8/10

The story, art, puzzles, and core mechanics of the game are superb. Ether One is a mixture of narrated first-person exploration (aka walking simulator) and environmental / inventory puzzles (similar to a point & click). The environment is incredibly detailed and tells the individual stories of many inhabitants in the town of Pinwheel. It's very well written. It took me 9 hours to complete, which felt about right for the amount of content. If I was only judging the game by these qualities it would get a solid 10/10.

There were a few annoyances that brought my score down. For instance, the walking speed didn't feel fast enough, even with the Run key held down. Also, many of the clues were on notes in the game world, but you couldn't take them with you and it wasn't obvious which ones were going to be needed later so you would sometimes have to go back and find them.

If you're a fan of narrated exploration games or point & click adventure games, you'll definitely enjoy Ether One. There may be a few annoyances, but the core experience is highly worthy of your time and money.

8/10 The story, art, puzzles, and core mechanics of the game are superb. Ether One is a mixture of narrated first-person exploration (aka walking simulator) and environmental / inventory puzzles (similar to a point & click). The environment is incredibly detailed and tells the individual stories of many inhabitants in the town of Pinwheel. It's very well written. It took me 9 hours to complete, which felt about right for the amount of content. If I was only judging the game by these qualities it would get a solid 10/10. There were a few annoyances that brought my score down. For instance, the walking speed didn't feel fast enough, even with the Run key held down. Also, many of the clues were on notes in the game world, but you couldn't take them with you and it wasn't obvious which ones were going to be needed later so you would sometimes have to go back and find them. If you're a fan of narrated exploration games or point & click adventure games, you'll definitely enjoy Ether One. There may be a few annoyances, but the core experience is highly worthy of your time and money.