Etherborn: PS4 Review

Etherborn: PS4 Review

Developed by Altered Matter

Etherborn takes the gravity puzzle and gives it a minimal spin.

It's minimal in its visual execution and also minimal in its length.

A relatively short game, but one that causes you as much as head-scratching as a normal puzzle game, Etherborn has the screen changing and twisting as you try to negotiate your own progression.

In many ways, this adventure's similar to Kula World and Bound, both of which deployed lateral thinking, fiendishly simple answers once you have them and feel rewarding once you've managed to solve it.

The gravity-shifting exploration platformer has a loose narrative, the bare bones of which feel like a spoiler to reveal. Collecting crystalline orbs is the key to progression as moving those on will help you open up other platforms to progress. However, sometimes, these orbs aren't as easily accessible as you'd like, nor are they as simple to come across.

The narrative feels a little disjointed, with some po-faced talk of creation and Endless trees, but for the most part, Etherborn's small scale commitment to head-scratching and sheer evocative minimalism makes the game well worth exploring.