Pneuma: Breath of Life, has been sitting in my queue for a while. About two years if we are being honest. It looked like an exploration/Myst style game and something I really had to be in the mood to playing.

Nope! I should of played this far, far earlier. While the game does have puzzles, it's a narrative game where your character monologues on the idea of him being God as you solve various puzzles and observe the world he assumes he has created.

In my tweets I realted it to 'The Stanley Parable' and 'The Talos Principle'. If you liked either of those two and want something easy in that genre, this is a two to three hour game to check out.

Arise and awaken! For you are God! I mean, you must be! It's obvious! You can think. You can see. You can talk. You can move. The world is out there in front of you.

You're not sure why you have all these things. And why you are alone. But it does not matter, you are a god! Why, look at the things that such a deity can do.

Throughout the game you'll be hearing Pneuma's (A name meaning Stoic/Spirit/Soul) monologue as you walk throughout the levels. I want to stress right off that the game is short, and his musing are amusing. Not, as many would assume from a small indie game, annoying and in need of a pop-filter. There's great charm to the character as he develops throughout the game.

It's not laugh out loud stuff, but a few things did get a robot chuckle. Re: "Bow to my rotational power!"

The puzzle gimmick to this game is 'Observation'. You can trigger 90% of events by what you are looking at, or avoiding to look at. While the game does give you a good intro into how it all works I did come across parts where I was hunting for the metal-eye object to start the puzzle solution. In most cases, think vertically.

This is minor compared to one particular puzzle that flips floor tile patterns based on what one you are looking at. Which sounds easy, but at a 16:9 resolution it is really easy trigger a tile-flip just with the edge of the FOV camera. And then you have my full permission to swear at the screen as you clean up the mess it has made.

Oh, there's a few leaver activated and push button puzzles, but really, most of this game is about how you look at things, tying into the game's narrative and Pneuma's monologue.

While it reaches the potential it can do in the time allowed, I was left wanting more of the various puzzles to play through. Finding how the clues map to the puzzle to solve them was quite fun and not hair pulling madness.

Basically, it is a little too short.

The various environs look great and areas are deceptively large. It may feel like moving to a certain spot will take ages but it results in seconds worth of in game time. And you move reasonably slowly.
I'd enjoy playing through a world like this larger in scope, even if it defeats the plot of the game.

Audio/Sound wise it is clean and simple. Most sound you'll hear are that of Pneuma himself talking. I like the actor's delivery of the game, especially on the end sequence when the final events play out. Music is atmospheric and calming, though nothing memorable.

There's clear grinding and sparking sounds for appropriate puzzles, but nothing out of place.

I will warn that there is one 'audio only' puzzle and no hints for the hearing impaired, or people just playing with the sound off. You can brute force it in a minute or two, but it is something to take note of if you fit into these categories.

It's short and easy on the puzzle side. More importantly, it is a rather enjoyable quick and quirky little game to pass an afternoon with.

The Devs appear to of vanished from the web, but it is still worth checking out.

Game Acquisition: Bundle Stars (Killer 7 - April 2016)
Platform Used: Steam
Tweet Threads: 1 - 12 August 2018
PC Used: Scorptec Venom 2009 MK2

OS: Windows 7 64-bit
Processor: Core 2 Duo E6600 / Athlon 64 X2 6400
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 / ATI Radeon HD 5770
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 12 GB available space
Additional Notes: Virtual reality mode not recommended on minimum specs.

Note, I did not play this game in VR mode ;)