MEANDERS Reviews

This is a flat out AWESOME GAME!!! When I first started the game, I thought it was just gonna be another platformer game, but after playing for about a half an hour, I was MIND BLOWN by how amazing everything was, from sloving all the puzzles to figuring out how to reach the highest platforms. And for it's price (which I bought at $3.49) it is TOTALLY worth buying. I highly recommend this game to anyone that just wants to find a new, fun, and challenging game to play!

This parkour game controls incredibly well on an XInput controller (Xbox 360 or Xbox One controller)! Ran 60FPS on max settings on my GeForce GTX 1050. Do not recommend for budget graphics cards though for this Unreal Engine 4 game. Getting the optional collectables can be a timing and trajectory challenge. One thing that could use improvement is telegraphing that you can charge shots for throwing the ball. I was getting frustrated around the 10th level in. I accidentally discovered charging up shots. Great game overall!

Meanders is a somewhat decent indie game. You platform around trying to shoot balls through hoops or balloons or whatever else the level decides, and then when you're done you move onto the next. Nothing special. At least on the surface, because after you complete the game, you get to add a rule. I'm not talking about stuff like an extra jump. I'm talking about porting the basic mechanics from a whole other game like Space Engineers or Serious Sam into this game and playing through the whole thing again like that. It is honestly insane to think that this game brought together other indie titles like never before and implemented them in a somewhat faithful way, with level design to facilitate it. For example, my first choice of added rules was No Meander's Sky, an obvious play on No Man's Sky in it's somewhat original form, so instead of holding a ball you get a gun with 5 shots, and instead of a double jump I got a jetpack. I really don't have much more to say about this game than that, the mechanics are fine and the level design is adequate if simple. There's a fun little bit of personality to it where the text on the screen keeps putting you down for being slow. And the game does have a level select and a speedrun mode if you're into that sort of thing, but I'm really not. The music mixes between not really noticeable and kinda funky, but again it's nothing super special. There is one thing that bugs me, and that is that there seems to be absolutely zero movement tech in the game, which is a damn shame. In fact, it seems they purposefully limited the speed at which you can go, because any bounces that create speed is immediately capped by your jetpack. As I said before, the game itself is mediocre when you get down to it, but what it does with implementing other games' mechanics into it is really special, and I hope to see more games do the same in the future.

This game, in its current state, just simply doesn't work. I'm sure the game itself is fun if you could actually play it, however, once the game is open for 2 minutes it crashes and there is nothing you can do about it. I have changed every single setting in the settings, changed install locations between my hard drive and ssd, and even attempted to look into the files of the game to find anything, and there are no solutions I can find which will stop this game from crashing. I doubt it will ever get changed either. Seems like the dev has completely isolated himself from the internet. His Twitter account is gone, and I attempted to send an email, only to get a error message back from Google saying it can't send the email because it no longer exists. Honestly really sucks because I'm sure this is a fun game that I could enjoy if it just simply worked, but in its current state, this is better off being totally removed from Steam than being in your library.

MEANDERS is a 3D platformer with very light puzzle elements. It also features collectibles in each level in the form of floating bubbles and balloons. The fun of the game comes from platforming around with the various movement options they give you. You unlock more movement based abilities each time you beat the game, making it even more fun on subsequent playthroughs. A steal for the price, the game feels polished and the movement tight. Definitely recommended.

Unfortunately, it keeps crashing after a few minutes in, so it is unplayable for me

