27 September 2011

Pale



Pale is a strange little exploration game.  It drops the player in pitch blackness, save for a red diamond in the distance.  Using the W-A-S-D keys to move and the mouse to look around, I started to gain an appreciation of my position/distance in relation to the red diamond.  Dropping a 'flare' of sorts with the 'F' key (actually, I dropped many, many flares) added another dimension - height - such that I could see the labyrinthine walls envelop me.

By far the strangest aspect of the title is the movement.  The player can only move towards the red diamond by walking backwards into it.  And so the player must maintain awareness of his position relative to the light and space around him to advance.  The diamond 'sings' with blue light upon contact, and then it's time to search for the next one.  It's a very interesting idea that challenges the obvious-ness of goals and visuals in other games.

It doesn't set the earth on fire, but it presents an interesting mechanic wrapped in an interesting idea.  I would definitely recommend tinkering with it for a few minutes.



Pale is a free Unity-based web game, designed and developed by André Berlemont and Brice Roy of One Life Remains.  You can play the game here.

No comments:

Post a Comment