Exo One (2021)

Very short run with Exo One at just under 3 hours, but really enjoyed my time with it and spread it out over a few weeks. If you've played any of the more abstract games from the PS1 era such as Rez then you might enjoy this.

I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed the visuals for this game. Strange, abstract, mesmorising, confusing, and beautiful. There isn't always a lot going on with the game, sometimes you're gliding through nothingness, and then when you're transported to a new place you're blasted with cosmic visuals.

At it's core, Exo One is a momentum based traversal game that has you rolling down hills and then gliding through clouds and skimming oceans on a journey that takes you through time and space. Fragments of a narrative are scattered throughout the game with audio snippets and cutscenes intermittently popping up, but if I'm honest I never really tried to make sense of it all and the game doesn't seem to force you into making sense of it either. It's a very relaxed and organic experience, almost meditative at times. It was a real change of pace for me. I found myself reflecting on things, noticing the harshness of some environments, and then the beauty and almost zen-feel of other environments. The contrasts and flow of the game felt like a nature documentary at times.

The rolling and gliding mechanics feel really natural and satisfying, being able to roll as an orb and build up speed and energy to eventually roll up a hill and turn yourself flat, gliding through the clouds hits a special spot that few games pull off.

As you glide through one vista you're eventually transported to another, each location has its own strengths and there are some truly gorgeous visuals to look at. All of this is accompanied by a hypnotic electric backing track that reminded me slightly of Outer Wilds which can only be an overwhelmingly positive thing, overall a very atmospheric game.

My only criticism would be that the game is so loose and relaxed that sometimes I felt there was a lack of guidance and direction. I got lost a few times especially when you bump into something and suddenly you've lost your direction. Generally speaking though the game does a good job of subtly funnelling you into the right heading without it feeling noticeable. If you've had a stressful day at work and want to relax and just glide through the clouds looking at gorgeous scenery, this is the place.

I wasn't expecting much from this indie game to begin with, but the clean visuals and the idea of space travel got me interested enough to give it a shot. It's on the Xbox Game Pass, so I figured, why not? Sadly, the gameplay is rather monotonous and there is not much you do besides going from Point A to Point B. The planetary environments become repetitive quickly, and contrary to what you are led to believe, the gameplay isn't designed with a zen mode in mind—you have to perform physics-based movements in order to travel, which requires a bit of finesse.

Sadly, the nail in the coffin that ultimately caused me to abandon this game was when I later encountered one particular object floating in the air that I simply could not reach no matter how much I tried. I'm sure there is a proper solution, but by that point in time, I was already teetering on the brink of moving on, so I simply did not care anymore. In any case, if this game is your cup of tea, then that is great, but otherwise, it is not a game to lose your sleep over. It's an interesting proof of concept, but that's about all it is. A student's class project.

When I first heard about this game I saw how the reviews on steam simply glowered about this game but I read some here and elsewhere who felt the game was a bit lacking.. This isn't a divisive game but a game it's easy to see why people who play it might not want to speak negatively of it's shortcomings. It's a really cool idea and for me definitely one of those games you 'want to love but can't'

For fans of games that have minimal interface and no supplementary story and just tell simplified naturally-expressed narrative experience as you wander about a world and the environment opens up to you and you explore what you can do with that environment (such as Journey, Flower, Abzu, etc) you will find a wortwhile (but short) experience here that matches your tastes (somewhat) it does do a pretty good job and fulfilling that obligation in a satisfying way.

However here are some of it's shortcomings worth knowing if you decide to buy this at full price (minor spoilers maybe):
-Know you won't find yourself in possession of an overpowered UFO that can go all over the place (it has powers but some serious limitations especially in the beginning)

-you won't be going to really interesting worlds worth exploring, but will simply look to move on to the next as soon as you figure out the main mechanic or gimmick of each world.

-You probably won't find yourself having moments of cosmic awe or wonder. At least for me I found Exo One doesn't offer anything that might be described as any sort of 'transcendent experience' that some of those other games might have actually managed to bring players. (YMMV)

-you probably won't find yourself playing this long. 4 hours tops, unless you are 100%ing it. Not sure if there are secrets really or if this has replay value.