Honestly, seeing as how I found this game through Refunct, I figured it'd be pretty much the same game as that one. It is pretty similar to Refunct, but this one differs in quite a number of ways. First off, this game is much more challenging than Refunct. Refunct is a pretty relaxing game and so is this one, but due to how challenging some of the levels in this game are, it can get a bit frustrating. In general, the point of this game is to accomplish a few basic goals before you're able to advance to each level's exit. All of these goals generally vary and they can get pretty difficult to accomplish as the game goes on. At first, you're mainly supposed to pop balloons and other targets found in these levels, but eventually you also have to hit certain objects that allow the exit to open. That's generally the whole point of this game, but more obstacles and level designs come into play as you advance. At one point you have to deal with treadmills to launch yourself to certain areas of the level and you also have to use a cannon to blast yourself into other cannons or to platforms that lead to a level's exit. In general, this game's controls aren't complex at all. Though they're fairly basic, your creativity/need to advance will force you to turn what was once basic into something more intricate than it initially was. For example, you can get up close and personal to pop balloons or you can angle it out from afar and pop them, even if you're clearly required to be elsewhere to accomplish this. Another interesting aspect of this game is that it's clearly influenced by parkour-like maneuvering. As a result of this, you're able to completely skip through entire sections of levels, but it all depends on how skilled/creative you are. It's possible to get through this game without doing this, but it's nice to know that it's there. Alongside all of what this game offers from the start, once you beat the game, you're able to unlock special abilities/levels that change what you've gotten used to. I chose to only unlock/play through one of these extra game modes and it really wasn't all that special. If you've played through the entire game, it's more of what you've already experienced. The main difference is that certain things are added/changed, such as being able to use a jet pack, block the use of double jumps, or unlock the ability to use a gun that offers more precision when it comes to popping balloons and other objects found within this game's levels. Chances are the gameplay will greatly differ as I unlock more of these extra modes, but I feel as if I already got to experience a great deal of what this game has to offer, so I don't feel as if it's really necessary to keep playing since I've beaten what can be considered the main levels. Overall, I liked this game. I wouldn't consider it a must buy, but if it's available for a great price and you want a game that could be beaten within a few hours, buy it. If you enjoy first person view puzzle games that allow you to be creative, this game is for you.

[h1]"KOBE!!!!" With Crystals[/h1] MEANDERS is a colorful, abstract, relaxed-paced First Person Platforming game. MEANDERS may best be thought of as a bouncy "trampoline room" with various switches, floating gems, and rings with which to "KOBE!!!!" from a distance with the game's main mechanic of throwing a red gem toward things scattered throughout the levels. This all looks pretty crisp and contains various "real life" effects which really add to the immersion of the game, which I feared would be lacking when first seeing its very minimalistic trailer. Air rushing by you as you fall from great heights, a "slippery ice" sound effect as you drift along certain surfaces, and water reflecting the entire arena / level from below add to its overall sleek design. MEANDERS is a great game for its price (I got it on sale for a third of what it's asking..) if you are into first person platforming games with visual styles akin to Portal or Mirror's Edge (sparse / sterile white with vibrant splashes of color.) The text hovering over the exits blandly and disaparately are the only major eyesore. I quickly turned off the game's annoyingly-ubiquitous overseer text (and crosshair) and think the game looks and plays much better without the at-times overdone/cluttered-feeling comedic text of the guiding overseer splayed throughout the levels, though the option of choosing either an encouraging or condesending tone was funny to see. MEANDERS features various elements which break up the platforming including a double-jump, shooting yourself out of cannons toward greater heights, teleporters, jump pads, and a variety of other effects which make you change your approach to the large, open levels. MEANDERS also includes a set of optional mods which alter its base gameplay, including a gun and jetpack you can turn on, the gun containing 6 shots of the red gems rather than the base 1, and the jetpack affecting the pace of the main jumping mechanic. (There are several other of these "mods" to collect, however I have yet to unlock any...) I was afraid this game would be too simplistic or bland to really get into, but I've been pleasantly surprised with its depth and quality and think if you're into these kind of first person platforming / jumping / abstract kind of games you will enjoy what's offered here as well.

Meanders is one of those shiny little jumping puzzle games, along the lines of Refunct which I played before. The difference is that while Refunct took about an hour, Meanders took several and actually put up a fight AND I didn't even successfully 100% it because it's too big. In Meanders you grab a neon-colored ball and hop through levels made up of simple platforms rising out of an endless ocean. Bouncing the ball off various items either collects them or opens up new sections of the level for you to jump to. There's about 40 levels, several of which are optional on a playthrough. (There's route forks.) Meanders starts off really relaxing, but eventually gets -pretty darn hard- in a 3D platforming sort of way, particularly if you try to collect all of the balloons and bubbles. There're also unlockable "Dry Souls" (you die if you touch water) and "One Shot, One Hit" (any ball you throw MUST pop a bubble, hit a balloon or trigger a crystal or you lose) modes and while I was amused by the toggles for those in the menu at first... If I were trying to PLAY like that, this game would be a recipe for a salt-crusted rage-quit roast. As it is, it's fun but don't stress out too hard over what you're missing. Still, it was fun and cheap and there's a menu toggle to turn on Dragons. Any game is better when you can open the menu and add extra dragons to it.

MEANDERS is a short (1-1.5 hours long) 3D platformer that invoves double jumps, cannons, hoops, and throwables. The controls feel smooth, the graphics although simple feel fun and popping and the gameplay is just fun. Although this game isn't anything revolutionary I'd definitely suggest it.