Review A_Wilmot 2/5 · Mar 6, 2023
A Promising Gem of a Thing that Sadly Overstays Its Welcome
It's a weird thing to say that a game only four or five hours in length overstays its welcome, but sadly, in the case of Vesper, that is exactly the situation.
Off the bat, I adore the look and vibe of this game. In terms of aesthetics, it's a top-tier indie puzzle-platformer.
In terms of mechanics, however, it's too much …
It's a weird thing to say that a game only four or five hours in length overstays its welcome, but sadly, in the case of Vesper, that is exactly the situation.
Off the bat, I adore the look and vibe of this game. In terms of aesthetics, it's a top-tier indie puzzle-platformer.
In terms of mechanics, however, it's too much of a mess to recommend. For the most part, you're not doing too much mechanically. And when you are asked to perform anything complex or time-specific, the game's shortcomings make themselves known: floaty, imprecise controls; puzzles that require less brainpower and more navigating annoying enemy encounters; a late-game mechanic that makes for an aggravating—not challenging or exciting—final boss encounter...
It's not bad, and I did appreciate a number of aspects of it, but the final act of this game is more laborious than enjoyable or interesting, and I felt too often like my issue wasn't that I couldn't figure out a puzzle but that I couldn't execute what I'd already figured out due to poor controls and occasionally shitty checkpointing.
Don't regret my time with the game, but I also don't see myself ever wanting to return to it.