In the end this is a short indie game that was a neat idea, it's worthwhile if you like the games in the same camp. But know it's a bit light as a game and the reviews on steam ought to stress that a bit more. Some people might love this game just beceause you fly and flip this little ball around for as long as you like as a relaxing game, but it did not quite have that efffect on me.

It was about 2am and for some reason I couldn't sleep. I felt restless, so I decided to climb out of bed and fire up my Xbox to spend an hour or two with a short game on Game Pass. After some browsing I landed on Exo One, this weird, surreal looking game where you’re basically a small, sphere-shaped spacecraft that uses gravity and momentum to dash your way through all sorts of vibrant planets. The first hour with the game led me down a frustrating path: at first I was a bit bored, almost sleepy. The game felt very relaxing and I didn't really know what I was supposed to do, so I just kept mindlessly moving my spaceship, since the game didn't seem to mind my lack of focus. Then, when things started to pick up the pace, I began to feel annoyed at the controls and the fact that so many times my sphere seemed to be doing the opposite of what I wanted it to do. I got to the point of feeling so frustrated that I was about to call it quits. Yet, somehow, I just couldn’t. I kept wanting to go further and further, from one side of the planet to the other, from one planet to another, from different landscape to different landscape. At about 5am, 3 hours later, I found myself staring at the ending credits, somewhat dazed, almost puzzled by the experience I had just gone through. I also found myself reminiscing about Contact, a film that is very dear to me and whose ending I still consider to be amongst the best in cinema.

For something that on the surface offers so little, Exo One is one hell of a ride. This game is like a magnet I couldn't pull away from even at its most annoying, and after a certain point, travelling towards that blue beacon becomes an almost hypnotic task. The style and presentation are wonderful. The visuals are mesmerising, with beautiful, bizarre looking planets, dreamlike nebulas and awe inspiring storms. The sense of planetary and cosmic scale along with the feeling of all-encompassing, comfortable loneliness was so impressive that it kind of reminded me of Outer Wilds in that regard. Even the sea depth in this game is hard to grasp (watch out if you suffer from thalassophobia). Its vibe comes coated in an interesting combination of relaxing and tense: you can’t help but be engulfed by its audiovisual lullaby, but at the same time you’re always locked in a somewhat stressful dance with momentum and gravity to reach the beacon. The sound design, in both music and effects, is incredible. Finally, as vague as the story is, it is also openly compelling. I had zero expectations for it, and in fact I thought this game would have no story to speak of, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw I was wrong. It subtly, yet effectively threads this layer of bigger-than-life philosophical strokes into its cryptic narrative, which I couldn't help but get immersed in. Its contemplative storytelling tone and scope took me back to my experience with Contact over and over again, leaving me with this mild feeling of awe I did not anticipate in any way. By the end, I was left with a mix of tiredness, confusion, and deep enjoyment, just staring at the credits for what seemed like an hour.

I recognise this is high praise for a game that is far from perfect. The controls and movement mechanics are initially annoying and take some getting used to, there are a couple of unnecessarily frustrating levels, the game can be a bit glitchy with both collision and camera, and the first hour can feel too relaxing for its own good, with a fairly decent possibility of you coming out of it feeling sleepy or bored. If you persist through all of its flaws, however, chances are you’ll be in for something special. Exo One is a melancholic, inward journey through the vast beauty of the cosmos that continuously beckons you, planet after planet, until the end. It is simultaneously a short and long game: it barely takes you any time to complete, yet it will likely stay with you for a while. Bravo, Exbleative. I’m excited to see what they'll come up with next. 8/10

A 3D flappy bird with every postprocessing filter thrown in. It's fine but gameplay is really limited. And it shows. After just a couple of levels that work pretty well featuring big open areas with a clear destination, the dev must've realised that the game was getting nowhere and tried to spice things up with some weird levels that don't fit the mechanics.

It's short and even then it feels padded.