. Overall, the game offers a relaxed experience with charming visuals and sound, but may disappoint those seeking challenging puzzles or a deeper narrative.
- “The gameplay is great, mechanics are like butter, and the story is so well-told without using any dialogue.”
- “The mechanics feel very unique and add to the fun factor for sure.”
- “A wonderful mechanic where switching from blind to deaf heightens your senses to the other upon switching and makes you appreciate the environment or the music more when you switch.”
- “By the end of the game, the mechanics have become fairly repetitive and there's only one way to solve each level.”
- “The puzzles are quite easy and only sometimes serve a real purpose, and by that I mean that I do not feel like the disabilities of the characters were shown enough - gameplay-wise they are more strong and agile than blind and deaf.”
- “The deaf/blind aspect doesn't really crop up except in one puzzle mechanic that I've come across.”
music
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
49%
13%
The music in the game is widely praised for its atmospheric quality and contribution to the overall experience, enhancing the visuals and creating a chill vibe. However, some players find the repetitive nature of certain tracks, particularly when controlling the deaf character, to be monotonous over time. Overall, while the soundtrack is a highlight, its impact can be diminished by gameplay mechanics that limit the player's ability to fully appreciate both the music and the visuals simultaneously.
- “If you're interested in kicking back for a couple of hours and looking at a pretty world while listening to some nice music, then you'll have a blast.”
- “A great soundtrack and sound design in general.”
- “Its visuals and soundtrack are the game’s best features, with the style of gameplay allowing the player to enjoy these at a leisurely pace.”
- “Although, unfortunately, with this also comes the biggest flaw of the game - when you control the blind character, you cannot see the visuals well, and when you control the deaf one, you cannot hear sounds and some parts of the music.”
- “Due to playing almost exclusively with the deaf character to enjoy the surroundings, some parts of the music do not play for most of the game, which makes it monotonous after a while.”
- “It's atmosphere is kinda nice at first, but the longer you play and the more that constant repetitive music blows through your ears, you'll find yourself annoyed.”
graphics
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
41%
14%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beauty and artistic style, with hand-drawn visuals and a captivating aesthetic that enhances the overall experience. However, some players noted that the gameplay mechanics, particularly when controlling the blind character, can detract from fully appreciating the visuals. Overall, the art and sound design are considered the standout features, contributing significantly to the game's charm.
- “The art style and sound design are amazing; it's all quite beautiful.”
- “The graphics are incredible to look at.”
- “Adorable graphics and characters.”
- “I would say that the trailer on Steam and the pictures don't do the art style justice (though they inject much more action than there actually is).”
- “As cute as the concept is, when you move, the visuals blur too much and it doesn't really give you much info on the controls to the game. I get it wasn't an expensive game, so what do I really expect, but those are two things I think should be at least decent.”
- “Although, unfortunately, with this also comes the biggest, in my opinion, flaw of the game - when you control the blind character, you cannot see the visuals well, and when you control the deaf one, you cannot hear sounds and some parts of the music.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, often characterized by repetitive puzzles that rely on trial and error, which can detract from the overall experience. The presence of bugs and limited character actions further exacerbate the feeling of monotony, leading to a mixed reception regarding gameplay engagement.
- “More importantly, there were some tedious puzzles which I believe just required assisted trial and error (though perhaps I was missing something).”
- “Some of the puzzles are made more tedious by one of the characters being blind, but it hasn't really made it more difficult or tricky to solve.”
- “You have very minimal actions that you can do with the characters; the duality in the game is not original at this point and is very tedious when performing certain actions.”
atmosphere
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's atmosphere is initially praised for its chill vibe and original sound design, creating an immersive experience. However, the repetitive nature of the music can become grating over time, detracting from the overall enjoyment.
- “With the nice sounds and music, the chill atmospheric vibe of the game carries throughout.”
- “First off, this is an atmospheric puzzler game.”
- “The sound is incredibly original and atmospheric.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews highlight that while the game features some touching moments and impressive visuals, the overall emotional impact is diminished by a straightforward story and limited character interactions. Many players feel that the emotional depth could have been enhanced with more exploration and discovery elements, rather than focusing on complex puzzles.
- “While the visuals are amazing and the story is touching at times, it's something that you probably play through once and then you're done.”
- “There are few touching moments between them despite them having 0 dialogue.”
- “While there were a few very touching moments, the story was fairly bland and straightforward.”
character development
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
Overall, reviews indicate that while the game features appealing character designs and environments, it suffers from weak character development, lacking depth in storytelling and emotional engagement.
- “A short, sweet story with interesting character designs and environment building.”
- “There isn’t much character development in the game.”
- “Character development was quite weak as well.”
- “Even though Weakless is impressive visually, it lacks the story, character development, and puzzle difficulty to be memorable.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
Many users find the game's replayability lacking, citing an unengaging story that diminishes the incentive to revisit the experience. Overall, it has received low ratings, with some scoring it as low as 3 out of 10 for replay value.
- “However, I just didn't find the story interesting enough to save it from a lackluster replay value and fun.”
- “Replay value—3/10”