Phrixothrix Reviews

Nice little puzzle game. The search for new clues/puzzles can get a bit boring, but the game isn't too long so it isn't a big issue.

Interesting little puzzle game about using a "remote-control car" (alien worm) to explore spaces too small for you to physically access. A bit rough around the edges, and obscure enough that it's almost impossible to find hints or solutions to puzzles, but definitely worth it anyways.

Before you start playing, get a pen and paper. You're going to want a map, and the game will NOT make one for you.

I really don't understand what the other people are talking about. The environments are super dark, controls are bad, you have to pick up the robot and put it back every time you want to get the items you collected, and the puzzles I managed to solve were also uninteresting. If you're into boring exploration in the dark, this game is for you. But yeah, this one is on me, I should've watched the trailer before buying it blindingly from a random Reddit recommendation.

AVOID this game, i bought this game a few weeks ago and have played it for many hours trying to figure out what we are meant to be doing, firstly you have to figure out the controls yourself i look to see what they were, secondly there is no sense of direction no story to give you an idea what you are doing. You can tell the person who has made the game put a lot of thought into but they could have shared with us what the thought is, also on the second day of playing after 7 hours i could not save it, its great that there are new game developers growing but if i pay for a game i expect it to work properly. Also reading comments from other people there are areas unfinished or inaccessible, the designer a while back was going to create some footage for people but never did. I would give this game a score of 3/10

It's a shame Phrixothrix went unnoticed, despite the big boom of the "rustcore" indie horror games about ancient bunkers, paranoia and subtle terror. Because this game is all of that distilled into the dark (like, actually pitch black) underground network of tunnels from the perspective of a person trying to escape using a small (bio?)mechanical worm. There's no text, nor straightforward hints. Confusing, claustrophobic mazes of rusty old corridors are hard to navigate and sometimes everything just feels frustrating. But despite all the problems, i think you should try and give Phrixothrix a chance. Maybe you might even beat it, unlike me.

Claustrophobia the game, beating this nightmare gave me a new perspective on life, anything better than being stuck in the tiny tunnels. It feels like the world-building is intentionally empty or lacking the character to create a feeling of uncomfortable space and anxiety. It slightly reminded me of HellNight for PS1, mostly because 90% of this game is moving through tiny tunnels and almost no visibility, it's almost like playing as a food that is moving through an intestine, and I have to say game was extremely immersive, I figured it had no monsters early on, but sometimes I felt like I had to look behind my back because it's just so weird. That said, I must give a bit of a warning for anyone that wants to try it, the navigation in this game is not exactly friendly, there is a huge exploration area with low visibility, and the layout of the map is not good for orientation. I can't tell you how many times I missed a path because I just could not see it or walked in a complete circle. It got so hard I was considering drawing my personal map, eventually, I managed to memorize the layout, but it took a few hours. On top of that, some of the puzzles and mechanics require a little bit of imagination, the game does not hold your hand, so expect a bit of challenge there as well. (If I can give a small piece of advice for playing this game, have paper and pencil ready, and hug every wall, all of them, hug every wall that you see because you will miss something). For me to explain exactly how this game works might be a bit of a spoiler in itself, I think part of the charm of this game is figuring out how the 2 character mechanics interact together. It can be a bit confusing at first, but once you understand the basic idea, the game is not very complicated. Essentially you have a tall character and a small robot that goes into tiny places you can't go, and that is more or less the core of the game. Interestingly the game has some point&click elements combined with a first-person exploration, sometimes it's not intuitive because the robot can press certain things that are out of his range. So my save file said I beat the game around 90 minutes, but the actual time was closer to 4 hours or so, and even that might be a bit optimistic, there are so many ways to get stuck. There are at least 3* endings (that I know), probably about 6-7 hours with no hints. [h1] Pros: [/h1] (+) Now, I can't imagine this game will resonate with many people, but it reminded me of those dreadful games such as HellNight, and unfortunately, I have some nostalgia for games that make you navigate endless tunnels where you can't see much of anything. I am actually not a big fan of games that are too dark, I avoid them if anything, but it feels like that design choice here was not just the lack of effort, but an intentional decision to create an uncomfortable and immersive game, I have never seen someone commit to that feeling of emptiness and just constant claustrophobia so much, outside of games like Isolania or Lost in Vivo. What I am trying to say, I am not sure if people will appreciate the mood and vibes of this game, I think there is a bit of an acquired taste there, but I personally really enjoyed the atmosphere, very unapologetic **** the player, find the way yourself. (+) So for the puzzles, I guess you can look at it 2 ways. Yea, they can be kinda frustrating, but I thought the game was very unique as well, if you can inspect the hints carefully, it's not too hard, and I liked thinking outside the box. You definitely want to pay attention and record anything you find, and memorize the areas as well. (+) There were some parts of the level design that felt more immersive, moving through constantly small spaces and the overall changing perspective made the game feel very different. I do think you could have done a better job with the overall layout, I think the game is very difficult to navigate for the first few hours. (+) Multiple endings, I found 3 [h1] Feedback: [/h1] [u] Nitpicks [/u] - might want to adjust the elevator controls, you can't interact with it if you are too close, and you have to finish moving in one direction before moving again. Also, if you run out of the elevator, you can softlock yourself. There are a bunch of areas where you can escape the map, mostly any joints between the areas. For one of the harder puzzles, the one with the 3x3, I didn't get the logic for the second hint, solved it with 50%+brute forcing. [u] Navigation [/u] - um, so in this case I actually like that you designed the game around tiny places and crawling all over the place, the only thing that annoyed me is that some paths are just not visible at all if you moving around, you very much have to hug the walls here. Maybe at least a small object to point the player into the hard-to-see areas, use those random neons more. And a small note for the ending, I mean I like that you left it for the player to interpret, but I don't know, I expected just a bit more context considering the treacherous journey. [b] Overall Thoughts: 8/10 [/b] This is the game that will probably make you angry a few times, but also a rewarding game to beat because of how challenging it is to navigate, almost like you escaped from an endless nightmare. I probably enjoyed this game more than a person with objective reasoning would, it reminds me of certain elements that I don't see very often, the game feels very unapologetic with navigation and overall experience, and if you give it a chance it can be very moody. The puzzle mechanics were very creative and maybe a bit frustrating, but they are not hard if you can think outside the box. I played many games that were similar, but not this committed to just having so many tiny places to crawl into, so I kinda enjoyed the whole turd-in-tunnel gameplay. [code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]