Etherborn Review – The little sperm that could

I’m back baby!

I’ve been busy for months since I got a new job laying pipe at the professional level. Am I a male escort? Am I in working in service delivery for a natural gas company?

Almost certainly the second option.

Now I’ve got a handle on the professional life I’ve found time to get back into what I like to do.

Playing good games for the good people of PowerUp!

Now the boys back in the shop have eased me back into the scene with nice little cruise ship called Etherborn.

Etherborn Review

This isn’t a fast-paced, high-stimulating FPS like so many other games available now. Etherborn caters to the calm folks who like to wind down after a long day of doing what needs to be done.

That’s not to say that the puzzles presented by this perception warping title won’t give you problems. Some of the obstacles you’ll face are genuinely challenging. You need to be ready to strain the brain if you want to conquer the conundrums presented by this gravity shifting, exploration puzzle-platformer.

Etherborn gives the players control of a voiceless entity, journeying through strongly defined environments that warp your perception as you struggle to find your feet. Strong themes of personal development and finding yourself are enforced by some highfalutin narration that touches on the tragedy of consciousness and how we burden ourselves with knowledge in our quest for sentience.

Sentience

I struggled to keep up with a lot of it because I’m a simple man but as I see it you’re a sperm trying to become a human.

These themes of growth and giving up joyful simplicity to find darker pleasure in challenging complexity run rife through the game. The environments themselves change from softer, warm and blurry tones to a harsher, lurid palate as the vice-like grip of reality tightens.

The better you get the harder your challenges will become.

Etherborn makes an effort to solidify the old adage that ignorance is bliss and that by improving yourself and moving forward you’re only opening yourself to more difficult circumstances as your broadened perception allows you to see your path for what it truly is.

The hard road of reality.

Outside of the rough philosophical implications, Etherborn provides a player with some seriously fun and often difficult puzzles that will force you to engage to proceed.

Try and run through it at full tilt after a few cans and you’ll learn to respect the hurdles Altered Matter can throw at you.

I’m yet to complete Etherborn but there’s no doubt I’ll be back to conquer the beast as soon as I learn some basic time management skills.

Etherborn is available now and it’s definitely worth a look for you existential puzzlers!

Etherborn was reviewed on PS4 using a digital code provided by the developer.