[Disclaimer: I received a review key for Umbral through Keymailer, a third-party website/company that connects publishers and developers with content creators. The game was given without promise or expectation of a positive review, only that the game be played and content be created through the playing of the game and the experience. Unless otherwise noted, all content in the following article is from my own playthrough of this game.]
Umbral Systems: Windows Release Date: August 7, 2024 Publisher: MJR Games Studio Developer: Walter O.M. Junior Time Spent: 2 Hours 18 Minutes
Trigger Warning: This article covers several sensitive topics from Umbral that some might find uncomfortable and/or disturbing in nature. Topics such as suicide, self-harm, depression, rape, domestic violence, trauma and torture. If you find any of these topics, related or otherwise, triggering in nature, I would recommend that you skip this article and the related walkthrough videos.
Today we bring you Chapters 3 and 4 from Umbral. Our written commentary of sorts for Chapters 1 and 2 can be viewed in Tuesday's article.
Chapter 3:
Chapter 3 was interesting in terms of both actual gameplay and world/lore building. You essentially walk until you talk with the eye-creature and engage in an exposition-laden conversation about the purpose and function of the Umbral. While I'm not initially against the use of an AI/voice-to-text program, I do think that a different voice could've been used for this creature, maybe something a little deeper and/or raspy and less matter-of-fact.
Once the conversation is over, you then walk into another portal and finish the stage. With there being no puzzles or gates to unlock, this ended up being one of the two shortest stages, although I probably could have cut down my own time had I not run around the stage looking to see if I could make it past the creature and just general exploring.
It did kind of feel that the tree branches highlighted around 1:35, could have been used in a puzzle, maybe something about having the eye creature follow you until that point and the branches encircle the eye like an eyelid; especially if the creature was supposed to be aggressive. Or having the creature be visible from a distance and somehow centering its eye with the branches to activate the portal. But maybe that would've just ended up being unnecessary fluff if the goal of going through the portal was the same.
Chapter 4:
I liked this level despite it being fairly similar to Chapter 3 in that you just walk, hear exposition, there's an artificial panic created by the jailers which is immediately nullified by the being of light, and then the level ends; however, this time it's all just self-introspection. I also liked the look of the level and would be surprised if the design wasn't somehow an homage to Gustave Doré's engraving of Paradise; although I could really be off base since you don't actually travel to Heaven at the end of this chapter.
Looking back at the video, I probably should have gone to see if I could interact at all with any of the black-bubbling portals (that start around 2:14), but I was of the mind that since it was a dark portal, being the opposite of the bright and shining portal, that those were somehow bad. Video game logic. I also feel that I should have tried to walk into or at least get as close as I could to one of the dust devils just to see if anything would happen or if Mateus had a comment on it.
I also liked the depiction of the light beings, that their faces are obscured by their radiance, but only just and in a way that feels like you might be able to make out a better image of them if you look just a little bit longer.
So that's really the end of Chapter 4. Just Mateus walking through a visually striking desert along with other (lost?) souls with the jailers in pursuit towards the end and assisted by a being of light and finally passing along to Chapter 5.
We'll see you tomorrow for the concluding chapters.
.png)
No comments:
Post a Comment